Some people take the chance and go on to bigger and better things. It is a big risk to leave a regular monthly income and try to make it on your own. But – so many do and it’s good to hear their names in relation to their projects – but what happens to the others?
Reading through the invites to visit artists ‘market stallls’ I wonder – is that really an easier way to make money?
This has been on my mind a lot this week as I’ve been bogged down with paperwork leading to a major mail out in the day job. I find that the more written work I have to do in the daytime, the less inclined I am to produce work or write the blog.
Wednesday was a staff briefing. We do these on the first Wednesday of every month. Sometimes they are facts and figures and I tend to nod off in the darkened auditorium…but this week was slightly different.
After a reference to letters in ‘The Independent’ – to which I am obliged not to make any comments…a guest speaker from the newly built and soon to be opened ‘Open Eye’ gallery: http://www.openeye.org.uk walked on stage. Her presentation on the gallery programme was quite impressive, but it was the closing images that made some of us sit up in our seats.
Images from Emily Speed’s commission…. we saw the name, and the staff that had stuck the job out since Emily left, looked at each other and said ‘ Didn’t she used to work here?’
Yep – some people go on to bigger things… while others cling to that safety net.
Collaborations, residencies and exhibiting overseas…these are the things I’ve been trying to pull together over the last few months. It’s a mammoth project , which has so many interlocking aspects, that sometimes it becomes quite overwhelming.
I only hint at the work I am doing in this blog, as sometimes it becomes so complicated waiting for just one small piece of the jigsaw to fall into place.
Since March this year, I’ve been linking together my ties with the Norwegian group Small Projects ( who I visited earlier this year) with my own residency and with other artist groups.
The residency in Leasowe was a major part of the whole picture. It hasn’t been an easy one, I’ll admit that. I went in thinking that as I was the first artist to go in there, people would be flocking there out of curiosity and I realise now how naive that was of me. I also couldn’t be there as much as they wanted me to be – the residency was unpaid and like everyone else, I have to earn a living.
BUT – it was a learning curve and I now at least have an inkling of what is expected from all parties. It has paved the way for other artists, and with the right funding, this can be quite successful.
That is the crux of all this though isn’t it – funding.
Today, I am waiting to ‘Seal a deal’ over an exhibition space in Liverpool for a large collaborative project. I have asked for a period during the Liverpool Biennial, which is a lot to ask – but fingers crossed! If it works out, one or two of the Norwegian artists can perhaps use the space in Leasowe to work while they are here.
Life would be so much easier if I didn’t do all this of course…… but such is life.
I picked up a discarded office calendar in work yesterday and turned over the pages to September to check that nothing had been written.
To many, September is just a day closer to winter and marks no particular significance. I feel though that there is an air of anticipation about the month that almost overshadows the lead up to January.
It seems a time of new beginnings… a memory of new shoes… new pencil cases, notepads …..
I pinned the calendar to my wall and began to look forward to the rest of the year.
Today, I am tentatively looking into applying for things again. I was taking a break from it all while I reassessed my work, but now I thinks it’s time to at least look.
I’m still aware of the a-n feature ‘Trade Off’ ( mentioned in blog # 14 of mine) So I’m being quite cautious. ( this feature also makes a point of not ‘flaunting your work’, by the way, as I mentioned in my last blog)
I circled several things of interest that I planned to look into when I had a little more time, so now that I have had a little more time….. I am reading them fully.
At least half of them had a submission fee, which meant that a hefty £100 would have gone out of my dwindling bank account before my work had even been looked at. They were deleted.
My search now covers:
No fee paying applications
Nothing in the immediate area I live in ( sick of the ‘local artist’ label!)
‘Good exhibitions’ (a term coined in the above mentioned article) near enough though that it doesn’t cost an arm and leg to travel to.
That narrows things down considerably.
I received an ‘Artist update’ the other day by email – one of several I’ve had over the last couple of months from different artists. ( even though I hadn’t requested them, or put myself on any mailing list) The updates list all of the exhibitions and events each individual artist is involved in. In the back of my head, I’m thinking ‘This is a great idea – it lets people know what you are up to’ – and really we should be letting people know what we are doing shouldn’t we?
But for some reason..and I really don’t know why… but I read them….. and cringe.
I just don’t know why they feel so wrong.
