Exhausted after hanging my work for When the Walls Come Down. I now know how to use a drill – not sure how I got away with not knowing for so long but anyway …. Husband thinks I’ll be putting up shelves next.
Organised – if organised is the right word – a cupcake making workshop and tea party yesterday for the bunting forever participants. Luckily someone asked if I had the tea … the answer was a mad dash to the co-op. Among the guests was a class of primary school children who had baked 100 cupcakes in the morning. Also a work placement from a local school who helped with the washing up and tea making – a very traditional work placement activity. Fortunately my mum proved to be an excellent tea lady and kitchen maid too.
Have a week’s admin to catch up with now and then next week I’ll be helping prepare the space at Norlington studios, one of the Leytonstone Arts Trail ‘hubs’ in which I will be showing some small framed pieces.
Clare Smith's mixed English/Chinese heritage informs her perspective on issues of identity and categorisation. Her nomadic childhood and early adulthood have meant a somewhat ambivalent relationship to place, reinforced by the sense of ambiguity that comes from her mixed identity. Smith works with drawing, print media, collage and moving image to investigate this ambivalence, with references to craft, the importance of labour and the handmade. Through her choice of materials and approaches, she creates work which attempts to create a sense of unity, an interpretation of Homi Bhabha's "Third Space" - seen as a space in which different parts can come together to challenge dominant ideas of wholeness. Collaboration is part of Smith’s practice and she is also co-founder of Dover Arts Development (DAD) together with painter, Joanna Jones. This involves working with many different artists, curation, organisation, event management, creating networks across East Kent and influencing the public realm in Dover. Clare works from a studio in Dover. She has an MA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins and has exhibited nationally and internationally.
