Being an Artist

BEINGHUMAN GOES TO KATHMANDU, NEPAL.

Remember beinghuman? The collective that I am now part of…

WELL, we are going to Nepal for the Kathmandu International Art Festival; beinghuman’s director Gaynor O’Flynn has curated the British Chapter of this wonderful festival!

beinghuman is a cross discipline, media & arts collective that supports fair trade in the arts, working with artists who create art for a more positive, peaceful world.


The artist’s supporting the event have donated their time & work for free but we need to raise enough money for travel, expenses & production costs. We will be working, collaborating, teaching & creating new work with local artists from the Nepalese & Tibetan Community in Exile.

The festival believes in the power of art for social change. Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world, half the population lives below the poverty line. Do your part in helping support creativity and sustainability in Nepal.

We have had such amazing support from established British artist’s: Turner Prize Winner, Richard Long is Patron of the event, Royal Academy artist David Nash OBE & land artist Chris Drury are exhibiting beautiful video works and award winning photographer Kevin Cummins is creating exciting site specific work. They have all been so generous with their work & time & I really hope you can offer just a brief moment of your time to think about this project and maybe even donate a few pennies! ($1 = £0.66)

What does creativity and sustainability within the arts and this digtal age entail?

How can we use this within a disadvantaged community to support social change?

beinghuman.com

beinghuman in Kathmandu

FAB(ath) 2012

Being back in Bath after 6 months of living, seemed like a strange, surreal dream, the bustling city, the posh shops, the golden buildings. All seemed exactly as it was in the city of forgotten dreams. Everything seemed so easy, so great, so bright, in this lovely little city. A dream world, a reality that seems so far away from the reality I am living in now. Time seems to have turned on a different axis within this city. Everything outside of the valley is louder, bigger, bolder. Within the beauty and the fields of gold stone, there lies a complexity of hidden truths, embedded in every cobbled street, every shop and every church, in every face.

This isn’t real. You are not real.

Isn’t it marvelous? Isn’t it grand? Aren’t we all just so beautiful and thankful and great.

The artwork and the galleries were no different, even the people seemed of the same callibre. Milsom Place, with all its glory, glorified even more by the stench of purified prints, the grand paintings, the sculptures of fire and light, the ghosts of lost forgotten souls on the walls. Where and when have I seen all these before?

Oh, only in Bath darling.

The Officers Club, not so much a club, but more an empty shell filled with iridescent flickers of hope. Hope that in some corners spirals out of control, and in others, just flickers into oblivion. A lost phone, watch or camera tainting the loss of a mother, childhood and friendship. A dirty, muddy, planetary event, dried up and crumbling much like the rest of the building.

Signs of life and sounds of scurrying nowhere to be found anymore in the Pet Shop; instead, memories of a childhood dream packaged and sealed, spoiled by the reality of adulthood. Broken toys, Gucci tampons, heart of stone callous grinder, negative space, and Newport girl – a large concoction of mildly amusing and far-fetched kiosk of STUFF.

And now the long hilly ascent up to what seems like a death trap – beware unsafe building – a shed outside with a peephole – a piece of work? Or a Vernacular need for locality, that’s fragile and solid at the same time.

And the doors lock and I can’t walk on anymore. No more to see, Bath has closed it’s doors on me today. Perhaps, I shall return another day for some more dreaming.

-Art, me and my blog-

Away from your physical studio space, sometimes it is necessary to have thinking time, time that you can sit back and reflect on what has just occurred or the next idea that is flickering somewhere in the distance.

I feel that sometimes, this reflection needs some form of solidity and this is possible through writing. With a pen in hand and your thoughts alight a whole stream of ideas can come to life that you hadn’t even realised existed in the first place. So, what’s the next step, the future of this form of art writing thinking process? Is it best to simply have an extended dialogue with oneself, or could it be more beneficial to form dialogue with the rest of the world?

Blogging is a new wave of thought making, a simple dialogue between you and your art, but also you and other artists. It creates another dimension for people to view your work and understand your work.

So, being able to blog your ideas, your words, your thoughts, your views, becomes not just about figuring out what you want to do, but it also becomes about creating this merge between the physical and the metaphysical, the artist and the spectator, the real and the unreal. Blogging is a new art form in itself.

A blog, doesn’t have to be the crème de la crème of art writing; it is simply your words and what you wish to express.

I have felt slightly lost without my writing, feeling a sense of unease and apprehension when trying to get back into one of my favourite art practices. Blogging, for me, was a way into how I was feeling, a realization of what I am trying to say and do. Yet, even blogging has become somewhat a chore, a bane in my existence, something that I feel awkward and guilty about. It’s been so long since my last post – what on earth am I going to write about?!

But that is the beauty of the blog – you can write just about anything and who cares what anyone else thinks or says, it’s my blog. Yet, it’s interesting isn’t it to see what someone else says…

This job experiment of mine has taken me through many hurdles, many emotions and many obstacles have been put in my path. A lot of people just laugh and can not accept that it might actually happen through sheer determination and belief. People have become too pessimistic, too beaten down. Things don’t just happen to you – you have to work for them and you have to work hard for them. Well, why do you?

Why can’t you just think and believe and manifest? Why can’t you just believe in yourself and believe that it can and will happen.

I admit, I had a few moments – when I couldn’t afford my rent, or could not (still cannot) afford to buy some food. But you can’t let the ‘realities’ of life stop you from believing.

Positive thinking has been overlooked too much for too long. You can create whatever you want.

After my little hurdle and lets be honest, emotional breakdown on Wednesday, I switched off all negative thoughts and stopped talking to people that created them. I started believing all over again and this time became even more determined.

The next day I received three potential offers – two unpaid, one paid.

I won’t give anything away yet, but things are looking up. And guess what interviews and meetings are all on what day…?

9th of Jan of course!!!

See how the things just manifest and become reality?

Do not let anyone put you off or put you down. You can do anything.

Me and My #newjobexperiment —>
Guess what everyone, I’m broke. Completely and utterly broke. Money? No money. Banks? Three. Overdrafts? Two.I am completely and utterly broke. And, I. Have. No. Job.
This is when the tears commence.
A few minutes.Hours.Make that a few more.
Ok. NOW. What the hell am I, me, yes ME, WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?
It’s Wednesday the 4^th of January 2012. My #newjobexperiment is supposed to give me a job on Monday.
I need this. I NEED something GOOD.UNIVERSE give me something good please.
.
Lets, start again. Lets start over now. Ok,
This is me now. ME. I can and I will do this. I am an unstoppable, confident, powerful woman. Who cares if I have to go back to my old job to pay the bills, who cares if I have no job at all. Who cares if…., just who cares.
I CARE.
I can be whoever I want to be and I can do whatever I want to do. Because I’m me. And that’s what I do best.
So, lets focus now. I am me.I am me.
THIS IS ME EVERYBODY.
AND yes I might have no money (right now) and yes I might not have a job (right now) but I believe, and I bloody well believe.
So this leads me to my next point.
Whatever you are doing never, ever, in a million years give up.Do not give up on yourself. You are BRILLIANT.
Ask and you shall receive, believe and you shall receive, do everything in your power to make you and everyone else see that it is in fact doable and real. And it will be.
It is.I confess, I have stumbled; I let negativity and doubt take over. And I let the reality I am living in right now fill me with fear and regret.But it is okay. There is a back up plan. There is always a back up plan, right there where you left it to begin with.
But the great thing is that plan B won’t be needed because, plan A is just around the corner.
There. I can see it.
This is me and I am me. Everything is going to be okay. Everything is going to be amazing.