I can’t get over how much having a studio has affected me. I am so excited about it, so happy when I’m there. It represents more than it’s dimensions!
I had the space at home. That’s not what I needed. The studio represents time, not space. I set aside time to go there, and if the work is difficult or challenging, or if I am stuck or have no ideas, I have to stay with it, because I am there.
Mostly so far, I have been organising and setting up my work area. But yesterday I got out my watercolours and the photos I took in the snow and began to do a sketch. At home, I wouldn’t get beyond that initial resistance, but at the studio I keep on going.
I won’t have much time there this week because we start to build the installation at Platt Hall on Monday. I have some MMU students coming in to help, which is great, because the work is physically demanding.
Christine and I sampled last Monday, trying out ways of getting our two materials to work together, and I came away feeling very anxious that we would not be able to do it. But after looking at the photographs, I can see a narrative emerging about the role of the gallery which is about conservation as well as display, and the installation could be a metaphor for the attempt to hold back the creep of decay.
Christine’s big crochet pieces are quite sinister when seen against the sheets, which create order and structure. So I think there needs to be a tension between the two materials, rather than an attempt to make them work together.
Surprisingly, I feel pretty relaxed about it. It is an experiment and some people will like it, and others not. But I hope the gallery like it!
I had a couple of very useful meetings this week about how to find opportunities to get my work seen. One was with Mark Devereux from Blank Media collective, who champion emerging artists.
He had some practical ideas about on-line portfolios and using social networking sites. I am going to start looking into that. I’d be interested to know what other people are doing. Perhaps I can raise it at the skill swap that Emily Speed is organising.
