Dover-London Return

Handed in my portfolio yesterday for the Gateway assessment. See what they say next week!

It’s definitely all go. Went to the opening of Beuys Is Here at the De La Warr last Friday and was pleased to see two people I knew well enough to talk to, one of whom was Sharon who is working with DAD on Reside, which was great even if we didn’t actually have time to talk.

DAD’s open weekend programme didn’t get ACE funding but has morphed into a smaller project of 5 workshops commissioned by Kent County Council to run alongside the Sea Change exhibition in Dover (regen project). As well as being part of the organisig team, I’m also running a drawing workshop which will feed into my professional practice as an artist rather than curator/organiser. This will look after most of August.

Tomorrow I have a practice guiding session at the Hayward with fellow student guides. We’ve had training in moving people round the gallery and picking the best spots to stand and the kind of guiding type info to give and we’ve also had the low down from chief curator Stephanie Rosenthal. Have been trying to do some research on all the artists and sort out my own ideas about the different pieces of work. Fortunately 45 mins is not masses of time so won’t have to talk too much!

Somehow I also have to finish my study proposal and written work to hand in for assessment on 15th and also take some decent images of my wall installation.

After that I’m off down to Exeter to clean up a space with fellow students ready for a group show in August. That’s when I get to try out the wall installation outside the studio. Should be fun.

Oops – I really have not done enough work. I desperately need some headspace so am reviewing how many holes I can make in my current safety nets and how big they can be.

Still in chaos but beginning to emerge. Lots of DAD stuff going on, some of it still too early to report on publicly but, we’ve got through to interview panel for a film project we want to do, which is exciting. More on this later, if we are successful.

Went to the opening of the Hayward’s new show “Walking in my Mind” yesterday and spent time looking and trying to take in the experience despite all the other people there. I may be doing some tour guiding, an opportunity that has come up through Central St Martins. It will be good to do the training, whatever happens. I’ve never had to lead a group of 50 people round a show before. Not sure how I am going to talk about the show – many pieces examine ideas of the brain as being made up of component parts, as information storage and processing systems, systems of connected wires; all to some extent try to represent what is going on inside the artist’s head.

I’m not sure about the show: some of the work seems almost too literal; some of the connections with mindscape seem forced; and I’d have liked to see Yayoi Kusama’s work take up much more space. Maybe there are just too many artists and not enough space to really immerse oneself in any of the pieces.

Total chaos at the moment. I am moving back into my house with dog, cats, partner and we are trying to get straight as fast as possible. I am trying to work – have had some orders for translations, including a 24-page fund prospectus, am doing more funding applications for DAD with Joanna and trying to keep enthusiastic despite a recent unsuccessful bid (always disheartening but as Joanna says "nothing good ever gets lost").

I went to the "Wild Flower" event in Margate on Thursday organised by the University for the Creative Arts – I'd been drafted in as notetaker and worked with Peter Liversidge to discuss the "artists perspective" on audience engagement/development. Basically the artist doesn't really care but everyone else does or has to. From a DAD point of view, we have to, so it was quite useful to think about what it means to engage an audience and how to evaluate it – development and enrichment of (children's) vocabulary is one way for example. It was quite nice to get another of Peter's gin glasses. Quite a fun day even if long and hard to assess the use of. However, the final report might give us some juicy catchphrases.

After lunch we were all supposed to sow wildflower seeds in Margate – very biblical. With a twist though – because as the biologist and gardener pointed out – it is in the infertile, poor soil that the seeds have the best chance of flourishing. But then of course fertile ground in the bible probably doesn't necessarily mean fertile as in enriched with nutrients but fertile as in willing to accept new ideas.