Festial

Still working, albeit slightly haphazardly, on producing stuff for the show. The pressure is definitely mounting, as I'll only have a couple more free days before starting my residency at Gresham's school next week. Today I made the mistake of digging out my timetable, and noticed with horror that the department is actually open seven days a week. I don't think it's obligatory for me to attend on Sundays, but I hadn't realised that Saturdays were an all-day thing. Not sure how things will work out domestically, let alone getting all that last-minute exhibition preparation done.

Meanwhile, I've printed out lots of A3 video stills of my jumping-over-the midsummer-bonfire performance last year. Sometimes it feels like a bonus to have a hopelessly outdated video camera: I really like the surreal focus and colours you get with it. As usual I made too many prints, but it's quite a long wall space so I'll have to see how many of them will fit in a line along the length of it. With the tee shirts on the other side, that's quite a sizeable bit of gallery accounted for. Yippee!

Another piece of work I've been playing around with will use prints on acetate, so I've sorted out the images for that, too. The idea is that they look a bit like X rays or other personal information records. And/or an inventory of relics. Hopefully. Anyway, they are new and I quite like some of them.

Tomorrow, though, it's back to the charity shops of Norwich in search of the perfect cupboard. God, am I becoming obsessed by any chance?

Plenty has happened since my last post. Mainly, I keep buying cupboards. Three, to be precise, or even four if you count the bedside cabinet I noticed in the secondhand furniture shop while searching for cupboards and realised it would be perfect for our spare bedroom.

But THE cupboard still eludes me. I'm looking for something wooden, with double doors, that I can fill with surreptitious photographs. So first, I found a glass-doored bookcase for only a tenner that might be adaptable if I can't find anything better. Thought I'd better snap it up. Saw the bedside cabinet. Didn't have enough cash so asked shop to hold it for a couple of days. Went back to Norwich and happened to spot a small wooden single door cupboard. Thought it might do if I can't find anything better. Bought it for £4. While in charity shop, spotted white melamine kitchen/bathroom cupboard. Thought nothing of it at the time. Once home, hankered after it: might work conceptually if I can't find anything better. Went back to Norwich and bought it for £5. Have now spent £19 on cupboards and they are filling up the garage and none of them are quite right for this piece of work. Oh well. Back to Norwich after the bank holiday I guess.

Meanwhile, I'm transferring photographs onto white tee shirts of differing sizes. Lots of them. The transfer process makes the living room smell funny, but I think I've finished now.

And I've had AO-sized blueprints made of four of the most phallic poppyheads you can imagine. They are pretty shocking. The young man in the copy department stepped backwards, wincing, when the first one came out of the printer. Yay!

Lots more printing to do at home, too – it's costing a fortune in ink, let alone cupboards. But now I've sent out email notification to over 200 people, there had better be something for them to see if they venture up to North Norfolk in a month's time.

My last blog entry marked the end of the Festial year in a strictly technical sense, but of course Festial hasn't finished at all. For one thing, I still have the last few copies of the Rogationtide Kalender to foist on some unsuspecting members of the public.

The residency at Gresham's school – achieved through this project as far as I can tell – is approaching fast. I will be in the school's art department every day (and as it's a public school it actually IS every day) for three weeks of September, followed by a day to set up a solo exhibition in their Nicholson Gallery, followed by a private view the following evening. Makes me tired/worried/nervous/excited just thinking about it! I will be teaching some Year 10 and Year 13 classes, as well as making a presentation about my work to sixth formers. When I first knew about this, I was in a complete panicky fuzz about the whole thing, but now I've worked out a lesson scheme and made my Powerpoint presentation things don't seem quite so daunting. Well, not quite.

There is still the small matter of a two-storey gallery space to fill singlehandedly. Although I'll have a space within the department to work on my own stuff in between times, realistically I need to have the majority of work ready before I start at the school at the beginning of September. Which doesn't give me long at all. And I have no funding or guidance or anything, so it's all in the lap of the gods, really. Although, I hasten to add, I do like a challenge.

Then there's promotion. Oh yes, promotion. Why didn't I think of that earlier?! So far, the only publicity for this exhibition is in the North Norfolk Arts Events Brochure and it gives the dates as a month later than they actually are. This information has been copied onto the What's On In The Arts page on the local council's website. Not a lot of use, then.

As usual, Trevor has calmed me down by sitting down with me with a pencil and paper. Many bullet points later, we have come up with an Action Plan. And so, the promotion starts here.

Imogen Ashwin

Closing the Circle: Ex Voto

Nicholson Gallery, Gresham's School, Holt, Norfolk

September 26 – October 17 2008

Private View Friday September 26, 6 – 8pm

Hope to see you there!

www.world-tree.co.uk/festial (in process of updating)