FROM LONDON TO LOCALISM

I have been watching, as if from afar, how my various environments have changed over the past few months(nearly 6 months-eek!) since I have relocated from London to the North West.

Living very near the city centre, my partner says that Manchester has all of the great aspects of London, with none of the bad aspects (ie.long commuting, general griminess, a grumpier more aggressive manner…etc). I can see this point, and it certainly feels as if I can make the most of the city and all the culture it has to offer. When a PV comes up, and I am quibbling whether to spend my budget on the train fare, it is usually for an event outwith the city (Leeds, Brum or Wakefield). But I guess all of this is just geography, and a growing disdain for the extortionate cost of rail fare.

It is also interesting in the workplace – I have noticed how working in a smaller, more rural area (Blackburn University Centre) the considerable longevity that staff seem to have in one organisation. In London, it was general practice to move around more often, but here sustained work, although not in the same role, but same organisation seems much more commonplace. Bonds seem tighter, and dare I say it more emotional.

The residency at Manchester School of Art has also offered me an interesting perspective, as not a student or lecturer in a HE institution but an artist/ user of its excellent resources (also watching as 3rd years begin to panic as time is drawing to a close..). The time at MMU has allowed me to develop several projects at once – 3 books, various range of prints, one animation and another one on the go, and last some sculptural cast objects after Easter. We are also working towards a group show which will be held in the Holden Gallery in August.

I attended a training session today, where the leader of the group quoted a researcher, Silvia Gherardi, with this statement, ‘Ideas travel globally, but they take root locally’. It is satisfying that it rhymes, but it also make me think about my own needs to develop my practice on a more ‘local’ level. And also in a more ‘local’ level to make me feel more supported and more able due to more time and less pressing financial requirements.

Since November 2011, I have been running a monthly Artist Practice Session at Rogue Project Space, Manchester. The format runs very similarly to the crit session that I organised in London with my peers that also graduated from Goldsmiths, and also the sessions that I attended/ presented at the Camden Arts Centre. 1-2 artists present, and a group of 8-12 audience artists offer supportive dialogue and feedback. So far presenting artists have included Jacqueline Wylie, Mike Chavez Dawson, Nicola Dale, Jessica Longmore. This monday’s session has Daniel Fogarty’s talking about his work and next month Annie Harrison and Sarah Sanders are presenting. If you would like to attend and/ or present, please take a look at the tumblr site for the sessions – http://communityofpracticeman.tumblr.com/.

So far the sessions have been a great way to meet other artists in the area, and it would be great to run other sessions or events with other organisations in the future. I would also like to organise a show that would potentially involve collaborations from presenting artists.

My residency at Manchester School of Art has been going well too. Since completing the exhibition at KRAAK, I have been focusing on printing from the lasercut woodblocks to create two books I am going to make. I have been spending time understanding the process of making various basic book construction, so I am going to be using two processes for my two books. I am excited about making them, and a little nervous too. I have also been collecting my thoughts and ideas for a second animation. Work feels steady and relatively productive, but as always there is always room to do more.

One of my prints ‘Hope for an Urban Utopia’ (see image on right), will be exhibited at the #tweetart exhibition at Wakefield Studios, Wakefield on 28th March 2012 – see link http://aliceandbobcurate.wordpress.com/2012/01/14/tweetart/.

It is a guilty few months since I last posted, and life has been busy indeed with..

…moving flat

…getting stuck into my new teaching job

…getting settled and making the most of my residency at Manchester School of Art

…running the Artist Crit sessions at Rogue

…showing in a few shows

and other bits of art and work in between.

My practice seems to have turned quite a corner, and I have really moved away from my interest into mapping of digital space for now. I have been spending a lot of time photographing, drawing, making hand carved and digitally engraved prints of different architectural structures around the local area.

This week I presented an animation, ‘If you’re lost, remember what you saw on the way’, which develops imagery and drawings from my daily walks in Ancoats. The exhibition was at Kraak, and the group show was part of the SAM series of experimental music and art events, funded by the Arts Council. It was a great show and event, with work by Matt Bamber, Annie Carpenter, Taneesha Ahmed, Mary Stark, Mike – Chavez Dawson, Jessica Longmore, Matthew Denniss and Rebecca Rogers.