Getting paid

Linzblog:

I have been reading through a few blogs this morning and specifically those by other people currently on residencies.. It made me laugh how much I recognise my own experiences mirrored in these: struggling with time both going slowly and then having disappeared, feeling that progress is slow ( I have been given this time/space I so desperately wanted, why haven’t I filled the room with work?) and also having so many ideas that it can be difficult to decide which direction to take.

Talking last night to the other residents – we have been here a month now! – we all agreed that we were suprised how long it has taken to really get a feel for Linz, although I think this might be due in part to the capital of culture colouring everything. I also think it has something to do with the fact that we found ourselves here with a week or two notice with no knowledge of what was coming. Applying to something with a proposal gives you a starting point I suppose, and just going somewhere leaves you with a bit of a struggle. Mine is between work I had been wanting to do for ages in Liverpool and wanting to respond to Linz itself. The Liverpool work seems less relevant while I am here and perhaps that it can wait (although it has waited a long time already!). I can’t help but have new thoughts, new ideas, all from Linz and seeming more urgent while I am here.

There is only 6 weeks left, so I shall have to make some decisions soon and leave this limbo land. The exhibition also looms in my head, as once again, I’m not sure how I can show anything but work in progress? Although I am pretty good at forgetting that it takes me a long time to build up to something and then I make quite frantically for days/weeks before stopping again. Like a zen monk contemplating one brushstroke for an hour, only far less sophisticated and with more angst.

This worry over what to do however, make me glad that this has been such a rich experience.. I know that I am gathering things that will stay in my work for a long time. Whether I get them done while I am here or not is another question!

Had some unexpected success from this strange and awkward exhibtion downstairs: an artist from France ordering a copy of all of my books (with promises to be in touch about other things too..?) and a multiples shop in Germany asking to stock my books. A much needed boost to my confidence and a sign that my editions need to be a little bit bigger in future – 14 doesn’t go very far!!

Must stop posting more than once a day and get a life…..in the meantime:

First – HSBC have a £30,000 student bursaries competition going: http://bit.ly/18wOeU

Second – just a quickie – a link from The New Gallery on twitter:

http://www.rabble.ca/books/reviews/more-business-u…

review of a book from 2008, which caught my eye as it is questioning the role of artist-led spaces (you may or may not remember I was wittering on about that a few days ago…).

Anyway, decentre: concerning artist-run culture by Elaine Chang, Andrea Lalonde, Chris Lloyd, Steve Loft, Jonathan Middleton, Daniel Roy, Haema Sivanesan, eds is published by YYZ Books (this website is also interesting and one I have catalogued – look:
www.yyzartistsoutlet.org/) in Canada. rabble.ca say about the book (sorry to be a lazy quoter):

The editors of decentre make a concerted effort to explore artist-run centres (ARCs) in their current form, inviting artists and organizers to reflect on where “the real strength of artist-run culture” lies and whether the concept of ARCs has in fact “outlived its usefulness.”

The books profiles 103 spaces and the review seems to think it’s a pretty good, interesting and timely overview, although certainly not without its faults.. my curiosity was also piqued by the mention of the preface by Hans Abbing that examines the denial of economics in art.. (he also wrote Why Are Artists Poor?)

http://www.hansabbing.nl/

I might just have to order a copy and let you know properly – at least if I have something to read I won’t be on here every 5 minutes!!

I didn’t mean to post anything else again today, but I was just checking the deadline for something and came across a residency at the Bridge School; a special needs school in Islington. This is a residency with studio, materials budget that involves teaching a 50% timetable. Payment is in the region of 12 – 13k as a 50% unqualified teacher’s salary would be..

But they are not looking to employ an unqualified teacher are they? They want a professional artist. How does that work then? They also state a desire for experience working with special needs – so although on an unqualified rate (lots of artists will never be qualified as a teacher!) they are looking for an art qualification and are asking for experience. So anyway, unqualified teacher/artist: it’s not the same thing and seems to be quite dangerous to presume that it is. It seems to also be presumed that the artist will be grateful at having an income and studio space guaranteed for a year and that they won’t expect to be paid more. Maybe lots of artists would be grateful? Does this kind of experience imply that the time they are giving you (by paying the same amount as a shop job), is part of the payment? I realise that schools have little spare cash and that this will probably be a great experience for someone.. but perhaps they need to have the resident for half the time and pay the same amount?

Anyway, it’s a lot better paid than most school-based residencies, but it still seems badly paid (even if you count the cost of a London studio at £200/month that only adds £2400 onto the value..). I would also be terrified at the 50% timetable requirement.. hopefully they give training for working with special needs children too. Having taught English in Japan for a couple of years (very different, yes I do realise..) and art workshops I have a very good idea of how long planning takes when you are inexperienced and are desperate to do a good job. I feel sure that for the first few months this 50% would end up being a full time job.

Firstly, thanks to everyone who replied. Like I said below I didn’t think about the personal nature of replies being incompatible with comments. Heard from some mums, dads, and some also worrieds. The majority says yes, you can have it all, but perhaps with a year off and some guilt. I also realised that lots of artists whose work I am pretty familiar with, are parents and I would never have known. I also had some good chat going on on facebook about the entry and among the emails, the following response about planning (from a previous post) and babies, from my mum is probably my favourite (she is pretty awesome and usually speaks sense).

Hi

Les

Ok Grandma.

Appraisal first then…

Linzblog: much building and collapsing (see images of me building places to hide). It is raining, which is a relief as I feel no need to leave my studio. Attic idea for the next exhibition completely refused. I am spending too much time on the computer and it’s making me really tense! – But(!) one more application to get through today and then I’m done…

Maternity/paidblog:

So, this post is quite a personal topic, but something I have been pondering or worrying over for a while, without conclusion or useful thoughts. Perhaps the good blog readers will be able to offer some advice/ own experiences?

On having children; my husband is desperate for babies and I’m not adverse to the idea, in fact as soon as YSbloodyP is done next summer it’s babies are go as far as I’m concerned (presuming we are both able etc..). One major problem, as a self-employed artist, is what the hell am I going to do about money?? Full child benefit currently stands at £80/month.

My husband earns an okay wage as a games programmer. However, he went back to Uni and graduated again in 2006, so then he had a job, but plenty of debts too. When we moved in together, he had just started work and I am a self-employed artist, therefore neither of us could pass a landlord’s credit check and had to get a loan to pay rent in advance. This meant paying back more and over a longer period, so that took its toll. Needless to say Dan has to bail me out occasionally (see non-payment in Linz for most recent example). Anyway, that is all back history to illustrate the point that we live in our overdrafts and struggle when unexpected car bills and the like crop up. To be solvent it will take a few years, but we don’t want to wait. Friends and family have joked that I need a job in the council or somewhere for 6 months, then I’d have maternity pay. Trouble is, that does seem like the only real option; getting employed.

Reminded of a familiar worry by this month’s curated selection on Axis, there is also the worry about how I will manage everything. The selector Katy Deepwell says

“While many artists in art school are still fed the myth that somehow motherhood and art are incompatible, the extended education of many women (artists included) has pushed motherhood later and later in their lives”.

But is it a myth? Can I still work? More likely perhaps – will I be so smitten that I won’t want to? Lena Simic from The Institute for the Art and Practice of Dissent at Home in Liverpool manages to mix her children, life and art pretty seamlessly, but I’m not sure this way is for me; my husband is not an artist for a start and he likes his privacy! I don’t know anyone else that I can use as an example; all my (women) friends with babies gave up their art long ago or never did it, and friends who are artists do not have babies.

Mainly I am scared about having worked so hard and losing all that. Would I end up losing my practice (as opposed to finding it)? It seems that whichever way you do it; you can’t really have it all. Can you? (someone say yes please..)