Getting paid

Geneva airport has been closed for a couple of days, so my flight was cancelled yesterday. Rather than take a replacement flight Friday, Dan and I thought we would save the money (and his holidays from work) and forget it. There was also a line of very sad-looking skiers and we thought they needed to get there more than we did! I hope my installation instructions will translate ok for the exhibition on Saturday.

http://www.roaming-art.it/eventi/upcoming/heteroto…

Would have been nice to go, but perhaps there will another chance some day. Having 5 unplanned days actually feels like magical time conjured from nowhere. I haven’t done much useful with it so far though.

I have been pretending to do my accounts today and as a result am feeling the rising panic in my guts. I have a little bit of income to come as an artists’ fee from YSP, but I have to live on that until July – not likely! I have some lecturing coming up, but only 3 days, although I think I can stretch that for about 6 weeks. I am thrift Queen.

I am also still chasing a load of invoices from as far back as August – nearly £2,000 worth! I have sent some polite emails (again), but my next blog post will be all about naming names if they don’t pay up!. Lots of them are from artist types so they really should know better and have a bit of empathy. Grrr. My van insurance is due on 22nd December so that will see me get progressively more frantic and assertive.

There is an article in this month’s a-n about ways to save money, which I shall be taking heed of!

www.a-n.co.uk/p/862057/

My only problem with this article is the presumption that artists are able to apply for a 0% credit card.

As I said, I’m at home doing my accounts today. That would be my 09/10 accounts (oops!). One thing I wish, I wish I could change to a more ethical bank, i.e. The Cooperative, but I feel properly stuck with HSBC. I started with Midland when I was very wee, and then when I went to Uni, they were HSBC already and were offering a four year railcard and an amazing overdraft with student accounts. Going to Edinburgh and having a boyfriend still at home in Cheshire, this saved me hundreds of pounds and was a complete no-brainer. But now, as a self employed artist earning very little (between £7,000 – 12,000), I find myself stuck with this bank. If I could get a new account now (I’ve tried), I wouldn’t even be eligible for a solo-card, never mind switch, or an overdraft or credit card. Even in the credit happy times when I was at Wimbledon, I was turned down for a graduate loan 7 times as well as bank accounts and credit cards.

As it is, my loyalty to HSBC means that my overdraft limit from 1997 still continues to be £1500 and I live in this for half the year at least. I also feel like they might notice one day and take it away from me! Shhhh, don’t tell them!

I can see why people get really stuck on low incomes and crap cash flow, when they have no leeway. Pure misery. I try not to use my credit card, as I would quickly get in a mess (especially when they constantly hike my limit up, think I have about £7,000 at the moment – that’s about the same as I earn – ridiculous!) but I am glad it exists just in case. Ugh, anyway, enough money chat. Perhaps one day I will graduate to choosing which bank I use; I hope so.

I AM NOT IN SWITZERLAND.

I learned a few things last week while I was on holiday. Or I kind of knew these things already, but had them confirmed.

i. Cycling, playing badminton and swimming every day is amazing. I need more exercise/time outside, and less being crouched over work or laptop.

ii. I have lost the ability to switch off. I need to make more time to read (non-art books!) and play random board games or watch films with my husband. Anything that constitutes a real life basically.

iii. Having an iphone and wifi/openzone is a problem. I literally don’t know how to have a holiday anymore. I wonder if the days of disappearing for two weeks are over? Especially frustrating is that new Windows live means Hotmail doesn’t have a vacation reply anymore. I have had my hotmail address since 1993, but I don’t think I can keep using it if this remains the case. It’s completely unprofessional and a pain in the arse.

It was a lovely week, even given the slightly bizarre shopping-centric environment of Center Parcs (they’re Ameri-French!). We paid to use the spa (HEAVEN) and also to get a massage (I NEED MORE IN MY LIFE). The food on offer was pretty crap, but we had shopped en route, so avoided too much overpriced tat. On the whole, it was probably a great choice as there was very little to deal with – I needed to be herded like a sheep for a week.

It did feel pretty shitty to be lounging around while all the student protests were going on though, and I was glued to the news about it all. Nick Clegg insisting today that low income students will do better out of it is basically him trying to polish a turd. It’s a ruse and yes, like with any statistics, you can present the figures like that and make them look convincing, but that is basically appealing to the capitalist in people – ‘oh yeah, he’s right, I’ll be better off, nice one’. This is real Conservative territory and I am horrified how much he has compromised his policies and apparent beliefs. Also, an aside, I know they’re working off a median wage, but £21,000 as a low income illustrates how far I still have to go! 31, graduated for 9 years, working hard and still only earning half of that! Sad face. Paying these back may not be a problem for someone like me, but getting by and managing any kind of quality of life or pension etc would be.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/nov/30/nic…

I feel scared.

Clegg also outlines his argument further in a letter to the NUS President:

http://bit.ly/eelgBk

*yawn* Tired.

Last night was really good, although I was mainly on edge watching my balanced plaster sculptures wibble a bit everytime someone walked past on the beautiful sprung floor. I met Ainsley Harriot (he’s in theatre in Manchester) on my way to the gallery and then drank too much wine too early. Surreal. A couple of good friends came along too, which was really nice. I also spent the day (after hanging and before opening) looking round galleries in Manchester. It has a completely different feel to Liverpool and I really enjoyed myself.

I arrived to find my work really beautifully lit and placed and I just had to arrange it all. It actually took me a stupid amount of time, but that’s just a result of indecision and my clumsy ham hands. Kit and the team at the gallery made a real effort to introduce all the artists to each other and to be welcoming. As another artist commented, it made a very nice change from the common scenario of communication ending when the work has been delivered.

The gallery is owned by Salford University so it seems that insurance may take a while to get sorted out. But hopefully it will.

I am going away for five days next week. As I looked back a bit through my blog I was a bit horrified at how often I refer to how tired I am. The last year has felt a bit relentless, in an incredibly progressive and exciting way, but I could do with a proper break. Wales in September was really nice, but going with masses of family was not actually that relaxing! I was also still working like an idiot most of the week as well, if I’m honest.

Husband is pretty exhausted too and he really needs a break from work. So on Monday Dan and I are going to Center Parcs, the height of culture and sophistication :D The plan is Grizedale on the way up (just one bit of art mind – it is a holiday right?) and then to be floating in the hot outdoor pool or getting a massage or lurking in the spa until Friday. We did book a badminton court for one session, but I am already thinking that might be a mistake! He he. We’re also taking a suitcase of books and films and plenty of whisky. I’m looking forward to a pause; a gap that might just spark off some different thoughts and plans.

I sometimes think of places as grammatical symbols in relation to what effect they have on me. Some places are a comma (pause) and some a full stop. I hoping next week is more like a semi-colon so that there is a related point to follow as a result. That probably sounds very silly, but that’s just the way my head does it.

Hope everyone is wrapped up warm as it gets chillier. My studio is getting more difficult but have thermals, will use them.

Tomorrow sees the opening of the CUBEopen exhibition. This is the one I applied for (without certainty) and mentioned in the blog. It’s usually a good exhibition and this year I am excited to see the work and to be in it.

http://www.cube.org.uk/exhibitions/detail.asp?id=2…

My personal experience has not been great however. There has been some broken communication from the start, the first instance of which was them asking to show ‘Inhabitant’, which was clearly marked IN AUSTRIA on my application form. Although I stated it would be a photograph on display, that hadn’t been read and their audible disappointment completely battered my confidence.

Their second choice was a work 3 metres high and it turned out they hadn’t read the dimensions so it wouldn’t actually fit in the gallery. Aside from those practicalities, there was also absolutely no budget for transport, so I couldn’t have brought it in anyway. As there is no budget for anything, I have to wonder where the £10 entry fee goes. The prize money is not sponsored, so I guess all the entrants are just chipping in for that. This feels especially wrong, like a lottery controlled by judges. I don’t know why, I just expected that money would go into making the exhibition happen.

After that it felt like ‘oh well, anything else will do’ like all my other work is a bit second rate. Anyway, that might all be inferred by me to be honest, but I just feel that I shouldn’t have been put in that situation at all. Next I drop my work off, and then find out I have to go back a few days later to finish install as the gallery was not ready for hanging.

Lastly, and the spectacular icing on the cake, I get a phone call from them saying one of my pieces has gone missing from the gallery. It has not been found and I am going in tomorrow to finish installing the other work and talk about insurance. My gorgeous new bookbinding shears were packed in with the work too dagnamit.

Clearly (to me), it is in a bin somewhere and probably flat as a pancake. I was surprised how gutted I was to lose this work,. This is probably because the whole thing seems so uneccesary and because I didn’t actually need to drop it off when I did. In theory I could re-make it, but I just can’t see that happening. Ironically I had just talked with the curator at YSP about including it in my solo show and using it as one of the starting points for the exhibition. HA. Not so.

I’m a bit resigned to it now, I just hope we can sort out money to pay for it. I shall be going to the opening, but I am sad to only be showing one (teeny) piece. I hope something good comes out of the exhibition so that it ends up being a more positive experience overall.

I have to say though, twitter and facebook have been amazing. I put out a question asking if people knew anything about insurance and galleries losing work. I had SO many replies, some with personal experience, some pointing me to useful websites, some patting me on the head and saying ‘there there’. I love the online art community, there are so many generous people out there. Thanks to everyone who replied and shared.

Gosh, MOAN OVER. Sorry about that. Cheer next time, I promise.