Time runs away with you when your brain is for hire…
I can’t believe its been so many months since my last blog. I’ve been working hard on various Creative Partnerships projects, a friend of mine refers to it as renting out your brain which I think I have to agree with. It has reduced all my thinking time for my own work to near negligable amounts. Don’t get me wrong I love working in the schools with the pupils & teachers, but every penny earnt is hard work, and the weekends and evenings disapear.
Its a hard choice for artists to make, some artists I know refuse to do education work in fear that it will water down their professional practice, and there is always the fear of being ‘sucked too far in’ to the world of education. You can easily take on one project after another to discover that you haven’t been in your own studio or looked at your own work for months sometimes years. After doing 3 solid months of educational projects I can see how easily it can happen.
But all is well, I have managed to squeeze in an exhibition, the keys have moved to Manchester and the project has changed names…
The project has been renamed as Object & Loss as much of the work is about the relationship between objects and ourselves, as well as the piece being a vehicle for an exploration of loss.
400 or so keys are now hanging from the ceiling in Nexus Art Cafe, a wonderful warm supporting space, a fabulous place to exhibit, and a great place for lunch. I have loved hanging them (with wonderful help from Kirsty Lou Jones). The keys had started to turn into a homogeneous group for a while, but hanging each one brought the back the resonance of individual stories, each referencing a life once lived and a journey now past… i feel very attached to each one…
I’ve had a fabulous time at Nexus and staying in Manchester, maybe I’m enjoying the time more after spending so much time in schools away from the keys. Maybe renting out your brain gives a fresh approach when you get you it back? I’ll try and keep that in mind when I’m back in the schools next week…
