I’m getting close to the end of the residency and I’m preparing my talk and re-living it all and realising what a fantastic time I’ve had. It’s given me many new perspectives on life and ideas for making art.
Getting ready for the talk tomorrow is another first. I’ve never spoken formally in public before since graduating, but I am looking forward to it. It will be the start of a few talks. I’ll be speaking at the Synapse Symposium in Leicester in November and also at one of the Seminars at the University of Nottingham.
My mentor, Ang Bartram from the University of Lincoln passed on some really useful information at our first meeting last July. When I mentioned I’d never blogged before she said that the blog would be useful to feed into the talk at The Collection. Also that I would need 2,500 words for a 20 minute presentation and that would feed into the bigger talk at the Symposium. What I didn’t know at the time was that the talk is also being filmed. So if I stumble over my words or lose the plot it will be recorded for posterity.
Somehow, I’ve managed to add more pressure on myself in the run-up to the Deda exhibition. The curation was tricky and we found ourselves with nothing to put on the stairs that didn’t need drilling. I volunteered to make some hangings out of unravelled jumpers from the charity shops of Derby to fill the space. I’m working on them but they’re time-consuming. The deadline is next week. I know I’ll be working the night shift to get them done.
We had a difficult choice to make about the P.V. Did we want it on Halloween night or 2nd November, which is close to Bonfire night! Saturday 2nd November 6-8pm won and that’s when we are hoping to fill the place with our guests. It’s exciting because we are all showing new work and it’s our first time in Derby.
If I survive tomorrow I will be writing my final Lincoln blog and starting the University of Nottingham residency blog.
