What’s happening in the world is affecting my mood. Here I am feeling rather overwhelmed trying to get so many projects done simultaneously and then there is all this STUFF – bad news basically – happening all around me. It doesn’t make being creative very easy. But we continue. So, from my tiny perspective I am now in countdown mode. The exhibition opens in 7 weeks! And I am trying to get my public art commission designed and submitted before I can start on designing my piece for the Sladmore Made in Korea show. Of course, the only thing that is really going on is everything to do with The Ceramic House. This is always the way, and the fact that I have decided to make the final leap and try to finish all the permanent exterior features that have been in planning for years doesn’t exactly lessen the work load! Designing my public art commission is going to have to take back seat.
I am in the studio one day a week now, with my current volunteer, making the tiles for the new grand entranceway for The Ceramic House. Yesterday was a minor kiln disaster day and I opened two kilns to find that a lot of tiles had warped. Remaking them now must be factored in. Ceramics is, basically, a bit of a nightmare – any ceramist will corroborate this! However, the tiles for the front wall are done and came out well. The new mosaic front path is finally finished. It took the tilers about three months because of the vagaries of the weather from start to end. We made the tiles for the three new floorpieces in the back garden in January and I’ve just booked the tiler to lay them in April. Fingers crossed for dry, clement weather.
I’ve still got to wait 10 more days to hear about the ACE bid. Feeling very nervous in case I don’t get it, which is entirely possible. These days it doesn’t matter how strong your application is and whether you have ticked every box; there is simply not enough money to go around and it all depends on what else is on the table the week of the selection. The Korean artists got knocked back for their first funding bid but I just heard they got a smaller one from the Korean Design Foundation. So that means the AIRs can definitely come, and there should be enough money for the shipping too. So that is good.
I was Miss PR last week and it brought results. I fired off and followed up press releases and several magazines have said yes! Crafts magazine, Ceramic Review, Ceramics Monthly (US) will all do features, and a couple of glossies (home/lifestyle) too. So that lifted my spirits.
I spent most of the weekend testing out a new look for The Ceramic House website. I made the website myself (slightly amazing given that I am not naturally content in front of a computer, but it was not difficult on wordpress). I have been in discussion with my web/graphic designer about this for a long time now, and we haven’t really got anywhere. So, following a meeting last week, I decided to just try some new themes out, and I could see how different and fresh it can look. It’s good that I have my designer to help with the coding and technical stuff – like making it work on a mobile device. I feel optimistic that the new website will be done this year. Whether it is in time for the May opening is another question!
Joseph Young, my sound artist collaborator and I, met up with Hankil Ryu, our lead sound artist in Korea, who was in Europe doing some gigs. He has been immensely helpful and has translated our proposal to Mullae Art Factory in Seoul, where we hope to have an exhibition of my work and a concert of sound art by Korean artists and Joseph in the autumn. Hankil hopes that Mullae will support us in some way and Joseph has applied for a small fund that would cover the costs of going to Seoul as a backup in case the funding doesn’t come through. It would be a shame not to use this great opportunity.
Last word – it was a pleasure to see two Korean ceramists I met at the Saatchi recently who were exhibiting in Collect. They are both AIRs at Yanggu Porcelain Factory. Months ago, Kyung Won translated a proposal I wrote to do a residency and hopefully a solo show or public art piece there, but nothing came back. They told me the curators are considering it. Things do tend to take a lot longer to materialise in Korea so it’s good that it’s still on the table. It’s a truly inspiring place, I would love to go there, even if it can’t be part of this project any more.
