Bit of a manic 24 hours. Delivered my drawings for the Ludlow Open, facilitated a live Twitter debate for AIR/a-n, and also written, proofed and distributed the Madge Gill press release. Most importantly I’ve completed my third drawing of the week. Via a 200 mile round trip to the midlands.
One thing I always advise artists to do is to plan, plan, plan. Any successful portfolio career requires a lot of multitasking and having things mapped out well in advance avoids targets being missed. The first thing Rosamond did when I started the residency was send me a pretty detailed contract listing every milestone I need to hit over the next 5 weeks. I would recommend any artist starting a project, whether it be large or small, to do the same.
With the press release signed off and distributed the next task to get stuck into is planning a series of talks and events to accompany the exhibition. Now there are many ways to approach this but I tend to find basic ‘artists talks’ a tad boring. A fine example of how to do things properly is Zeitgeist Art Project’s ‘DIY Educate’ programme. Their ‘Show and Tell’ series of talks presents dynamic artist-led independents talking about what drives them forward. Minus the bloody moaning!
ZAP also provide crits and tutorials for artists and this is something I would like to incorporate into the Madge Gill events programme. I have found the Engine Chat Chat series of group crits (facilitated by artist Elizabeth Murton and part of the DIY Educate programme) really stimulating and a drawing themed crit session open to both Bow Arts artists and the wider artist community could stimulate a really interesting and engaging debate.
If anyone has any suggestions of what they would like to see as part of the events programme for the exhibition please let me know!
