So what do you do when the hospital rings to cancel your treatment the night before….?
My husband can give a masterclass in complaining without raising your voice! Result: Treatment delayed by only 2 days.
So I had a bit of extra time, after being totally floored and unable to do anything on the expected treatment day, to pack up work I’ve sold and add two new pieces to my shop. I also made a small collage/drawing, as yet untitled.
Very pleased to be showing work from Encountering Place: Boldshaves Garden in this exhibition.
So just when I seem to be getting my work out there more I get a diagnosis of suspected bowel cancer. I am anxiously awaiting further tests and trying to focus on things I enjoy doing which means getting on with work in the studio…
I have had work accepted by Participate Art Space for Lawn and Meadow and as I couldn’t drive up to deliver the work – I don’t want to be too far away in case I get called in at short notice – I posted it to my sister who lives near Shrewsbury. This was quite a feat as I have never actually packed up framed pieces before…. I hope they arrive intact and also that I get better at it!
The body is so unreliable… or at least mine seems to be.
I have just got back from Yorkshire where I was showing work as part of Selfscapes, a group show of work by 25 artists responding to the Dalby Forest location and themes of embodied landscape, self and surroundings, self as narrative, self and body and creative practice as research. A nice touch was that a few students from York St John had a chance to show alongside their tutors and the invited artists.
The opening was preceded by a round table event with the artists divided into three panels, with a chair, so that everyone presented some of the themes specific to their work. I was in the panel chaired by Mike Collier focusing on phenomenological approaches to landscape/environment, walking and memory. I should have taken more photos, I realise.
The weather was glorious and I managed to sneak in a mini break as well, visiting Scarborough and coming across Anne Bronte’s grave.
Very pleased to be showing 3 new prints in this exhibition. More info
See also https://selfscapes118454050.wordpress.com/time-plan-for-event-2/
Getting up to Yorkshire is quite a trek (and expensive) so am making it part of a mini break, at least for the opening. It does make me think about how hard artists have to work at being able to afford to invest in making work and then showing it.
Clare Smith's mixed English/Chinese heritage informs her perspective on issues of identity and categorisation. Her nomadic childhood and early adulthood have meant a somewhat ambivalent relationship to place, reinforced by the sense of ambiguity that comes from her mixed identity. Smith works with drawing, print media, collage and moving image to investigate this ambivalence, with references to craft, the importance of labour and the handmade. Through her choice of materials and approaches, she creates work which attempts to create a sense of unity, an interpretation of Homi Bhabha's "Third Space" - seen as a space in which different parts can come together to challenge dominant ideas of wholeness. Collaboration is part of Smith’s practice and she is also co-founder of Dover Arts Development (DAD) together with painter, Joanna Jones. This involves working with many different artists, curation, organisation, event management, creating networks across East Kent and influencing the public realm in Dover. Clare works from a studio in Dover. She has an MA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins and has exhibited nationally and internationally.
