I have called this blog ‘Mirror, signal, manoeuvre’ because I have been thinking about mentoring as an opportunity to look back, take stock of what I have done so far, take note of what is currently happening with my work and decide where to take it next.
Mirrors, like water, evoke reflection where the landscape happens again but in reverse or upside down. Getting a new view of my work is a definite aim of asking for mentoring: that in discussion with someone else about the work, insights I had been searching for will come to light.
I imagine spreading the process over up to two years so as to have plenty of time in between conversations to let the insights sink in and see where they take me next.
My first mentoring session was with Joanne Lee in May. She has given me a thought-provoking list of questions about my work which I could imagine forming the spine of the whole process.
My next step is to set up some pieces (those which still exist in material form) in my studio so that we can look at them together and talk about what is going on.
Joanne is thoughtful, challenging and supportive and I am really looking forward to us working together. A friend, Judith Alder, is also the recipient of a Re:view bursary and she and I are planning to meet up occasionally during the process to talk about how it is going.
I am very grateful to a-n for giving me this chance to make mentoring a reality rather than a fantasy. After a busy decade and a half of teaching and mad freelancing which included giving a lot of advice and support to other artists, it’s my turn now.
Which turning I take remains to be seen…
