My work, reasons behind it and what happens to it.

My whole method of working has had to be rethought because of an unexpected problem……I took on a rescue dog. I have a dog already and I thought it would be good for her to have company while I’m working so much. My ‘old’ dog has learnt to walk around the scraps of paper on the floor and ignore anything I leave out to dry. I assumed then, that this new dog would be the same.

Finding a stack of newly cut out shapes chewed to a pulp behind the settee, was the first indication that there might be a problem.

I am trying to stay calm

I’m getting a bit nervous about my shoe installation that will go into the recycling exhibition (De Junk, Re junk) at the Williamson next week. Because of my ‘little problem’, I’ve had to put away and store each paper shoe almost as soon as it has dried. This means that I haven’t had to chance to spread everything out to see what it will look like. It’s an additional worry, as I can’t install the work on Tuesday with everyone else – I’ve taken a few days leave for the week after so that I can run some workshops and begin to install the church installation, so I don’t have any days spare. I will have to go on the Friday morning (before the PV!) and hope that I get it right first time.

On top of all this………..I can’t think of a title and I’m under pressure to send all my info off in the next couple of days. I just feel totally disorganised and kind of helpless …..and part of me is thinking that I desperately want to go freelance so that I have more flexibility with my time, while another part thinks ‘I chose to live like this – get on with it!’

Today’s curator meeting has been cancelled and rescheduled. I was a little disappointed, but also a little relieved. I think I just needed a day off of nothingness, allowing myself some thinking time. I’m not quite sure when I last had a day off when I wasn’t either in meetings, looking at art or running workshops, so this one is long overdue.

I’d left all of the starflies made with the children at the last workshop, on my window ledge to dry out and now they are all curled up. I’m going to have to spend an hour or so straightening them and storing them properly, but I think that’s all I’ll do today.

I would so love to apply for this residency: http://www.paper-gallery.co.uk/136855/opportunities but I can’t spare 3 days a week, financially OR physically. It doesn’t seem to be paid, so I wonder what type of artist could do it?

I can’t actually apply for anything really, which is quite frustrating. BUT.… I do have the US exhibition to look forward to next April. As a recap, I exhibited at SUPERMARKET Stockholm last year with my group SCIBase; we gathered artists as our ideas progressed, planning future collaborations. We now have a reciprocal exhibition with one of the artists in her home city.

So I am now reading with much interest the a-n news article: http://new.a-n.co.uk/news/single/working-internationally picking up as many tips as possible in the hope that everything runs smoothly.

If I hadn’t already booked online to go on another Liverpool Art month bus tour yesterday, I probably would have sat in and watched TV all day. I felt like I was going down with something and on top of that, it was cold and wet outside.

I dragged myself out though, and like last week, I was glad I did.

The bus was full this time and we headed off to see the Bridewell’s ‘Possible Impossibilities’. (The exhibition in which I’m showing the paper building in the image with this post) It was good to see the exhibition for the first time and I’m pleased that the other work was so strong. This will probably be the last time I enter an open exhibition for a while at least, so I was glad to go out with this one.

Next stop was the Royal Standard…. for some reason, I’ve always found this space a little intimidating and the only time I’d ever visited before, was for an AIR meeting. It was an exhibition of film and video, and we were lucky enough to have the curator of this exhibition talk us through each piece. I was really impressed.

Matt Ford’s studio next…. artist- photographer Lu Lowe was taking shots of as many visitors as possible for her yearlong portrait collection ‘The Lowe Photo booth Project’, which she will show next year. I sat gloomily in front of her camera, regretting volunteering: (

As Look 13 (Liverpool International Photography Festival) is part of Art Month, we continued on to Drop the Dumbells to see Unfinished a series of colour portraits and landscapes by Rob Bremner, a freelance photographer.

I wished I’d had the energy to carry on seeing more exhibitions once the bus had dropped us off, but I was feeling really achy by then.

I’d achieved something on my day off though, so I can sit and vegetate in work today without feeling guilty.

I can also wait in anticipation to read the Liverpool Daily Post’s supplement on the Tate’s 25^th Birthday. I did a phone interview with them the other day and am convinced I talked utter crap : (



I have unashamedly name dropped to get an appointment with a curator. I’ve been trying for about six months now and I’ve either been told they were busy or not had any response at all – hence the desperate measures : / It worked though ( well, either that, or they got fed up with me !) …I’m being seen next week.

Its not so much an exhibition I’m looking for, I wanted some feedback on my work AND website. I haven’t touched the site for about 6 months as I wasn’t sure what I should do with it. Should I include older work? Should there be a blog? There’s loads of things I need advice on and hopefully this will all be discussed next week.

We’re meeting at the gallery space where I have work, so I’ve got out of the awkward situation of not having a studio space in town.

It seems to be of great importance to have a city centre studio space and I know that there are times when I haven’t been taken seriously because I don’t rent a space, but who on earth can afford them? Although I do admire anyone who has to go without something or other to pay rent on a space, I know I can’t do it. If I did, I’m out all the time so would be paying for a space I hardly use.

Instead, I’ve got my house stacked up with crap ( recycled materials that is) … but having the comfort of being able to pick up on my work whenever I want.

I don’t want to be under that pressure of having to sort out something for possible ‘studio visits ‘….but would I really have to?.

Today’s drop in workshop session inside the church, started off as a cross between a ‘Little Britain’ and ‘A League of Gentleman’ episode. ‘I want to do plain things…. not all this fancy stuff’, complained one little old lady. She huffed and puffed over having to re use scraps of paper in ‘all of these colours’.

It did get better though. Two of the volunteers from the Wednesdays Tots workshop came back today and wanted to carry on from the last session. As more sat at the table to cut and talk…mainly talk… lots more joined in. The church organist was giving a recital, so all hushed for a while cutting and pasting, but carried on in between. I’d bought a large plastic container with me this time and it was really useful for letting the ‘stars’ dry out on the lids. Even more useful when carrying the whole lot back to my car in the pouring rain! I’m learning more from each session, so will probably (hopefully!) be pitch perfect by the next school one in June.

Yesterday’s Art Month bus tour was very good – though very tiring! Six had booked for the bus (not five as previously thought) so it wasn’t too embarrassing for the organisers. We visited two galleries and three studio groups, so there was an awful lot of art to see. The studio groups were all really keen to show their work and it was hard saying that we have to move on through lack of time. It made me fleetingly wish I worked in one of the studios, but I think it would drive me mad having people talking around me while I was trying to work.

So that’s it – my five days off work done. Normally when I have few days off, I’d cut myself off and get stuck in on my work. This time, I’ve hardly done any of my own work, but met, spoken to, exchanged ideas and commented on work with so many people, that I not only feel a lot richer for, but have also got a hell of a lot to think about in the coming weeks.