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

So much for having a day to myself on Tuesday to catch up with some work…. I was absolutely exhausted after the heat and travelling round London the day before.

Despite having a really late night, I had to be up at 7.30 to mind a friends dog – in return for looking after mine while I was out and about on my travels.

I ended up taking them all for a long walk, catching up with my washing and hoovering…then promptly falling asleep on the settee mid afternoon. So much for catching up with my own work. Ho hum

We arrived in London about lunchtime and headed over to the Crypt Gallery – virtually just across the road from Euston station. As the name implies, the gallery is part of the church crypt – with many corridors, alcoves and little hidden spaces.

The exhibition looked really good – I was so pleased with the layout.

Seeing that everything was OK, I took a few photos then headed off to do some gallery visiting on my own.

First stop was the Royal Academy to see the summer show and the Joseph Cornell. I found the summer show chaotic as always, but there were some good pieces on display. Loved the Cormell….it was so inspiring for me especially – being a collector of bits and bobs .

From there, I headed towards the V & A, hoping to get into Alexander McQueens ‘Savage Beauty’ ( I couldn’t get in) so saw the ‘Shoes; Pain and Pleasure’ exhibition instead (my other passion is shoes!)

There’s no way in the world that I could have afforded to visit even those few exhibitions without my (free entry) work pass. So I am so grateful to have the ability to do this.

So from there, I went over to Tate Britain. .. slightly bored  with Hepworth’s work ( see it too much daily) but had a quick whizz round before having a final peep at Emin’s bed, before it heads up to Liverpool next year.

The heat and the crowds on the tubes were unbearable – how on earth do people cope with that daily? To escape the madness, I sat in Hyde Park , watching the ducks for a while before going back to the Crypt for the PV.

I couldn’t believe how packed it was. Normally, our exhibitions are attended by the artists and one or two guests, so to see literally hundreds there, was quite a culture shock.

My little installation (see below) was given its own space, framed by the crypt’s arches.

Exhibition continues until 25th July

I need to go to the studio….now that my head is finally full of ideas again. I have the ideas, the motivation, the resources….I just don’t have the time :-(

I decided to use my day off on Wednesday to visit my friend Tara in Wolverhampton and while there, call in to see Elena Thomas’s exhibition in Dudley.

Although really tiring, it was a lovely day out.  I find there’s nothing better and more relaxing than sitting in a train,  gazing at miles and miles of open fields with their cows and sheep ambling along, in no hurry to do anything. What a life.

The gentle rocking and the glare from the sun, gave me that ‘just before dropping off to sleep’ feeling, when scenarios of the day are played out before turning into dreams. Only on this occasion, my thoughts turned to snippets of artists conversations…The recent Glenn Ligon talk I’d attended at Tate Liverpool or the Anthony Gormley talk at St Georges hall…the research I’d done on Pollock – the moments when he decided to change direction in his work…

It was the thinking time I hadn’t been getting.

Although I’m next off on Monday, I’ll be in London most of the day. I want to catch up on a few exhibitions before attending the PV at the Crypt Gallery, where I have some work.

Tuesday though, will finally be ‘my’ day.

Despite sending my work down to London for the exhibition, 1st class and recorded, early Wednesday morning, it still hadn’t arrived by this morning (Friday)

Considering I spend a large amount of my work time with Art Handlers and couriers,  my efforts to not only package up the work (two hours to figure out how to wrap an eggshell and make the package as small as possible) and send it via the post office, rather than a courier service, makes it all sound a bit pathetic.

At least I didn’t wait til Saturday as originally planned. That gives me a few extra days.

Other news…….I received a renewal notice from Axisweb the other day, which I ignored. Well, ignored in that I didn’t respond… I actually thought about it a lot.

Did I honestly, really, need to renew it?

Maybe its worked well for others, I’m not knocking it, they do post LOADS of opportunities, but realistically – as I’m not applying for anything,  I’m just paying £30 for a status. I was one of the ‘Five to Watch’ last summer, but nothing at all has come from it.  I get more hits on my website through using social media to be honest.

Looking ahead, a few of us have got to together to show work in a theatre in the new year. Its  6 months ahead, so with the London exhibition as well, that’s more than enough ‘opportunities’ to keep me going for a while.

Late morning update: Package received and signed for. Phew!

As if by magic, another invite to exhibit has just appeared.  It’s almost as if when you decide to firmly close one door (in my case, applying for opens etc.) several others open.

The first happens in London at the Crypt Gallery, St Pancreas London in just a few weeks.   It’s really too short notice to get new work together – though believe me I tried!   I had to think of the practicalities of getting the work there as I I’m not off work when the exhibition is installed, which really limits what I can show.

I did panic for a bit, trying to make something that was light enough to post, and also consider the added problem that, because the gallery is a crypt, you can’t screw into the walls.

So yet again, I’ve looked back at my older work to see what I can adapt to fit the exhibition criteria.

I used to feel like this was cheating – showing older work again, but it’s being realistic.  I have limitations with my time and I have to work with that, not fight it.

It’s kind of nice though to go back to work that I hadn’t completed. Its looking at it with fresh eyes and adding more recent ideas to it.

I sent an image of the work down and it was accepted, so everything – including the fact that I caught the end of the virgin sale for train tickets to London to visit it, has worked out well.

Sheffield exhibition is still on for another week….AND we got a little review of our Light Night exhibition, back in May.

http://www.artinliverpool.com/?p=58218

Can’t actually see whats in the box in this image, but that’s intentional :)

I’m sitting here waiting for a call from the garage to see if my car has passed its MOT. (or not :( )

Sitting doing nothing basically, as I can’t really start anything in case I need to go out.

Updating my blog always slips my mind, but now seems appropriate to do something useful with this ’empty’ time.

Hmm…so my last post was weeks ago and as it was a bit of a moan, I suppose it looks like I’ve been sulking in all this time.

That couldn’t be further than the truth though as I’ve been running around, exhibiting, going to artists talks and generally just enjoying life (using up 4 days of my leave has contributed immensely to my welfare!!)

Sooo….the biggest thing was going up to Sheffield for the PV of ‘Flux’ (which I have work in) at Exchange St Studios.   It was nice to go up and stay over so that I could not only relax at the PV, but also take a walk round the city and experience Castlegate festival the next day.

The good thing about combining the exhibition with the festival, is that there have been absolutely loads of visitors.

I was even invited to take part in a textile exhibition up there in late summer, which reiterates a point I made in one of my earlier posts – the best exhibitions have come out of talking to other artists.

While in Sheffield, I met up with a friend I hadn’t seen in years. She left a comfortable job in London, to go back to Uni to study creative writing, ‘up north’. It was interesting to talk about comparisons between writing and ‘making art’, and the difficulties faced. Yeah… we’ve both had that ‘work 5 days in the job and do your own work in the other 2′ ,…then realise weeks down the line that you hadn’t actually been out and done normal things.

Then there’s the competitions and the anger of the 50 shades of grey mentality of the book buying public, rather than something more creative.

Yeah yeah…probably the same goes for musicians. We’re all in it together though, which is kind of good.

So basically, for the last few weeks, I’ve been working on average 4 days a week (using leave in between) It’s not a huge amount of time off, but it has given me time to socialise, do work and just generally think through some ideas.

I feel charged again  :)

Links:

http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/castlegatefestival

FLUX Gallery Tour https://www.facebook.com/events/101442366868656/