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

I’ve opted out of tonight’s gallery debate https://www.facebook.com/events/613377488745517/ I really have gone out of my comfort zone for a few things here, but a debate is a step too far for me. I’ll leave it to the ‘experts’.

It’s kind of nice having the house to myself for a couple of hours. I’m going to be boring, slip on my pyjama bottoms, read ( and blog!) and maybe do some washing.

Having a wild time in NY, ha ha.

Had a fabulous trip out to Niagara Falls yesterday though. Absolutely stunning! We had to leave ridiculously early though as Susanne’s flight back was at 3pm and we wanted to make it a group day out. It was kind of sad saying goodbye (again!) but hopefully we’ll all meet again in July for the next exhibition.

After the falls, we headed out to Buffalo to catch the Small Press book fair http://www.buffalosmallpress.org/ My interest in books and zines sort of fluctuates, but I’ve enjoyed this extra contact with them. I bought a few things and vowed to take it up again when I get back to the UK.

My list of things to look up or to do is steadily growing. I feel like a sponge at the moment, continuously absorbing and holding tight to all of this new information.

This morning, I headed out to Lancaster High School with Jean and helped out with her zine workshop. The lesson was pretty short ( just 45 mins) but it was enough time to get the idea across without them losing interest. They were nice kids though, so it was a pleasure being there.

I’m going to run a class from the house on Wednesday night, so I’d better do some prep while its quiet.

It’s the morning after the opening night and here we are again, sat round the dining table with our laptops. Only this time, there is one extra body sleeping on the settee in the adjoining room.

Kimbal Bumstead arrived a couple of nights ago (Wednesday?) a detour from his epic hitchhiking journey : http://horizontallybackwards.tumblr.com/ Now there are no beds left.

I had travelled to the airport on Tuesday with Debra to pick up Susanne Torstensson and her partner Mikeal . They had spent a couple of nights in New York City after flying from their home in Stockholm. We had met Susanne at SUPERMARKET in Sweden two years ago and kept in touch. Since she’s been here , we’ve been discussing a further collaboration and the possibility of setting up an exhibition back in Stockholm next year as a group, so that’s something to look forward to.

Its kind of weird seeing Kim and Susanne again. We pretty much only meet during these collaborations, carrying on conversations as if it was only recently we all saw each other.

Soooo much talking going on!

But anyway… the PVs….

Well, I’d say they were slightly different than what we’ve been used to in the UK! For a start, everything we asked for, we got – furniture, audio equipment, printing etc etc. We were amused that we had to pick up several bags of ice in the afternoon as we usually don’t bother making such an effort.

Food and drink at both venues were plentiful, only reminding me of one of the PVs we had in the UK where someone had to run out to the local Tesco to pick up some cheap beer as we had run out half way :-(

A huge amount of people attended – despite a thunder storm and heavy rain. AND we were interviewed by the local press ( appearing in today’s Post Journal front AND back page!) So many people were asking about the work and wanting to talk, I was hoarse by the end of the night .

Talking and talking and talking – so much of it! I’m starting to find myself creeping up to the bedroom just for some quiet space now. I’m not particulary home sick yet, but I do miss being able to shut myeslf off from others.

I’ll update the website when I get a chance, but in the meantime, we’ve posted lots of images on the facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/pages/SCI/170190669682733

I realise this post is only really skirting round the edge of all of the recent activities and doesn’t really cover thoughts or conversations we are having. But time to think and reflect will hopefully come later when I am not bombarded with so much information.

…and now we are five.

Debra went to pick up the ‘boys’ from the airport last night, while Jean and I just chilled. It was good to unwind and sit in the quiet for a bit though before all the talking started again. I’m not big on talking.

Yesterday, we headed over to Dykeman Young with the work we had and I began my installation. It’s always difficult to begin when I haven’t seen the space beforehand. I had been sent images and a rough size of the space, but until I’m there, I can’t really make specific plans.

The gallery has an original ornate metal ceiling, so I couldn’t attach anything to it. The best I could do was throw fishing wire over the casing of the strip of lights and hope for the best.

I also stapled wire on a side wall and strung it across, but after attaching several flowers to it, I realised it wasn’t working and had to take it down. That was really frustrating as it was a couple of hours wasted and I was already starting to ache with being up and down the ladder. Jean had helped enormously though by shaping all of the flowers that I had pre cut, so I didn’t have to keep stopping to do that.

As Debra had to leave, we decided to call it a day. We’d made a start, but it was no use pushing things if we were all tired.

So now we have another day of installing ahead of us. Both Jean and I have been up since 7am, so it’s a mad dash to get to the bathrooms before the others….

( further images on the SCI facebook page if anyone wants to see :

https://www.facebook.com/pages/SCI/170190669682733 )

I’m not actually used to talking to people all day – especially about my own work, so I’m finding this all a big step away from my normal routine. As I write, I’m sharing a dining room table with Debra – who is grading her students papers and Jean who is editing images , intermittingly talking about work and other things. Been here at this table a couple of hours already and its still only 8.30.

We’re waiting for the galleries to open so that we can take some work across and start installing.

The others ( Bruce Davies, Michael Borkowsy and David Cotton ) don’t arrive until tonight with the rest of the work, but we can make a start as Elena Thomas’s work and mine have a definite place in the gallery. They’re probably the most complicated as they involved stringing up supports, so its good to have a head start on them.

Yesterday ( My Birthday!) we had a lovely day out in Ellicottville, first visiting artists Sean Huntington and Patricia Eckstrom : http://www.seanstrees.com/ and http://www.patriciaeckstromartist.com/ who were having an open studio weekend . Their studio was situated at the foot of the Allegany Mountains and the scenery was absolutely amazing. I could see where they drew their inspiration from.

From there we headed across to visit Barbara Fox : www.BarbraFoxArtStudio.com picking up on a nifty technique she has of rubbing garlic on copper. Not sure where I’ll get copper from when I get home, but it’s on my list of things to try!

A bit of sightseeing and then back to our temporary ‘home’, where we spent the evening doing even more talking!.

Will try to update more tomorrow, but by then the house will have another 3 guests and I can’t see us all sitting around this table!

So here I am in Jamestown NY. Actually though, we’ve been here since Friday night, but it’s just been a crazy few days.

Where to begin?

Let me think…. OK -we ( myself and Jean McEwan) flew to Buffalo via Washington, me with an enormously heavy bag (full of clothes, artwork and sweets for our host, Debra ) Fairly uneventful, but very long flight, which was made stressful by first the long queue at Customs in Washington, then having to pick up our bags ( which I never had to do last time I went to the US, just 5 years ago) and then another unbelievable grilling by two female ‘jobsworth’ numbskulls, who seemed hell bent on humiliating people. People in front of us had to open their luggage to be searched, so I was really panicking about the artwork I had in my bag. (plus the sweets etc I had in there after saying I didn’t have any!)

But a quick telling off and a threat of getting a $300 fine for having an apple, left us an incredibly short time to catch our transfer to Buffalo. But they didn’t open my case – yeah! ( not that I had anything illegal – it was just that we were made to feel so bad for even existing!)

Got there, Debra picked us up at airport, chatted…almost fell asleep in car (after all. It was close to midnight ‘our’ time and we’d been up since 5am) and made the 90 min journey to her house. Vowed to stay up till at least 10.30 ‘their’ time, so thought it was a good idea to do a detour to a liquor store. Got some really sweet red wine – attracted to its mad label. It was a bit disgusting, and despite waking at 4am with a banging headache and having to get up for paracetamols, I then slept til 7.30. Result!

So Saturday…. we had to leave around 11.00 to set up our stall at the Reg Lenna Centre for the SWAN event. ( zines and cards we’d made) Feeling a bit disorientated by now, we went off to find some veggie food ( which we did and it was excellent) and sat eating while poor Debra did most of the running round. Just after 12noon, we were able to use the room set aside for our zine workshop. By ‘we’, it was actually Jean’s baby, but I was there to help.

Really good afternoon making zines. It was so weird talking to so many people and swapping ideas. I had the usual ‘oh – do you know the Beatles?’ when I said I worked In Liverpool and I think they were a little disappointed when I said I didn’t.

So.. bringing this almost up to date, we went for a meal Saturday night for the artists who are in the present exhibition at the gallery we are taking over. Really nice idea that they set up this meal to ensure that all of the artists turned up to collect their work. Must try that ourselves one day!

Oh oh – it snowed while we there, so as soon as we got back to the house we shot out again to take some photos – amusing the neighbours who threw back their curtains to watch. Maybe the 3 months of snow they’d already had wasn’t so entertaining to them.

I went to bed shattered around 10.30 and woke up at 4am full of life this morning. Ho hum.

But that’s all I can write today. Its.. .. oh I don’t even know the what the real time is anymore….

To be continued…..