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

Ten days since I wrote to the Church people with the list of things we have to do, and still no reply. I’m thinking perhaps: a) they are the type of people who don’t feel the need to acknowledge an email and have gone straight into the prep for the workshops….. Or b) they are thinking ‘it’s over Two months till the festival starts – what’s the hurry?’

If that’s the case, I am a little worried.

Anyone who has worked with the public will know that they generally start the project with much enthusiasm, then it starts to drain a bit and you end up working round the clock to finish everything on your own : (

I’d sent a time scale…. materials must be collected by a certain date, workshops to start on a given date, first lot of installation pieces to be finished by…..

Let’s hope they are not so slow about my payment!

In the meantime, I am still trying to find the time to do my own work. My paper shoes will now go into a recycling exhibition in July (same time as the church installation, so I will try to tie those two together)

I’m toying with the idea of using the shoes again for the Chapel Gallery exhibition in September, but will install them in a different way. I have to decide quickly though as they are pressuring me to sign the artist’s agreement, so that they can sign it all off and get the publicity rolling.

I had turned down Light Night in May, as I just didn’t have the time to run round finding a venue. For the second time though, something else – more achievable, as come up in its place. (Which makes me think even more that it’s better to just sit back and concentrate on the work rather than stressing about showing it, as things WILL happen!) I set up the group ‘Soup Collective ‘ in 2001 with another work colleague, when we realised all of the staff we work with have an arts background. We work and exhibit together at least once a year. Soooo, cutting a long story short, Tate Liverpool will be celebrating its 25^th Birthday this year and will be running an exhibition in one of the galleries of all the achievements over the years : http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-liverpool/display/tate-liverpool-25

I’m thrilled that they see our staff shows as significant enough to add to the timeline, so we will be in there somewhere. Obviously, there won’t be the space to show everyone’s work, so we are going to show the flyers, catalogues and posters we have made over the years.

It was really good to contact everyone to try to gather all of the paraphernalia and it really brought home the strong community we have in our work environment.

Other than that, I have been asked to submit for a drawing exhibition also coming up in May as part of Art Month AND Light night.

Blogging then….. is sort of low in priority just now, but I’m hoping that my experiences will help one or two artists if they have the time to read this, see that full time work does not mean the end of an art career!

There is a positive side to Open exhibitions, for me anyway. I’ve had several occasions when a theme they have used has triggered an idea – even if I haven’t actually entered the exhibition.

It was because of this that I started making the paper shoes.

At this stage, I don’t have a definite plan on where I will exhibit them, I’m just enjoying the making of them for now.

Open exhibitions can be a bit hit and miss in my opinion. It’s really hard to get the right mix of works that appeal to a wide range of visitors, and yet still retain some sort of quality. Obviously there are plenty more that also work well, but I will give the thumbs up to the West Lancs open and the Leeds DWF ( both of which I’ve been involved in) as both have given thought on how the exhibitions reflect on the organisation. I do think though that other venues don’t always see that as a priority.

I had a couple of years break from Opens that you have to pay for, and it was only this year I made the tentative steps of putting my work into the Wirral Spring exhibition (at my local gallery) I hadn’t entered this for absolutely years, but because I’m concentrating more on my own work these days and not being ‘out there’, I felt the need to wave a little flag saying ‘look, I’m still here!’

I’d missed the PV because of the awful weather and until yesterday, my time was taken up doing other things. In the meantime, I’d heard mixed reviews of the exhibition, so I was a little apprehensive of seeing it for myself.

Hmmmmmm…..

I suppose, more so in the last couple of years, galleries have that added pressure of trying to raise funds themselves. In doing this, they would have to try to appeal to just about everyone. So, in the case of this exhibition, it looks like they have accepted ALL works.

Has this policy worked for them? Or for the artists involved ? Yesterday was fairly sunny, people are still off for Easter and yet, there was just me and one other person looking round the gallery.

Maybe not.

There was a collective ‘oh xxxx’ in work last week as we were all given a letter containing our projected pensions on retirement. One of the perils of working in the arts I suppose. My dream of going back to part time and spending more time on my own work will probably stay a dream as I, like many others will have to try to save as much as we can while we still have a job.

My work load though, is getting larger.

I worked Bank Holiday Monday (triple pay…or in reality, one day of a ‘normal’ rate of pay for an artist earning what they should be entitled to! ) and spent my lunch time making maquettes, scanning them and sending out instructions for the Church Installation. Frustratingly, no one has responded yet. I don’t get these people who don’t check their emails for a couple of days at a time – or is that just me being manic?

At least when they did respond last week (asking for said instructions so that they can start the ball rolling in collecting materials) they did confirm I will get payment. Phew.

On top of all this, I had an email from the Chapel Gallery in Ormskirk asking me to participate in their ‘Land, Sea and Sky exhibition’ in September. I had sent THE worst proposal in for that last year and had forgotten about it as I never heard back. I hastily put the proposal together when I was snowed under with work during the Biennial and remember writing something on the lines of ‘ I’m not sure what I will do for it at this time, but will hopefully have something together nearer the date’. As soon as I sent it, I got annoyed at myself for being so lazy. Its typical though isn’t it? When I’ve spent days and days on proposals, including huge amounts of documentation, I get rejected. Such is life.

So…. After a moan about how I will find the time to fit in all of this work, to one of the recent graduates I work with, I was hastily brought back to reality when she said ‘You are so lucky – I would LOVE to be asked to participate in an exhibition’.

OK. You can’t have everything : /

Withdrawing from the art circus, I decided to ‘go with the flow’ for a few weeks and concentrate on my own work. Ironically, while not even ‘trying’ during this time, I received an email asking if I would do another installation in a church ( after them seeing images of my work in Leeds on facebook and on my newly updated wordpress website) Before having a chance to think about it, they dangled the ‘we have funds’ carrot in front of my face. Well, how could I not consider it?

I went across on my day off to look round and get a sense of the space, while also having a chat with the funders. They want a hanging installation made from recycled materials and for members of the community – from very young children, locals schools and older people, to be involved with the making.

I took a few pictures around the church and thought about how to incorporate them into a design, that will work across all age groups. I also worked out a proposal AND a budget, which I sent to them Sunday night.

It was really difficult asking for fees, because although they have funding, I know it isn’t that much. My fee will take up a third of it.

So now I sit and wait I suppose while they discuss whether I’m worth it.

Sometimes, when I’ve finished work for the day, I really can’t be bothered doing anything. To add to my lethargy and the tiredness still felt from installing my work on Tuesday and having to sit through a dreary ‘development’ day in work on Thursday, it was raining as I left the building. I had the choice of getting on a bus at 5pm in a City ( not recommended) or walk across to the Bluecoat to check out the Mark Leckey exhibition. I made the right choice. The gallery was virtually empty by the time I got there, so I could see the work in comfort. ‘ a provocative mix of historical and contemporary works of art, videos, mechanical objects and archaeological artefacts’, my walkaround was accompanied by the soft pulsating sound emanating from enormous speakers. It was so relaxing and I would highly recommended the exhibition.

Also………I’d had an email yesterday informing me that I MUST join Artstack, as that apparently is THE thing to do. I spent about 40 minutes on it tonight, before my tiredness gave way. That, or I wasn’t interested enough. Is it really that essential?

Never mind. I have achieved something today. Well done me.