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

Just how am I supposed to fit in Networking – the ‘essential’ part of any artists life?

Out of the 31 days of January, I had 8 days off from my Job – most of which were not two days off together. I used just one of those days to go out to see some exhibitions, the rest were spent doing my own work and trying to get the house straight.

I missed several potential networking sessions because they were held in the daytime on my work days. I also made the grave decision to switch off facebook for a month as I was sick of being bombarded with information I didn’t need.

January for me was meant to be just a month of work, while the weather was bleak and there were little opportunities about.

So this weekend, turned out to be the first weekend I’d had off for ages – with the added bonus of the sun coming out. As I’d missed the AGM on Thursday night at my local gallery – The Williamson ( starting at 6pm, I wouldn’t have been back from work that early) I decided to head down to see how a share of the £2million had been spent on the gallery to make it more accessible to the public.

http://www.wirral.gov.uk/news/28-01-2013/council%E2%80%99s-flagship-museum-set-reopen-week-new-look-and-craft-cafe?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook

I expected the changes to be similar to that of the Wolverhampton Art Gallery, in which they had managed to combine old and new, creating new spaces for families and workshops, while still keeping the charm of local history.

Although some of the galleries were still closed and clearly not ready for a grand opening, It looked cleaner and brighter and lacking the familiar buckets dotted round the galleries to catch the drops from the leaky roof. The café and shop were in one of the former galleries – a windowless room, with a large table at the end with children’s activities on. Is this where the artist in residence would work? Given that the gallery has a ‘hidden garden’ in the centre, it seemed a missed opportunity to attract families there over the warmer months. The ‘shop’, a table and a couple of display cabinets showing some nice trinkets, was manned by one of the security guards, who looked distinctly uncomfortable. I wonder who they brought in to advise on the layout?

The three artists they had chosen to open the ‘flagship’, were all understandably local. The first a ‘self taught’ token female who painted dreary local scenes. The second, another artist I’d never heard of , but had a good mix of abstract and printmaking, the third, a sculptor whose work I’d seen in virtually every local commercial gallery.

There are a few artists here who feel it is necessary to show their work everywhere simultaneously. I personally don’t think that is a good thing to do. (though please let me know if I’m wrong!)

Other than them all being local artists, there didn’t seem to be anything else connecting the work, so it looked a little disjointed. I wonder how much thought had gone into the curation?

When I was working with the Independents Biennial over summer. I received many emails from artists asking why curators didn’t come to see their exhibitions and offer opportunities to exhibit.

It’s because they just don’t.

You have to badger them…. If you can find the time that is, as most of us have to work all the time to be able to make enough money to create the work we want to create.

A gallery should be somewhere we want to visit again and again, but I just feel that it will be months before I go back again. It shouldn’t be like that – we need to support these places, especially with so little money going to the arts.

Whoever is lucky enough to get the post of either artist in residence or curator – PLEASE make changes!

I’ve been idly looking at opportunities today, especially one that was not only sent to me by a couple of people, but had caught my eye anyway, as it was such a rarity.

http://culture.org.uk/2013/01/21/wirral-museums-seek-artist/

At first glance it looked quite good, as it was local for me and an ‘artist in residence’ opportunity always creates a certain amount of interest from good contacts as well as the publicity it will create.

I spent a while working out if I can do it without actually giving up my job. Could I use up all my leave and swap and change days?

Looking deeper into it though……. The artist would have to work 806 hours out of the year. By ‘working’, I’d assume that it was 806 hours of workshops, not time to carry on with their own work in a studio.

If that was the case £8,400 divided by 806 is £10 an hour. Hmmmmm…. Are my calculations wrong or is this a really a **** opportunity?

I bet loads of people go for this, but being the cynic I am, I’m guessing someone is already lined up for it. I will hold my breath and see if I am right.

Collaborations can be a bit of a minefield and you can never be sure if things will ever work out. I’ve had some good, and not so good experiences in the past, with some artists that I don’t even want to look at again, never mind work with!

I could probably write a series of blogs on some of the worst – the ones with massive egos and demanding attitudes……….. But I’ll just log it down to experience and keep this post to a nice experience, I was briefly involved in.

A few months ago, I was given a large music sheet to put down in my garden in the hope that I could collect bird poo on it. It was one of several sheets the artist Kerry Morrison used for her project : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21082873

Mine was a bit of a disaster though, as the birds just didn’t want to know. I think while it was down, not a single bird entered the garden, despite putting down a variety of treats for them. Maybe they were just too suspicious of this large ( 8′ x 4′) sheet of paper suddenly appearing? One day I left it while I went out and it had started to rain. When I collected it, it had turned soggy and covered in mud, even ripping as I picked it up. I felt hugely embarrassed about my failure to do even this simple task.

So I didn’t give it back, even though I knew the event was looming.

It was only two days ago that I suddenly felt guilty and told Kerry what a mess mine was. She sent me a link :http://natureexposed.tumblr.com/post/40847767658/out-in-the-elements-the-elements-the-rain-it and I felt so relieved! Mine wasn’t the only mess up.

I was talking to her today and she was feeling apprehensive about the performance. She told me that she was used to working on her own and felt slightly nervous about someone ‘taking over’ and turning her bird poop into music.

Fortunately, it turned out really well. Of course, I’ll probably never know if there were any screaming sessions or tantrums beforehand, but to me, as merely an observer, it seemed to be really successful.

Although this post isn’t about my work, I feel that we all influenced by what we do, who we talk to and who we work with. Maybe this experience with trigger some ideas for a future project for me. I hope so anyway.

It’s been a bit of a blurgh day…. a trek through the snow to work, convinced that my wellies were leaking…..and a reject from the commission I’d applied for. Not so bad for me really, compared to us all sitting in the staffroom, trying to not look at the latest person who is facing the axe.

It seems eons ago now since we were ushered into a staff briefing to be told of the cuts facing the gallery. I lost my comfy part time office job, which I enjoyed and was doing well in. The job was broken down and bits of it shoved onto several other people who already had a large work load. I was still employable though and was given the option of either invigilating on the gallery, or taking the money they offered and running. I thought long and hard about it….. how long would the money last me? The commissions, workshops and others means of work that I had been relying on, were drying up fast. Maybe I could last 6 months? Too risky. As much as I loathed the idea of standing on a gallery, I asked if I could go full time – the rationale being that I will do it for two years, pay off my credit cards, save some cash and then either go back to part time or try to go freelance. 1 year and 2 months on, the likelihood of things getting better are fading.

12 members of staff took the money. A few managed to get some casual work, the others are still unemployed.

As each department was reviewed, a further 4 or 5 lost their jobs. Although they received a payment, they were not offered work. I count myself very lucky there.

So the last department has had their review and the last casualty has been informed. That’s meant to be it now – all done and dusted.

I’m thinking about it now, because I’ve just read about the cuts Sheffield galleries are facing. Is that really it for us or can they find further ways of saving money?

I don’t think I can last another two years doing this job without going totally nuts. I don’t spend every day on the galleries – just 3 in every 5, but that’s enough.

I see so many graduates join us thinking that they will use this job as a step up the ladder. But there is no ladder – we are all on the bottom rung and we will stay there. Well, until the next round of cuts anyway.

After almost a month of feeling totally lethargic, I’ve been kick started into action by an unexpected means.

My boiler went.

Well, not all of the boiler thankfully – just the hot water. Two days of boiling kettles and pans to get myself presentable for work before I got round to sorting it. The realisation of how much I had shoved into the airing cupboard ( where the combi boiler is) struck me, as I panicked to get everything out before the gasman came. ( honestly – it’s always clear in there Mr Gasman!)

I work mainly with recycled materials, so I am forever picking up things that may be useful. Therefore, every cupboard or box in my house – or the car for that matter( as I just suddenly remembered picking up driftwood after a Christmas day stroll on the beach) has items in it in that I may ( or may not!) use one day.

So after the guy went, I tentatively started going through the pile of junk that was now on my bedroom floor. Some of it, I managed to be brave about and threw in the bin…. But found other things of interest….. half rolls of nice wallpaper, wrapping paper, lining paper that I’d used for another project. Brightly coloured old posters….. and it prompted new ideas .

It wasn’t just the fact that I found materials that I didn’t know I had – it was realising that I had no reason to feel frustrated over not producing work, as I was in fact ALWAYS working. Be it in the form of collecting items such as this, or working out ideas in my head.

It really is OK not to be manically exhibiting or planning for exhibitions.