My residency at The Tetley, Leeds, is over. The work is made and currently displayed. Some of the work will remain in situ as permanent pieces whilst others will return to my studio until they can be given another breath of life – perhaps in another exhibition.
This is the crux of the matter though. I am sure I am not alone in this – you apply, you get the work, you show and then ….. How do you avoid the stop start cycle… How do you build on the last show, use it as leverage to the next gig. When I am working on a residency I am so focussed on being where i am and working on what is there that I cannot think about being somewhere else and making work for another location. I need to be wholly present in order to make the work I do.
This means I exist within a stop start cycle. By the time I next exhibit the last one is but a distant memory. One way around this was to build in some development time with the curatorial team at Tetley – to have some follow up and support and was fortunate enough to get funding from Arts Council England to do this and look at the wider issues at hand so I can avoid the stuttering cycle. Hopefully this will lead to a more consistent presence within exhibiting and residencies and contribute to my wider professional development.
