The local visual arts organisation, firstsite – soon to have an amazing new space which they are careful not to call a ‘gallery’ (!) – has set up a Collectors’ Group, who came to visit me a few days ago. I showed them some work, and took them into the studio, and talked about my work, and they seemed to go off quite content. In fact, they went off to have lunch at Jardine bistro, where I have work on show at the moment, so hopefully they felt that all fitted in well. It’s odd not having feedback though.
I’m funny about talking about my work. Friends tease me because I’m usually deeply reluctant to do it. But sometimes, if I sense a genuinely interested audience, and I’m geared up to talk, and the environment is calm and quiet enough so it’s not a strain to be heard, in the end I find loads to say. But I always want to emphasise that painting is painting, a different language from speech, and words can never be adequate to express what is communicated in a painting. Words can sometimes help as signposts, though, I suppose, to help guide people towards a deeper understanding of what the painting is saying.
Finally I have taken the plunge to ‘go frameless’ and it seems to work well in my current show, ‘The Vivid Gaze’. The exhibition is actually in a bistro, not a gallery; I’ve never shown work in this type of venue before, and was a little hesitant when they first asked me, but it’s proved a great way of getting the work seen by loads of people. People keep coming up to me and giving feedback about the show, which can be really interesting.
http://www.jardine-bistro.co.uk/
Regular readers will have noticed that I’ve had a 6-month ‘sabbatical’ from blogging. Somehow I felt a need to become very quiet and private with regard to my work, and my relationship to the art world (in its wider sense). I had begun to feel a bit conflicted with the aspect of being an artist that involves using words rather than paint, and particularly with anything to do with marketing. But of course some marketing is essential if you want to encourage the flow of work through and out of the studio, whilst earning enough money to keep going… It’s a problematic area for me just at the moment.
And my website, www.emmacameron.com, is ages out of date, because I need to spend a lot of time and probably money on reconfiguring access to it (ever since I got a new laptop there has been a problem, and even the geekiest friends have admitted being stumped about how to solve it, after hours of trying…). I resolve to somehow get it sorted this month though!
