Today I am preparing for next week's work at a school. I am wishing I had asked for funding for another artist to help with this aspect of the project. I suppose I had never thought that it would be seized upon so eagerly by schools when I was making the applications. Still the teachers seem very involved and I'm sure everything will go well. I like to get the organisation and logistics very well organised so that I can concentrate on the creative side of things when it comes to it. Yesterday when I met the staff again to discuss arrangements for the week we looked at images to use as starting points, things like leaves and seed pods to examine structure.
For the rest of the day I am going to work on papermaking. I am making a 'book' over the course of the year. One page for each day of the residency and I need to prepare some more paper. On Friday a friend, Noel is coming over to the studio at St George's Church to show me some bookbinding techniques. A skill I never thought I would need. This year I seem to be learning new skills every week!
Today, being Monday is admin day. My project website has developed an interesting problem which is that I can't upload images to it. The main reason for having a webite being of course to show how the project is going. Its going to be an interesting day!
This afternoon I am visiting Hurst Park School who are basing their art week on the Papertrails project. I am looking forward to the week but we need to sort out some of the practical, organisational side of the art week. Claire Barwell, the visual arts co-ordinator has seen quite a lot of my work but the other teachers will need to be shown a little more about the project. As my website is playing up I am going to have to show them some of my older work.
The Official Launch of the project went really well. There were lots of people from the Deputy Mayor Cllr Dane, the Director and trustees of the Arts Trust, the Arts Development Officer, other artists and curators to the vicar and many local people. I was really pleased to see and hear people's enthusiasm. Alison Clarke,Visual Arts Officer for Surrey was very encouraging about the work and the developing project. Teachers from Hurst Park School came along and said how keen they are about their involvement in Papertrails next month.
On Saturday there was the first Open Day (other than drop-in days on Fridays) and again I was pleased by the reactions of visitors. Again lots of people came along and seemed so interested. A comment I heard fairly often was 'Fantastic something like this is happening in Elmbridge.'
I have been overwhelmed by the general level of enthusiasm. I could have offered three times as many school days as I have and many of the workshop places for adults are already booked even though they are in June.
The first couple of weeks have gone by in a blur of activity. there are so many things competing for my time, from admin to moving my equipment into the studio. There is a launch event on Thursday 22nd February to which many of the potential participants have been invited. I am struck by how much good will this project has generated and how much interest. I am already taking bookings for studio workshops in June. For Thursday I am going to show all my preparatory work and ideas for the project. Only two weeks into 'Papertrails' I obviously can't show much fully resolved work. Although I am interested by how my ideas have moved and changed now that I am actually engaged in the project. Where I originally envisaged scattering light catching ephemeral elements forming lines and enclosures, I now find I am intensely interested in the colours of the land itself. Joking with Bettina from artsagenda the other day I said "Never mind 'Papertrails', at the moment mud trails is more it."
Although this is the first day of my one year project it already feels as if the journey has already been quite long. 'Papertrails' is a self initiated project and because of the need to find funding, has already generated a fairly sizable papertrail of its own. It is difficult to believe that i have actually reached this point.
For a background on the project go to www.papertrails.org.uk
