The enjoyable but extremely busy period of doing workshops is drawing to a close for a time at least. I love running workshops, being immersed in a process of working with other people and seeing where their creatitivity leads them but I am also looking forward to being able to focus again on my own work. Looking back at the last couple of weeks. There have been some really good moments. The school workshops were held within the school buildings which is a shame because they weren't able to make work about a specific place. Instead we focused on materials and process using coloured paper pulp to form elements within one large piece of work.
I really enjoyed the adults workshops at St George's. There were some nice thoughtful responses to the materials and the building and it was good to meet everyone who came along. It was great to meet Roz, I just wish there had been more time to talk because as she said we are working in parallel or at least with linked interests and within the same small virtual community.
Since the beginning of the Exhibition / Open Studio on the 4th June there seem to have been streams of people visiting, workshops being run and new contacts being made. There have been lots of local visitors, many of them asking for workshops (so I have programmed some more in), teachers asking if their schools can be involved in some way and just people wanting to have a look at the artist in her natural habitat. So one of the requirements of the residency, that it brings people to St George's Church seems to be being fulfilled. I have really enjoyed the whole process too.
There have been some visitors from further afield. One of whom was fellow blogger Roz Cran who dropped in on a papermaking workshop enroute to a cousin's house. We were looking at basic papermaking techniques and then embossing paper with words from flagstones around the church. Roz left me with two enigmatic scraps, one labeled 'Hope' and the other 'Sorrow'. I think one of her aims had been to talk about how a residency works in the context of a church but things were too busy to have much of a discussion. Another time maybe.
Other visitors from Brighton were Amy Turton and Edith Eyo from Arts Council SE who braved the wilds of Esher. It was good to actually meet them in the flesh as it were. It will make me feel much more in real communication when I send off my next update or evaluation. Bettina Linstrum my wonderful mentor from Arts Agenda also came up to give me some very sensible advice which so far I have been far too busy to put into action!
There have been four workshops apart from the one Roz attended and each in their own way has been a really good experience for me. I hope everyone who came along enjoyed them as much as I did. They were such a lovely bunch of people. Or 'bunches' I suppose and I am very glad to have spent time with them. Some lovely work too. Each person who comes to a workshop leaves me a page or more for a 'book' which is growing fairly fast at present.
So busy I can't think at the moment. There have been lot of visitors and I am in the thick of workshops; both planning and carrying them out. Good fun if exhausting.
The private view went well. Lots of people and lots of interest in the project. The remaining places on the papermaking day on June 15th were booked and now there is a reserve list. So I am organizing a day in September.
The event was useful to me as it made me stand back and see what I had done so far. Often it is difficult while you are working to see how it is going. People were very encouraging and it was lovely to see the the building full of life and activity, which I suppose is part of the remit of the residency. I printed out my blog from the project website and made a timeline of it to show the development of work and ideas (not necessarily in that order!). One of my aims in embarking on this project was to open up this process and move the emphasis from the end result.
The Private View is tomorrow. If anyone is in Esher at 6pm do drop in. It has been a fairly busy day today preparing for Thursday. The work is up, most of the info is ready. I just feel that I want a holiday! Or at least to go and see some inspiring work or make some work myself. Next project I want to be able to concentrate a little more on the central issues and spend less time working out how to get 1500 two colour leaflets designed and printed by the 15th for minimal cost while also devising and organising five days of workshops. I sneaked out and took some photos today in the woods. It was absolutely wonderful.
