Such a busy week last week, it was difficult to find my feet.
Sheffield on Friday and set up for the OutofOffice exhibition in The Electric Works, thanks to Rich Taylor, Annie and Danny for inviting me.
It was a steep learning curve for me this exhibition as the artists were invited to react to the space, I hadn’t been able to get to Sheffield due to work commitments so didn’t know the space, instead I decided to map my journey to the space.
Spent weeks getting the right A-Z pages to match up and then drove (well, as a passenger) the journey. Realised that doodling at 50 miles an hour is very difficult so also stopped periodically to doodle key images along the route.
First journey we got snowed out at Glossop, Snake Pass was well and truly closed.
Second journey was a success though, The Electric Works building was closed at the weekends so I had to make do with peering through windows.
I also took a lot of photographs of the journey and filled the gaps in by drawing some of those images too.
Then I decided 3days before that I needed a 3D element so spent 3 very late nights making tiny model houses and pylons and even a Metropolitan Cathedral out of A-Z pages.
Went to set up with 2 friends, then we had a lovely lunch and wander around the Sheffield Millenium Gallery until the PV.
It was a rally well attended evening, I wasn’t sure how many would turn up, especially as it was in an Office building rather than a gallery but was very pleasantly suprised.
Overheard some really positive comments, loved that people got up very close to check it out and even overheard that someone is planning a charity walk of that route this year…..they will be shattered!!
The other work in the exhibiton was very well curated, I particularly like Tom Railton’s ‘Exercise in Drawing’, very unexpected as you see nothing until quite close up and Railton has outlined pre exisitng shapes that suddenly make you take notice of something that is usually so mundane.
Had to put an adendum to my statement saying:
“Mapping used with the knowledge and permission of Geographers’ A-Z Map
Co Ltd. (c)Crown Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.”
but I don’t mind that at all, I was really grateful to the A-Z people for helping me through the copyright issue. People did comment about it – one person had thought there would be no way I would get permission and was genuinely pleased to hear that they had been so helpful.
I don’t see the point in trying to be sneaky about things, always best to be upfront and ask permission, nothing comes back to bite you on the bottom then :)
