professional development

i’m one of the four artists at nottingham trent university in the aa2a scheme. i didn’t realise there was so much support alongside the use of the facilities. i’m looking forward to wandering around the libary and researching in the workshops.

i met the other three yesterday and there was a small amount of time to chat. i’m looking forward to our first group session in november.

the response from the exhibition submission was:

no.

…

“We received a high level of interest in this and a large number of proposals. Unfortunately we are unable to accommodate your work in the exhibition as we do not feel that this event is the right context for your work at this time.”

i see this as a success.

dreams of world heritage site now…

i’ve submitted to an exhibition today. first time in a long time that i’ve done this and i have had fun doing it.

i’ve engaged my alter wordsmith being to big up my very simple idea, and applied to a grand construct of an exhibition, to see how far i can get.

there is good critical underpinning within my proposal, i can talk about it at depth, should the need arise, of course, it’s part of my development, so there are factors within the work of recent experience and past moments of my practice.

i am annoyed with the organisers of the exhibition who have seemingly done us all a favour making space available to use for our biggest ideas yet, and have made no provision to make funds available for these activities to take place. my proposal is intentionally install in a day, yet covers a large area, and is intentionally edgy, again to see if inclusion occurs.

in applying i am attempting to see how far i can get within the safe, mediated sphere that has “art” at it’s centre. i’ve been outside of it for some months now, so am keen to see what it’s like on the inside of the sphere….

…(and yes, it’s not representational of the whole sphere….i know……)

’ve been annoyed today, waiting for call backs about information to do with the snee snaw project. intellectually i know that i’m probably one of ten people waiting for a call back about something. it still doesn’t help me overcome the wanting to know what the details are of the to be had telephone conversation.

i guess there’s an inherent risk in producing something that in part has a reliance on other’s input to help realise the whole. i can only guess about things, until i get the calls.

so i’ve been thinking about what next. what next after the snee snaw ?

a big question and not on easily answered. i feel i yearn for being in a group that has a common interest and goal, like the theatre stuff. i’d like my creativity to be more than my own response of thoughts about something. considering the development of the artist over the last hundred years, in terms of awareness of being and self, i wonder if all the bases have been covered, so what is there left for the artist to discover ?

i’ve made an initial call about research opportuities this afternoon. i left a message so ironically i wait for a call back. thing is this call back is not time critical, if i don’t get a reply for a week, that’s no an issue as the call is related to the future, not of now.

i wonder if my path, my creative, inventive path, has yet to be fully realised, well laid to follow if the analogy is to be adhered to. i am aware that part of the path’s inception could be responding to an opportunity in front of me. i wonder if i’ve done that enough now, and now is time to follow the research dream.

i use dream…is it ?

i remember joking when i started my lower sixth for the second time that maybe i could stay in education until i was 30. unfortunately the plan had a wheel fall off at the first bump, a level results, good but not good enough for what i had a place for. that really hurt at the time. little did i know about my dyslexia. yes i do occasionally wonder what might have been. great thing is that what i did instead was interesting and fun for different reasons.

i take comfort from the situation that at the start of the snee snaw paroject i am thinking about beyond it. a year ago i did not have clarity of future. it’s not fully clear now, however i do have somthing to try to squint my eyes at to see. i do have the confidence in myself to attempt the conversations, to see where they lead, to go with my own flow.

this is a process that is ongoing, it always will be and always has been. i’m now more aware and connected to it that i ever have been.

i have enough awareness to attempt that conversation with a research professional, and in the mean time i might just get to talk to those other professionals with whom i need to talk for the snee snaw to continue on it’s way.

i attach a video that i have found claiming to be one particular future. bold words.

next week is the beginning of my arts council funded project ‘the snee snaw’. for the duration of that project i will keep a blog to chat and reflect upon the journey of the project. it will be a record of my professional development for the next 10 weeks.