Project Me

The weeks are passing so quickly. It feels very late to mention the snow sculpture workshop again but I just want to say that the two days out on the field were great. The weather was perfect – cold and sunny – the children were great, and I had a great time too. The whole thing reminded me just how enjoyable this kind of event can be, it reminded me why I got involved in education and children’s projects in the first place.
Birgitta did a wonderful job organising everything, I would never have guessed it the first time she’s done it. She designed, managed and promoted the event, raised money for it, employed three artists, recruited volunteers from the Årstafältet Nättverk, she also organised hot food and drinks for everyone, got a cinema ticket and made a ‘Snöstjänor’ [Snow Star] ‘diploma’ for each participant, and commissioned Irina to make a trophy for the sculpture that won the most votes. Did I mention that she also provided simultaneous translations when I spoke!
And again I was very impressed with the children, and how they worked together and behaved.
And I was really impressed with the sculptures they made!
Saturday was a little chaotic because the public were invited to come along too and they arrived before we set up! Some of the children came with their parents and other siblings, all of who joined in too.
I’m very pleased to say that the public vote for the ‘best’ sculpture was a tie so the trophy was awarded jointly to two schools. (I also very pleased that one of the winning teams was one I worked with!) I found it very interesting that although there was a competition (and some of the children really got involved in campaigning for their sculpture,) it was a good natured kind of competition.

As I don’t have a studio at the moment I’ve decided that I will go to at least one art event during the ‘working week’ – this an extra thing and in addition to visiting galleries. Last night I went to the launch of a new exhibit in the ‘Studio’ programme at Moderna Museet. It’s a curatorial project by students on the curating course at Konstfack. It was very ‘curatorial’! I met up with Karen and Hans (Karen’s husband) who were very good at introducing me to their artist and curator friends. In another example of my ever-shrinking world it turns that Hans knows my former Swedish teacher in London. They worked for the same translation office many years ago! One day I’m going to draw a diagram of all these Swedish connections … I’m fascinated by how coincidental they all are …

Last week I heard about some new studios near to Färgfabriken (an independent contemporary art space) in a very post-industrial part of town. I want to go and check them out. When I heard there were whole floors being let out I started having fantasies about having a real live/work studio. Apparently live/work doesn’t happen here – maybe I should start it ….

Snöstjärnor

This time last week I was out in a field helping children snow sculpt. It was a brilliant few days, and by the look of the weather it happened just in time!

Now that it’s done it’s amazing to think that it was over six months ago that Birgitta first mentioned her idea for the project. We had only just met in the kitchen at wip and were chatting about how we survive as artists. The conversation turned to children’s projects and Birgitta talked about her ambitions for a snow festival on Årstafältet (a common that she is involved in trying to protect from development).

It was the first children’s project I’ve worked on in a couple of years, and the first one I’ve done outside of the UK. In many ways it wasn’t that different from other ones I’ve done, and yet in other ways it was so different! I can’t quite put my finger on what made it different, perhaps it was just that I (literally) didn’t understand much of what was being said. One thing I noticed was the way the children worked, they were much more focussed and calmer than the London children I’m used to working with. They were also much better at cooperating and sharing the tools.
Speaking of tools, I was a little nervous when I saw the tools that we would be working with – it’s not that they were particularly dangerous, but they had the potential to be – it made me realise that it’s not the tools that are the challenge but the children’s way of handling them. Over the two days we were working with saws, trowels, files, rasps and even axes I didn’t see one incident of a tool being used in a threatening or violent way – something that I’ve (unfortunately) learnt to expect.

From the moment I arrived at the school, where we met all the children and designed the sculptures, I was aware of how different things are here. The school grounds and building were open, I walked across an open area to the class we were borrowing for the day, opened the door and let myself in. There were a few children hanging around in classrooms and others making themselves sandwiches in the kitchen area along the corridor (it was ‘sports week’ which is like half term so there weren’t proper lessons but the school is open for children whose parents work). I’m not used to such openess

Susanne, Birgitta’s old college friend who is an experienced snow sculptor, showed examples of the projects she’s done where she lives in Kiruna (up in northern Sweden were it can be -30 in the winter) and handed around the tools we would be using. Then Irina presented the ‘inspiration’ slide show that we put together.
The children came up with great designs for their snow sculptures. They were good at working in their teams and deciding on the one design they would actually make. After badly cutting herself while trying to carve plaster Birgitta discovered that florist’s Oasis foam is a great way to make a macquete. By the end of the afternoon the children had all carved their own versions of their group sculptures and the room was covered in a fine green dust!

The weather the next day was fantastic – brilliant blue sky, sunny and about minus five – perfect for being outside and working with snow. Birgitta and Henrik (a fellow field campaigner) had already prepared the blocks of snow the children would work on. I had no idea that there are special forms/frames that you need to use to make the blocks – to be honest I hadn’t really thought about how to get the snow ‘together’ at all! Susanne explained that you never quite know what the snow will be like when you unpack it, and that that’s part of the excitement, but it can also effect what you can do with it. There had been a couple of mild days since the snow had been packed into the forms but thankfully the forms came off easily and blocks looked good – I took Susanne’s word for this ….

Supermarket 2010 and other stuff

I have lost all sense of time. On one hand it feels like an age since last year’s art fairs, and on the other hand it feels like no time at all.

For me this was a very different fair weekend to last year. For a start this year I have a relationship with the Stockholm art world that I didn’t have this time last year. I know some artists to say hello to, and some to actually talk with. I’m much more familiar with the Stockholm galleries. And though I find it difficult to admit (why?) I’m living here at the moment.

On Sunday morning I was on the wip:sthlm stand at Supermarket for a few hours. Everyone who was showing was on a rota so there were always four people on the stand and I was more than happy to do my share – it was a great way to meet some of the other wip artists as well as meeting people who came to the stand. I’d also been on the stand for the ‘press preview’ on Thursday, and spent most of Friday at Supermarket (but not on the wip stand). Sunday was good, it was interesting to meet people who go to a fair like Supermarket. Most of them were other artists, some were curators. Very few seemed to be collectors (though I guess that a lot of artists are also collectors – it’s just that we’re more likely to swap work). Supermarket is great at giving artists opportunities to meet other artists and artist-led organisations, it’s a far cry from the ubber-slick and commercial Market fair.

I enjoyed Market too Рfor very different reasons. I like a lot of Scandinavian art, and there was a lot of it to see. Most of the contemporary commercial galleries from Stockholm were there, along with ones from Malm̦ and G̦teborg. Also ones from Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland and Germany.

What I really appreciate is that the two fairs are proudly different from each other. And they do it without being competitive (well at least not that I noticed). They know they do different things and that they are both important. For me it sums up a lot of what I like about Sweden – that difference is just about difference and not about one thing being better or worse then another. It’s wonderful to be somewhere where there is considerably less call for value judgements.

It was lovely to catch up with Alan and Clare who run Sevenseven Contemporary Art (London), and to meet their children Lydia and Stella too. I met Alan when I had a studio in the east-end and I was in a group shows he organised at Mile End Art Pavilion about six years ago. Dawn (another Bow artist) came too, and I got quite nostalgic about the crowd I used to know about 10 years ago. I lost touch with most of them when I moved to south London. It was ridiculous to keep the studio when I lived so far away – though I tried for a year. In some ways it was great to just pick up where we left off, and in another it made me wonder how it was so easy to lose contact with people. Both Dawn’s and Alan’s work has changed hugely (as has mine) and it was wonderful to see what they are up to – I like what they’re doing.

This afternoon I started working out how to apply to the royal college here for their professional artists’ scheme. The scheme gives artists time in technical workshops and access to their facilities. It’s a bit like the AA2A (Artists Access to Art Colleges) scheme in the UK. I was very pleased to find pictures of very old work on my computer – I want to include some examples of my more sculptural work, especially my ability to cast. I’m applying to work in the sculpture department and my proposed project involves pushing what can be done with some casting processes and working with wax.

This time next week I’ll be preparing for my first Swedish children’s art workshop … snow sculpture …

www.sevenseven.org.uk

www.arstafaltet.se

www.supermarketartfair.com

www.market-art.se

Upcoming Supermarket Art Fair – Stockholm

Monday (1/2/2010): sent David and Lucy most of the new images and updates for my website, the only thing I didn’t send was a new ‘artist’s statement’. I was good to see what I’ve done since they first made my website, both in terms of artworks and, for me more importantly, the additions to my cv. I feel a little embarrassed to write that but it’s true. I’m really pleased to add ‘residency’ and ‘collections’ heading to my cv, as well as a couple of shows. The work is one thing but the context of it and me means a lot to me.
Another day of dipping the strange ceramic ring/rose ornament in layers of silver glitter. I like the way the form is changing – two different people have both called it my ‘silver shit’! I guess that shit is kind of formless form. It’s not a path I want to pursue, though I need to take it on board if when I’m ‘embedding’ other objects.
Completed the artist’s information form for wip. Again I had to write a statement about my art/practice.

Tuesday (2/2/2010): Hampus and I went to a screening of Derek Jarman’s Caravaggio at the Italian Cultural Institute. They are showing a short season of Caravaggio films in conjunction with the exhibition at the National Museum. It was interesting to see it again, this time I think I was more able to enjoy the beauty of the film – it’s visually stunning. I like the Jarmanesque anomalies – the occasional modern dress, the sound of trains and helicopters, the golden ‘credit card’ calculator that now looks so 80s.
It was also a great opportunity to see the Italian Institute. Gio Ponti designed it back in the 50s and it hasn’t changed much. His original furniture and fittings are still there. It’s great to be so close to, to actually feel and experience, things designed by a world class architect.

Wednesday (3/2/2010): evening: I took my ‘untitled: embedded object SG1’ over to wip:sthlm. I really miss being there and having the studio. I’m starting to get that ‘itchy’ feeling that I used to get when I hadn’t been to the studio in a couple of weeks, now that I don’t have a studio it’s not so easy to know how to scratch that itch. Making a small piece in the house was ok, but it wasn’t the same has having a studio. A studio is more than somewhere to make work, for me it’s a place to think, to experiment, to play, to have coffee, to be quiet, to write – basically it’s where I feel most like an artist.
Alex offered to share her studio with me but until I know I have some income I don’t want to make a commitment that I might to be able to honour. So Stuart, it’s time to find some paid work.

Thursday (4/2/2010): Brilliant! David and Lucy have updated my website. I need to send them a few more details, but basically it’s all there. They noticed that the link to the cpartists website isn’t working which is annoying. Since cpartists ‘dissolved’ we’ve never resolved what to do about the website, Tine and I like the idea that it stays as a legacy of the work we did, however it seems that because no-one is really responsible for it that somehow it’s ‘gone down’. There should be a direct debit to pay for it but perhaps it needed confirming

It’s now Friday, the following week. Time is running away with me. I’m going to publish this blog entry that I wrote last week … even though it feels a little out of date …

I can’t beleive that this time next week I’ll be at Supermarket.

Stockholm scene(s)

It’s nearly 7.30, and the end of January. Time passes very quickly.

Today: I noticed that it’s three years since I started this blog. It’s been an incredible three years – in lots of ways! In the last week, or so, I’ve been thinking about everything that has happened in the last year. These thoughts have been triggered by my re-involvement with wip:sthlm. I have been invited to contribute to their representation at Supermarket 2010. This time last year I was getting excited about coming over to Stockholm for my first visit to the art fairs (Supermarket and Market). And now, this year, I’ll be there as a participant. It has all happened very organically, and I could almost be surprised by the way things have worked out. On the other hand I have made it happen – the great thing is that I’ve done it in my own way.

Started making an artwork for wip at Supermarket.
Went for walk and took photographs in the snowstorm. I’m trying very hard to suspend my fear of the cliché and do it anyway. I am very interested in the way snow creates a formlessness (full and partial).

Yesterday morning (Tuesday 26): Birgitta, Irina and I met at Birgitta studio (at wip:sthlm) to discuss the snow-sculpting festival that Birgitta is organising. Birgitta first mentioned it to me during my residency, we spoke quite a lot about some of our ambitions for education and community projects. It’s great that I’m here and will be able to be involved – though I’m a little nervous about not speaking more than ‘tourist’ Swedish and being one of the workshop leaders. I really like Birgitta, she was one of the artists I regularly bumped into over lunch and coffee when I was at wip:sthlm. She is a wonderfully generous and passionate artist and activist, her enthusiasm is inspiring. It felt really good to be part of team again, talking through ideas about themes and forms for the project.

Yesterday afternoon (Tuesday 26): Oppnet Hus at Stockholm’s royal art college (KKH). I went along because as well as BA and MA courses in fine and applied arts the college has a scheme for professional artists to use their workshops. The facilities there are fantastic – I spent most of my time in the sculpture workshops, they are great. The building looks relatively new with large workshops on the ground floor and smaller individual studios on the floors above. Even the smaller individual studios are a good size (about 4m square), and they are proper rooms, with doors (lockable,) windows and walls that go up to the ceiling. (The difference between these studios and the ones I’m used to is vast.)
The work that I saw there was really impressive. The place (the workshops) felt somehow both traditional and contemporary – there was evidence of modelling from life alongside large abstract colourful forms.
Having see the facilities and spoken with the sculpture tutor I’m going to apply for the artist’s programme. Selection is by portfolio and submission of a project. It ‘s been a long time since I applied to a college, or for anything like this, and I’m looking forward to making some of my ideas presentable as a ‘project’.

Last week (Thursday 21): Went to a couple of gallery openings. The first I went to on my own, at the second I met up with Karen who introduced me to other artists and gallery directors. I had a great evening – it was really good to meet other artists, and to have to say why an artist from London is so interested in being in Stockholm. I try not to be too critical of London, but I had to admit that it’s a very tough place for artists –especially those of us that haven’t ‘made it’.
From the discussions that night it seems that while Stockholm might not have the star-artists that London does, it also doesn’t have the … (what is the opposite of ‘star’?) impoverished(?) artists either. Like many things here the difference between ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ is considerably narrower. And that suits me, I don’t want to be a Damien Hirst or Anthony Gormley, I just want to do what I do, and to do it in a culture that seems genuinely interested in creativity.

I don’t feel ‘slow’ here … and I like that