Last time I visited here I was in the waiting place, and now, I realised, I feel like George in George’s Marvelous Medicine.
The pots are simmering nicely and the concoctions I’m working on are alluring and treacle like; with lots of scope for spontaneity and electrifying results. (i’m thinking I should see if I can find a good quote to put here while im on this tangeant..)
Simmering pots:
Residency type work at a local primary school; some of my proposals for projects have been well received/given a green light and I’m now at the costing and planning stage, with some paid workshops in between.
Collaborating with a couple of other art educators to devise a take home project for school children which we’ll then re present as a striking installation.
Planning the Artists Skills Swap in France; thinking about workshop ideas which make good use the skills available and creating a schedule of complimentary combinations of workshops so that ideas can flow from one to another.
Coming up with ideas and proposals for festivals this year, a combination of collaboration and independent work.
Thinking about next steps. Studio? Teaching role? Residency opportunities?
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I liked the artist blog I just looked at that highlighted showing your working out. That reminds me of maths lessons! But rings true for this blog. There is so much need to ‘present yourself’ that its refreshing to think that here you can keep track of the workings out, the labour, the changes in state of mind and motivation. The journey. Still public (remembering interviewer refering to this- thankfully positively!) but a work in progress rather than finished and slick article.
So, notes on collaborating.
Recent experiences have taught me a few things about myself.Strengths are ideas (‘as these are my currency’ I boldly declared on a recent proposal letter, ‘I trust you will not take them further without my consultation’.), networking/ making connections between ideas-peaple-things, problem solving, stubborness regarding the creative ideal, optimism, skills bredth. I’ve realised Im less interested in the detail, until I’m actually doing something, and then I’ll pretty much undo myself to make it work and have really high expectations. So I need to allow time for things, to eleveate the end-of-the-line-make-it-work-what -ever-the-odds stress! Because this is where it can get unhealthy. I remember being like this at school, age 7 doing a project on chimpanzees. Teaching seems to really highlight this in me. Lately Ive been trying to allow for this: by being pragmatic rather than optimistic in my timings in my scheduling re proposals and skills swaps.
A friend said the other day; a healthy collaboration is where you walk away feeling like you’ve given and received back (and achieved something unexpected? – my addition), unhealthy where ideas go unrecognised/ misattributed and you feel like you’ve lost something of yourself. I’m learning there are many ways to collaborate. I’m finding that it is a helpful way of gearing up to activity, as collboration can focus me and make me prioritise, kickstarting activity that Im then happy to run with.
