Restarted

Well my installation is up and running, after an exhausting 6 hours of hard work yesterday.

The new site for the work ( which I hadn’t seen until yesterday) had been temporarily used as a chapel / prayer space, so the altar and chairs had been hastily removed before our arrival. This resulted in a woman getting quite cross with me during the install, asking where should she pray now – and when was that ‘stuff’ going to be removed (!)

She did come back later and apologised though.

Although slightly smaller than the original room I was planning to install in, it was much brighter and better access for the public.

A steady stream of visitors strolled past, asking questions the entire time we were there.

It was also great to see so many taking photos of the work as it was nearing completion.

Although the exhibition is only on for a relatively short time, I think more people will get to see it than they would if it were in a gallery space.

Also, Chester Cathedral have promoted the project on their Twitter and Instagram pages, which have a huge amount of followers, so hopefully lots of people will get to see images if they can’t visit in person.

I’ve accepted the new space now.

No, I still haven’t seen it in person, but what’s done is done.

My latest concern was about publicity. I  did a search and apart from one piece on a Chester website , in which there was a bizarre quote allegedly from me – where on earth did that come from ???  There was no mention about the exhibition anywhere as far as I could see.

So I set up a facebook event.     

I can only assume (hope!) that a newsletter had been sent out to let people know what’s happening .

The whole experience has been so different to how I would approach things if I were to do a self led exhibition.  I have to learn to stand back though and accept that this is how some organisations work.

….. or lack of .

Yesterday, I was out and about looking at some art installations in the city centre, when I got a call from the organiser of my own installation, asking me if I could join in on a zoom meeting.

I couldn’t really because , being in the city centre, it was too busy and noisy….. I was really concerned though that this meeting ( which I had no prior knowledge of) was about where my work will go in the Cathedral.

Eh ???

The space was booked last summer, I’d measured it up and planned my design to fit.

So I got a text later in the day with an image of a new space.  Apparently, the original space was double booked – the other being for an outside event.  They thought that they could have the event under  my  work – which they thought was going to be hung from the ceiling.

Rather than move the event to the new space, they deemed it more appropriate that the artwork was moved.

That just says it all about the role of the artist doesn’t it?

I really didn’t mean to leave it so long between blog posts.  I did think about writing more, several times in fact, but the content probably wouldn’t have been that interesting to read.

In the last 6 months, since I’d written,  I’ve been mostly making fish – either on my own, or running workshops at which, the participants made more fish.

Hmmm see what I mean, can’t really stretch that into an interesting story can I?

My 10 month contract is coming to an end though and I need to assess how its gone.

On the plus sides…. yes, I’ve made the amount of fish for the installation I’ve been asked to make.  I’ve gone out into the community and met some really good people and my payments have been on time. No qualms there.

There have been stressful times though.

There were times when I thought I just couldn’t do it. Not as many fish were made at some of the workshops than I’d hoped. Some fell apart when I got them home and I had to spend a lot of time repairing them. I spent weeks, if not months, working at what felt like a non stop assembly line and the repetitiveness almost made me feel sick.

I have 1250 fish. From an outside point of view, that probably doesn’t sound a lot over a 10 month period.  How does that work out- 4 or 5 a day?  Try doing the same thing every single day though. Good luck if you can do it. I certainly couldn’t .

I feel fortunate that I was able to take breaks in between and not have to stick to a timetable. It would have been unhealthy not to.

So I’ve sorted out what I’ve got here – about 1250 give or take a couple, all colours separated and stacked ( which took an eternity believe me!)

In 10 days, they will be picked up and then I’ll have to go across to the cathedral to install.

Maybe then, I’ll have more interesting things to say.

Yesterday I did the first workshop at St Michael and All  Angels church in Macclesfield, as part of my Diocese of Chester commission.

It took an hour and 20 mins to get there, which was a bit of a pain, but the diocese covers a vast area and I’ve been assured that that one is the furthest I would have to travel.

It actually took a week to prepare for it, which I really must bear in mind when I work out costs for future projects.  The event lasts for a week, but I was only required to be there for the one day (thankfully – given the amount of travelling!)  So that meant that I had to prepare materials and instructions,  not just for the day, but for the week ahead.

I thought the best thing to do was then to make up a stack of paper fish all at different stages – very Blue Peterish, but it seemed to work.

I arrived half an hour early at the church  to set up the tables, but rather than start straight away, they began an hour long mass.

I won’t lie, its a long time since I’ve been to church and I knew none of the songs, so I just stood there like a lemon.

I don’t know if many will turn up to the drop in sessions at the church. I keep checking the website and social media sites and can see very little promotion.  Maybe the A board they had outside would normally be enough to attract people?

Its one of the frustrating things about being commissioned to do something – not that I’m ungrateful in any way (!) but I’m so used to not relying on others.