Saw James Lowther on friday. He was the arts officer for Durham and has now taken over at Berwick running the visual arts there. He is a really good officer, he always gets involved in the projects and has really strong project management skills. I spoke to him about my work, surprisingly he liked a project I did called ‘A ring Cycle’, where I got people to pass instruments. I have always really liked that project, which I did more for myself, but have always thought it is something I would have liked to develop and done more properly. He wasn’t that into the orchestra flashmob works, which is something I often find with people in the visual arts, even though they do well on-line, they never do that well in festivals and with galleries. James works with the Berwick film festival which seems a good opportunity for artists’ videos as they take an installational approach to much of the work they show. We spoke about how to succeed with applications for residencies and opportunities. He thinks that if you put something in it should have a connection to the remit, that sounds obvious, but often people put in applications with no real research into the area etc and what they show. So when he was at the DLI one of the only unsolicited projects he took on was one that was about military history which fits in with the museum that houses the gallery. At the moment in Berwick he has installed a crazy golf artwork, as the gallery is near the local golf course. We then got talking about why I work with over 50s in some of my projects, which led me to some deep soul searching as to why I do this, maybe I can at times be funding led. I guess that made me start to think about entertainment and the pleasure principle and how that fits into my work, the need I have to entertain with the product I generate and is that authentic or do I just want to be liked. Hmm lots to think about. I have booked in to see Mike Stubbs from Fact on Friday.
people make musing by passing instruments
Had my meet with Richard Hollinshead a sculpture and director of Grit and Pearl, a public art agency. There were many good points he raised. While video as a piece of long term public art would be problematic, often now with public art they are asked to make a number of temporary smaller works around the creation of the major art work, and he though my practice would fit in well to this commission process. This is an avenue I will pursue, and is a good avenue for other artists who make work not suited to long term installs. He also thought I should aim for larger budgets, which is also something I will use when negotiating new work, as he felt the quality of the work varied in terms of filming and larger budgets would give the work greater consistency in the amount of time and the equipment I could use to document the idea I create. I also talked to him about my inability to ever get through the commission process for a work, and that maybe I am not presenting myself in the right way, and he suggested letting him look over any future apps for some pointers, which would be great. He also said that Grit and Pearl will be running some form of open surgery for artists in the near future, which is really needed. It was really great just to talk with someone about what I do, in an open and theoretical way. Once outside of the arts education system it is hard to just talk with people about your ideas and artwork. I find lately that the only time I talk to interested bodies about what I do, is when I am making the work for them, and then it is really just about the practicalities, so this has been a really useful exercise. My next meet is with James Lowther on the 18th.
Have booked in a meeting with James Lowther, Head of visual arts in Berwick. Went up to Berwick and saw the opening exhibition in the revamped Gymnasium gallery he put together. It was crazy golf designed by artists. the kids loved it. I also have a meeting with Richard Hollinshead of the public art agency Grit and Pearl booked in for Tuesday, this may lead to me investigating ways I could develop my work so it might be considered for public art commissions. I am also waiting for confirmation of a date to meet with Mike Stubbs at FACT in Liverpool, which will help me develop the on-line side of my practice.
Have sent messages to some of the people I wanted to meet and talk about what I do. It was hard to work out how to phrase an invite, but felt a bit more confident mentioning it was part of a bursary scheme, as it seemed to give it a greater authority. It has always been a bit of a dilemma for me, as you have to push your work forwards, for yourself and the people involved, but also I don’t really like being too visible as a person. Still it would be nice to see if the work I produce fits in anywhere. So will update with any replies I get.
