The extreme weather has caused the external wastepipe to freeze. I won’t go into too many details as you might be having your tea. However, to deal with such problems in future I have advised artists to pour boiling water down the wash hand basin and to add salt. Apparently all similar pipes in the complex have been affected. Apart from that we had a great christmas. Oops nearly forgot. The lovely Fi Burke presented the artists with a microwave as a thank-you present. It was such a pleasure to host her show too! Thank you Fi!
It’s good to check in with something positive. I submitted an image for a seasonal email greeting competiton. Not only have I won prize money, but my work will be seen by a big audience. Wow! I can’t believe it. This is a first for me. Also, the paperwork is finally completed for the groundfloor which has been a bit of a headache. As associate members of Backlit Alison and I were invited to the studio party last night. We had such a great time. Beth’s cheesecake and another artist’s ricotta cheese and spinach pie were just two of the delicous dishes on offer. And the chillie bacon thingys really tickled the tastebuds. It was fat bellies all round by home time. We have our HMS studio meal today… so more festive jollies. It looks like the tail of 2010 might be ending on a goodly note :) Yo ho ho!
Tom Duggan’s thought provoking review in the Interface section of AN www.a-n.co.uk/p/909223/ articulates beautifully many of my own views about the busy and noisy forums, blogs and social networking sites on the internet. I am also guilty of adding to the din, but like Tom I have also benefitted from airing my views. One of the reasons I keep the blog going is because we still have a case ticking in the background. Once this is resolved, I feel it will no longer be approriate to talk about setting up the studios and I will put this blog to bed.
Southwell Artists were able to donate £1000 to SightSavers www.sightsavers.org/, whilst a local charity Southwell Care Project www.southwellcare.org/ also benefitted from the open studios event as their volunteers provided tea and cakes, raising another £1000. What a warm feeling inside. As I couldn’t get to the studios last week I posted keys to a new licensee (who is local). I had gone through h & s and various proceedures so I thought this would be the sensible option. The problem is the post has been badly affected too and the keys only arrived yesterday. Anyway, John Cooke has been v patient and will move in at the weekend. I showed an artist from Long Eaton around the studios this week who had never heard of HMS. He is now on the waiting list. When we set up HMS I didn’t realise how many practioners would be within spitting distance of the studios.
The Supermarket event in Sweden earlier this year has resulted in some exciting exchanges for 2011. We are off to Chicago in the Spring and look forward to welcoming artists from ‘Art on the Armitage’ during Oct 2011 for a 2 week residency. A group from Visby, Gotland will be over in June whilst we will be off to see them on their home territory in August. It is supposed to be very beautful. It’s going to be a full on year!
