Simulacra And Simulations

The kids have gone back to school, and I received my first response to a recent exhibition application. Apparently there is suddenly no space on the wall for my work.

However, I’m still waiting for more important news for the other applications I mentioned. By tomorrow my brain will be back to normal. it would’ve got back into the Swing Of Things if it wasn’t for a simultaneous email telling me that I’ve won a competition I entered via the Jo Nesbo’s Headhunters facebook page to win a trip to Norway!!! It helps if you spam Pal Waaktaar Savoy and Jimmy Gnecco’s music video for the film that is out at cinemas now, being ahead of the game there!

Not sure whether there’s a set date when this trip will be – it’s for 3 nights at a hotel, 2 return flights and £200 spending money, so I’m hoping to get the opportunity to do something really useful – which sounds very vague, but I have a few ideas in mind, awaiting more details before I can consider them more – depends on timing!

I’ve been off for the Easter hols. I’m totally burnt out and need a break – just for two weeks – I’ve submitted an application for an exhibition in Skegness, submitted an entry for the AOI Serco prize for Illustration Secret London, and I can’t do any more, as single parenthood takes over during the holidays.

However, I wanted to poke my nose in here, because I’ve been doing one small creative thing as the holidays drag out and the rain relents. I uploaded this erroneous Easter picture: http://helend-blackbird.blogspot.co.uk/

The other reason I wanted to post, was because last summer I submitted a proposal for SO Festival in Skegness, but wasn’t successful. The idea was for an I Scream Van based on Munch’s iconic painting, to link Skegness with Norway following on from my last visit, where I saw a small figurine in the Radhus that resembled Skegness’ famous icon The Jolly Fisherman. I sat down to eat tea on Thursday evening, and The One Show was on, with a report about Munch’s The Scream going for auction at Sotheby’s, and a presenter appearing in an Ice Cream Van doing pretty much exactly as I’d proposed, only very craply. So do arts organisations use our failed proposals and give our ideas to researchers for TV shows to use?? In future, when I apply for opportunities, I wonder whether to add a disclaimer that if my ideas are not good enough to be accepted, that they should not be shared for the benefit of others. Does this seem picky, or would you be happy if you spent some time putting together a proposal that wasn’t accepted, only to find your idea, the exact same idea had been used by someone else – someone that got paid to express it in some other way, while you’re sitting there wondering why the gas bill has gone up but your income level has not??

Lastly, the 2nd Twitter Art Exhibition in Moss, Norway, for which I submitted a postcard, opened on Thursday with great success. I’m impressed that so much money was raised for the Women’s Crisis Centre on the opening night, here are photos of the exhibition:https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.37003538…

Since last October I’ve been putting together a funding application for Lincoln Artists’ Network for a collaborative project with Apparatjik for the next Digital Arts Festival in Lincoln in 2013. I’m applying for a local arts grant, St.Hugh’s Foundation Arts Award, the deadline of which isn’t until the end of this month, and I’ve been taking advice from a mentor for feedback as it has developed. I finally sent it off yesterday while I was feeling confident, and will find out if I’m successful or not at the end of next month. If I’m not successful, I’m looking into the International Collaboration Grant as an alternative.

I’ve submitted a postcard for the 2nd Twitter art exhibition in Moss, Norway – well why wouldn’t I, it’s i Norge, and I had a scribble of Morten Harket First Thing In The Morning just sitting in my sketchbook for no good reason at all! It’s also to support the Women’s Crisis Centre, so a good cause.

http://davidsandumart.posterous.com/call-for-artis…

http://pinterest.com/pin/7036943137765430/

My comic raised £10 towards Barnados in Brighton, and was bid by someone that really appreciated my work. The total raised was £1764.61 https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1834858&l=a0cbeab9d2&id=134099879939952

Very pleased this morning to find a folded envelope in the letterbox addressed to Helen Dearnley Fine Artist, to find it’s a cheque for an illo commission for Mobile News magazine :-)

I’ve been working on a number of things, as outlined in my blog:

http://helend-blackbird.blogspot.com/2012/02/my-final-animation-has-been-uploaded.html

Please “like” my Apparatjik animation here: http://vimeo.com/36575379

I was invited to take part in this auction http://www.afterdarkgallery.co.uk/

I asked from the outset what benefits this would give me, whether I would receive money, but it seems there is no financial benefit for artists involved. As such, I’ve submitted a copy of the comic, as the comic has already been covered now, and costs £2-3 where sold, so if it makes more than that, it would be interesting to see!

I’m taking part alongside a mix of top artists, including Jon Burgerman, Julian Opie, Sally Sheinman and Bill Drummond, and I’m participating, because I hope it’ll gain free publicity for my work, and I hope to gain some commissions from it. If I don’t get any commissions I’ll be disappointed, as I really need some at the moment.

I was really hoping to go down to Brighton to attend and take part, but single parenthood has thrown up another challenge typically at a really inconvenient time – always when I plan something elsewhere, and it would cost £91 in train travel, not covered by the organisers, so it reminds me how lucky everyone was that I made it to Colchester at all!

I’ve been following other people’s blogs about Open AIR: Effecting Change, http://www.counterwork.co.uk/index.php/article/belated_openair_response/

And I felt that a lot of what is being said is also how I felt, that not enough is happening for us. I wanted to clarify and expand a bit on my initial thoughts. I felt that it would’ve been good if AIR council members spoke on our behalf to get our message across to larger influences like ACE and the government in order to make it known that we don’t feel a part of the decision-making process, and that we should be. I also thought, when I saw cameras filming, that it would be great if it was televised – BBC?? I, like others, feel that I just want to make work and want less of the bureaucratic nonsense and trying to explain or justify what I’m doing. I really want it to be simplified. I think it was Emily Speed (forgive me if I’ve forgotten) that demonstrated the French / Danish model, where artists are subsidised to create work, and I really liked that idea as a possibility.

I was expecting more, but that isn’t to say the day was disappointing, just that we need to figure out how to move forward and implement some things that were discussed, and sometimes they can be quite tricky to nail down!