Snap! is over and Growing pains back with me, which is nice, even if I’d have liked it to find a loving home somewhere else, for a good price of course. I wished I could ask the work itself how it fared amongst the other pieces, if it made links or asserted its difference… Luckily I can peruse SLWA’s newly published, gorgeous women’s art-diary, get a mini-view of what was on show.
I haven’t left the house in 17 days. Not so bad if I’m still counting, but it’s the worst I’ve been in a while and feels like forever. ‘Normally’ (by my M.E.-standards) I get out once per week, and then need four, five days to get on my feet again. At the moment my body refuses verticality for more than a few minutes at a time. Hrrrmmmmphhh. But (as long as there is a but!): Although it can feel as if I’m whispering from within a deep, dark well I’m glad I started to write (and read) here; found some lovely comments and left a few too. It’s already making me feel more connected.
Really the internet is my most consistent link into the wider world. It is like an open window through which I speak, let down a basket on a string and lightly draw it back up, filled with groceries or books, wools and crochet-hooks or sky-blue shoes (which I haven’t worn yet), receive news from friends, near and afar, do research, look at art and hook up with its makers – at my own speed and without ever leaving home.
I started writing My art grows around me in 2007 and for the first time in years was able to present my work and get feedback. It was thrilling. Some really good discussions ensued. I made blogger-friends across the world but it all slowed down in 2010, when I had my first solo-show at the truly amazing Arthouse in Wakefield (will tell you more one day), and consequently focused my energies on exhibiting.
You might wonder why I came here to start a second blog when my energy is so limited. The thing is that I haven’t any new exhibitions lined up (about which I’m trying not to panic) and feel a bit directionless. A fresh start of some sort seems in order, to push my art practice and communicate with greater clarity and closer to home. I took part in a few really interesting and well-received exhibitions in the last two years and learned a lot, can say: I am an artist! almost without hesitation – now it’s time to explore virtual modes of connection and communication. Here I am quite comfortable. About Twitter and Facebook I remain warily curious, their facility for direct, almost effortless self-promotion makes me want to scurry under a table every time I post something.
Baby steps again.
About a-one who set off to learn about fear (2004, edition of 2)
Incidentally my first crochet-piece. The title is appropriated from a Grimm’s fairy tale, which of course sends a boy out into the big wide world.
Materials: crocheted wool and cotton wool, cardboard, rags and polyester filling
Dimensions: 39 cm x 20 cm x 22 cm
