All my materials are in the flat and I have begun the preparation of the first section of the wall. carefully peeling back the wonderfully dated wallpaper and beginning to chip away at the surface.
The excitement of whats to come battles against the freezing cold and all work grinds to a stop as my hands become numb and the light begins to fade.
This week there are more artists on site and its exciting to meet them all and hear about their projects.
The organisers are also very enthusiastic and happy to see that after all the hard months of prep the creativity is growing!
The project at the Market Estate is beginning to get underway and even with a month still to go before the opening there is already excitement in the air!
Higgins, the contracting company, is sponsoring the event and has agreed to donate some scrap materials to some of the artists. So the other day I spent a good few hours scavenging bits of wood and tubing from the local building site.
With enough materials gathered and still not a penny spent, I got to see my space for the first time. As it was quite a spectacular day the flat seemed surprisingly inviting with light streaming in through every window. It’s an odd space however and it feels strange to sit in a home that has only very recently been vacated. The few things left behind are like ghostly threads to someone’s story. A photograph of a young girl, yellowed lace curtains, a missing button and a £25 dept on the electricity meter.
A few days later, but this time without the sunshine, I spent some hours drawing in the space. Working out ideas for the positioning of the sculpture is harder than I expected if i’m going to appease the worries of the councils’ Health and Safety advisors.
My proposal was rushed together last minute over a very long and busy night. I never expected once that I might actually get the project I was fantastically dreaming up.
A few weeks later however I found out I was shortlisted and was required to submit some further details. I had a meeting with the organisers and discovered that there would be some serious health and safety inssue with my proposal and although they liked it I would have to really reconsider how I was going to make it.
There was a worry about asbestos in the walls and so demolishing walls was out of the question, the walls were also concrete so my little arms would struggle to smash them in the way I wanted…so there I was again back at the drawing board. I was very quickly gettiing over my excitement and realising I had dreamed up a proposal that I really had no idea how to make!
After a few tests and lots of thinking I came up with the new proposal that actually got me the project.
It still is a nightmare for HS and I am still out my depth but where is the excitement in playing safe. I love the idea and will work as hard as possible to make it work in the space I get given.
