For a while now my failure in the blogging world has haunted me. I should be setting aside time every week to record my activites but the level of necessary commitment overwhelmed me and I decided, with the exception of regular Facebook-stalking session of course, to shun all social media sites.
That is until today – I’m at a Social Media in Museums Workshop, run by Mark Ellis of Sound Delivery. An incredibly enthusiastic fountain of cultural knowledge and know-how, Mark has inspired me to restart my blog and have another attempt at Twittering in order to promote my artwork, Backlit Gallery & Studios and Djanogly Art Gallery, and stay informed of art news via live feeds and Google Alerts. As a contemporary artist, I should be making use of contemporary social media!
So, a quick update since I last blogged…I have started a new body of work relating to Brutalist architecture and manipulation of the population with regards to Utopian visions. The first piece of work to be shown in this series is part of Gold; Sand; Spring: 3 Events to Test Opinions, commissioned by Amelia Beavis-Harrison. On Saturday 13th March, I will be handing out squares of gold leaf for the public to embellish a Lincoln City Council bollard with from 9am to 5pm. See http://www.charlottepratley.co.uk/news-and-events.html for more details.
It’s been a while since I’ve collaborated or worked with the public – I’d forgotten how much these things alter your work. My original proposal focused around a concrete, post-war feature but compromises between Amelia, Lincoln City Council and the other 2 artists involved have meant that the urban feature in question will now be a glossy, branded bollard. This has changed the meaning of the piece from beautifying an aging, failed architectural structure to almost graffiti-ing a modern crowd control system…perfectly fitting with the anarchist sympathies in my work that I often feel I should dampen down to avoid creating preachy or ranty subtexts!
In other news…I’m now the Studio Manager of Backlit Gallery, Studio & Project Space! As we’re currently unfunded, my main task is to fill the empty spaces and glean outstanding rent from impoverished members so that we can stay in business…as a friend once said of his dissertation, I feel a bit like I’m standing at the bottom of a giant sand dune wearing skis, faced with the task of scrabbling to the top..let’s hope I don’t sink!
