This afternoon saw the launch of the spring show at ArtSpace. A selection of work from all across the area, and a representative sample of mine in its own spot. It was a good afternoon, and about half way through it something dawned on me: This isn’t really a new thing at all. Someone came in that I knew from Wolverhampton, someone else from poetry nights in Kidderminster. Someone I taught about 20 years ago. There were afew laughs, conversations were had, ranging from the experiences of Romanian immigrants in Dudley, to the inclusion of expensive adjectives on bags of crisps… salt and vinegar being so much cheaper than Sea Salt and Balsamic Vinegar…
Several people were one-step removed from other artists I knew, and new links were forged. That’s a little bit of a Dudley pun.
What this did was reassure. I felt I was in the right place, that I could do something here. Also, it was a good place to inhabit, among like minded folk, while I discovered where I was going to go and what I am going to do next.
This current body of work feels almost done… and the next thing hasn’t quite dawned on me yet. I know it will, because I still have lots of stitching to do, and that always oils the thinking cogs.
The Greatcoat for America is packed up and set to go. I feel a bit of a parental pang, sending it away on its own.
We have been disappointed not to get Arts Council funding for the US exhibition and allied projects, so although it will still go ahead, it is at our own expense, and with the generosity of our American friends, and whatever funds we have raised ourselves up to now. But having had that disappointment, it is with a heavy heart that I wait for the result of the funding application that will allow Bo and I to work together properly for the first time.
