Going into the start of the week in your professional shoes on means that the mucky work tends to get neglected, and so far, nothing whatsoever has been done on the painting or scupture front. I’d set Monday aside as a non-mucky day – presentations, show planning, catching up – and then back to swinging a mallet on Tuesday. I didn’t realise that the entire thing would span both of our studio days. The presentation went down quite well on Monday, with interesting questions and feedback, and a lot of audience engagement. There was serious excitement over the prospect of a cake sculpture, which I didn’t anticipate, and lots of helpful questions and observations on the paintings. I don’t think I could have asked for more, really!
Sitting in the lecture room, listening to the rest of the group deliver their presentations, I realised how little I knew about the work that was taking shape around me. We’re a small group, so we know each others’ work fairly well, and we all have an idea of what the others do and why. In the last few months, however, we’ve all had to concentrate so much more on our own practices that we’ve become more distanced from one another. Being out of the main studio all of the time now has made it harder for me to keep up with the others’ work, and it was good to hear about the processes that the others are going through. Also, while some people, like Lisa, Ellie and Karen, do most of their work in the studio, others do much of it off campus. All of my painting is done in my living room, so no-one sees it until it’s ready to be taken in for a crit or a tutorial. Kerene’s copper-framed cocoon, made in her back garden, was brought in on Tuesday, much to our delight. Xanthus, however, is our chief secret squirrel – working like crazy at home on his very ambitious, usually top-secret projects, only bringing in snippets before installing the completed pieces in situ.
Having the chance to sit and make notes on the very different practices, methods and inspirations within our group, direct from the artists, was definitely helpful for me. I have to do a fair bit of writing on the exhibition for our website and social media, and it’s a lot easier with a bit more personal insight.
After the morning’s presentations, we made models of our space requirements and placed them in the 1:20 scale model of the studio which Xanthus had made for us to use for planning the exhibition hang. Actually, it was a bit like playing with a doll’s house! It helped to be able to visualise the curation, to anticipate the flow of the exhibition, the relationships between pieces and lines of sight, and the only thing which was missing at the time was Ellie’s tent. I snapped up someone’s idea for displaying my sculptures, which I really wish I’d thought up myself, but will still be using regardless.
We all seem to be thinking past the show with a touch of sadness. While I was showing some of the group around a-n’s blogging platform, one person said it would be good to be connected to a network after leaving college; it would be lonely otherwise. I’m sure we’ll run into each other here, and in the real world on the odd occasion.
Unusually for me, I’ve been thinking past the show without much worry. I just hate uncertainty, but I don’t seem to have the energy to freak out over the future. I still don’t know about my MA prospects, whether any work will come up close to home or in London, or if I’ll be staying in this area. Interestingly, in the last week I’ve had three separate emails from bands – one from a member of the band l was with last year – looking for a singer. I said yes to the first, to start after the exhibition, but now I have to see how many I could take on, with rehearsals and gig times. Strange that they should come all at once; it’s made me think seriously about viewing it as another option for work. It would be hilarious if I ended up doing that as my full-time work, after going down the academic route specifically to get out of the self-employment pool! It may be that freelancing is the best way for me after all.
