Thursday 18th September saw the opening of my hand printed wallpaper and origami birds installation at Castle House. As the doors to the ex-department store opened and the walls rippled in the breeze, I held my breath.
Working with Castle House has been an excercise in patience, trust and adaptability. The perfectionist in me has groaned over the wrinkles, warps and wefts in the walls. But now, as the wallpaper stands brazenly facing the central staircase, I can begin to see it as others may do. The lights cast beautiful shadows across the walls, catching the tips of the birds. The pattern in the paper moves with your eye as you navigate the curved wall. People seem drawn to the birdbox I placed in the central panel asking for orders/expressions of interest to be posted inside. I watch secretly, hoping they comply.
Of course there are errors and there is so much more I wish I could have done. I wanted to cover the ceiling in birds over the course of the show. As if they were ripping the walls apart and flying up the staircase. For me, the piece remains too decorative and still. But I am limited by the time that has been shortened due to unforseen structural problems and the fact that I cannot access the ceiling during open hours. Instead I plan to make more birds and attach them via the walls this week.
The great thing about doing an exhibition though, however much you feel you have failed to do, is that the idea you started out with grows and changes over time. So that by the time you finish the show you have something new, and hopefully improved, based on where you started. For me, this is a chance to pilot an idea that has yet to be fully realised. I hope to find another space, one to which I can bring all my experience and knowledge gained during the Castle House show, and create a wallpaper installation that pushes the tensions between art and interior space even further.
Over the next week I intend to use this blog as a space to note down thoughts surrounding the content and research of this piece of work. Moving from a journal of practical documentation to one of insight, commentary and speculation.
You can see When the Walls take Flight at
Castle House, Angel Street, Sheffield.
18th to 28th September, 10:30am to 5pm daily.
