Monday 11 May
Judith Hill
It was an experience of a lifetime, something that will stay with us forever. The artists' book collaboration brought together two different cultures and proved that with a shared common interest we can work, and live, together and achieve goals that are both rewarding and of a high standard. We take from it memories of friends made and personal goals met, these things that will sustain us as artists and add a new dimension to our personal lives. Well done everybody!
Christine Taylor
The Utah mountains are set in stone, but they yield, eventually, to their environment. I realise that I was set in my practice – using screen print as a safe option. Screen print was not available at BYU, so I stretched myself to create a response to my experiences using materials that were not comfortable or familiar to me. Out of my comfort zone I paid more attention to the materials and expanded the choice to include papers beyond those available in the print studio.
Working with students from another country, I saw things through fresh eyes and received inspiration as a reward for opening up my mind to new ideas and processes. The pioneering spirit of the people we met has renewed my own positive outlook and I look forward to improving my practice to stretch beyond my own frontier.
Monday 11 May
Recording and taking stock
Michelle Rowley
The following posts have been published on our return to Liverpool. We had such a busy time with long hours on the last two days of the trip that getting time to post our experieces was difficult, but I hope to make it up now.
On the flight home I asked each student to think through their responses to the challenges of this extraordinary trip and I am publishing each one, as they come in, alongside their book works.
Cath McGrail
Having just returned home and still suffering from jet lag, I am remembering the things that stand out:
The fantastic people we met and their friendliness, the extraordinary hospitality we received and the experiences we shared. The camping trip: Bryce Canyon and Calf Creek, the fabulous sights we saw and the exhaustion we felt. The enjoyment of eating food coooked in a fire pit outdoors when you are famished. The dubious pleasure of sleeping in a tent and being strangled by a sleeping bag in the night. My birthday; a great burger and a margarita at Chilli's and a surprise party at the girls house and a cake with my name on it. Thank you all, it was very special.
The experience of working in unfamiliar surroundings was a bit daunting and the tight schedule left little room for error or manoeuver. With more time I would have done things differently. Overall it was an experience I would not have missed. I feel very priviledged to have been given this valuable opportunity and it is something that I will never forget.
Louise Tett
To imerse myself in BYU's culture has been a unique experience. I was surprised how open and welcoming the students were and how quickly we bonded as a group. After working on my own for some time it was inspiring to be part of a new group and to spend two weeks discussing and making work of shared experiences. I was pleased with the work I produced and excited to have tried new processes. I think the standard of the whole group has been high and we have all benefited from this exchange.
Andrew Coady
I was initially anxious about working with the BYU students. Not having any idea of how they worked or what their work would be like was extremely intimidating. However as soon as I had settled in and met them my reservations dissappeared. They were emormously inviting and helpful.
Thursday 8 May 7 – 9 pm Utah time
'Mapping the West' Exhibition Opening
Michelle Rowley
The private view was a really enjoyable occasion for us. While we had gone home in the late afternoon to clean up Josh and his gallery staff had applied the final touches and brought the show together. It looked stunning and as we moved around the space all our hard work was made clear to us.
We had a busy night meeting friends and family of our BYU collaborators and we recieved very positive feedback from everyone. There is something about artists' books which invites curiousity and engagement from an audience and we were rewarded with an attentive appreciation for the ideas we had hoped to convey in our books.
I could see that my students were both relieved to have complete their work and to see that the quality and content of their pieces matched their peers at BYU.
Joe gave a short and emotional speech thanking us all for meeting the challenges of the two week project with good humour and courage. He presented each of us from WMC with a T-shirt commemorating all the places we had visited in Utah, starting with Walmart!
We were all a bit bleary eyed by the time he had finished as we realised that we would be going home the next day and this amazing experience would be over.
Thursday 8 May
Setting up the exhibition
Michelle Rowley
Organising the exhibition was relatively straight forward, even though we did not have all the books ready for the 12 pm deadline. The gallery technicians had everything under control with plinths available from their excellent gallery resource area, printed names, titles and statements at the ready and expert help in suggesting various ways to hang the variety of works.
With 35 pieces to display it was busy, decisions had to be made quickly again, but the group generally knew the best methods for their individual presentations. Agreement was easily reached on location and I especially was really honoured that my book was the first piece on view as you entered the space.
We left the final touches to the gallery staff who adjusted the lighting and made minimal tweaks to give each piece the most favourable position. It was one of the easiest group shows I have been involved with and I have to thank Josh and Joe for making that happen.
Leaving our books in the gallery so soon after completing them was a strange separation experience. It suddenly dawned on us that after our intense production time and all the care and thought we had lavished on them they wouldn't be ours for at least a couple of weeks, until the exhibition was over and Joe posted them back to us.
Thursday 7 May
Final day and Exhibition set up
Our house made it in for 7 am this morning while the lads went fishing with Joe at 6am.
The BYU students were working till 2am last night to get done and most of us made the 12 pm deadline this lunch time.
The pressure to complete our books has made an interesting difference to the usual way we might prevaricate and delay decisions, but we have had to be decisive and productive with our time from monday morning till now.
Even under the strain of our deadline the students have continued to help those who needed support and the good humour has persisted to the end across both groups.
