ARTISTS TALKING

# 27 [13 January 2012]

show time again - have cut & paste blurb from mail out below. If anyone coming to Folkestone - please pop in. First time in 7 years for solo showing. xxxxx

I will be showcasing ‘OVUM’, a new work in progress, that continues to develop and explore my interests in ideas of beauty, desire, surface, standardisation, faking it, makeovers, homogeneity and heterogeneity.

A small scale study of authenticity and desire the photographs present hand painted and embellished blown eggs (chicken, turkey, goose) that I have collected or borrowed, utilizing graph paper to refer to museum archiving processes/social anthropologist’s field work (John Lamprey) as well as current computer construction and modelling techniques.

The Boxroom Gallery,

MK ArtLab,

45 The Old High Street, Folkestone, Kent CT20
21st Jan - 4th Feb
Tues, Thu, Fri, Sat 10 - 5pm
Wed 10 – 2pm

If you are in Folkestone on the 28th January  I'll be in the space between visit 4 – 5pm.

‘Gordon from Polegate’ 2012, is now available as a 10 x 8in Giclee Print on Hahnemuhle paper, Limited Edition of 50, Price £27.50 & P+P (payment can be made via cheque or paypal).

Please contact me if you have any questions or would like further information. OVUM will be on my website from early February.

Best Wishes

# 26 [20 December 2011]

Have now received my generic NO emails from both teaching applications. All eyes on the commission application, not sure if get they'll get interview/ rejection emails out before Xmas. But the positive is the first time I've had a video piece shown any where I got paid a screening fee!!! Of 5000SEK which is £453!!! At one point in the summer it was 480. Is it normal for screening fees in the Uk? Or just the swedes being brilliant. Orebro open art looked fantastic online and the catalogue is also really well put together. Hopefully some more positivity shortly X

# 25 [15 December 2011]

Open house went well, quiet but nearly everyone sold work with a couple of people doing very well. I swapped a print for a fake faberge framed picture of a pigeon by Sal Penfold. Its excellent and goes with our wall paper which is a statement.

So in terms of other news, I do have a solo show coming up in Folkestone in January, as soon as I know the exact days the gallery will be open i'll start advertising. The space is the Boxroom on the Old high street above MK Art Lab. I'm going to use it as an opportunity to make/test a new piece ive been sitting on for too long (3-4 years in my head), ive got the props now to figure out the lighting and maybe borrow a lens.

I also got brave/frustrated and contacted a space in London and Oslo about showing the Standard package trilogy now its finished and i got positive resposes from both but nothing concrete so wont say where just in case i jinx it. London space looking for a date in the diary and the norwegian space would like it but have just lost their fiunding, so will get back to me when they know more.

So close yet so far.

Am applying & submitting for another commission/residency today - i like the proposal but wonder if councils/centres/institutions are willing to take a risk on giving medium/big projects to artists who are just beginning to establish themselves with community engagement and public projects.

Have applied for 2 different teaching positions, have heard nothing - wouldnt mind a generic email rejection just so i can file them in the NO folder.

Can see poker attracting my attention again shortly - maybe brighton casino over christmas - seems the odds maybe better

hope everyone well xxx

# 24 [2 December 2011]

Folkestone Artists Open Studios and House will be open 10th & 11th December.

Does anyone think one town can have too much arts & craft? Theres loads going on in folkestone at the mo, open house, art sale at the burlington,  16 & 17 Dec theres a 60 stall arts & craft market in Guildhall street.

I find it amazing/scary that one place can attract/host so much work. the cynic in me thinks next to nothing will sell even though i want all events to be successful.

# 23 [30 October 2011]

check out documentation finally online - well nearly all of it. Havent taken my photos yet.

http:///www.checkinandout.wordpress.com

but Claires and Lyndas work looked strong and really worked in their settings.

Really enjoyed the open house structure so am in early/mid stages of organising another type of open house with Diane Dever (Folkestone Fringe).

hopefully Folkestone Artists Open House will be open to the public 10th & 11 December. 

An affordable art & crafts safari over one weekend. Join the mulled wine & biscuit trail to discover unique pieces and multiples perfect for Christmas presents or as a gift to yourself.

We need more artists and craft practioners - so anyone reading this from FOLKESTONE - contact me.

# 22 [21 September 2011]

hello,

last post for a while, the internet goes off tomorrow and back on 3rd Oct. Change of service provider but our dithering means a lapse. May mean i'll tidy the studio and begin to build a set.

It means ive been focussed this morning, have done all teaching materials and mailed them off.  Just about to do a last minute trawl to see if there is any jobs/apps that i should apply for as i have childcare until 2.30.

the perspex for my large frame has arrived so hopefully not scratched and keeps the print from wrinkling.

So if you are in the folkestone area at the weekend - pop in. it is the last weekend of the triennial which i think has been good for folkestone and me. I still have four pieces to see before sunday.

xxx

# 21 [20 September 2011]

My international media and press team in action at 7am this morning.

A little cottage industry of printing and cutting invites to deliver to the neighbours on the way back from the school run. I like the idea of neighbours coming to the show but most of the time i think its so they can sneaky peak at the house. At this point in time it hasnt evolved enough for me to feel vulnerable about our design and decor choices.

Maybe for the Folkestone Triennial 2014 we wont be so open but hopefully we will.

# 20 [19 September 2011]

Show time again.

Check out is this weekend!!!

Have updated website & mailed out invite. Two of the works are installed already so hopefully things will go smoothly.

Made a new image, very happy conceptually - think the series will work. May tweak the lighting for the next shoot. Spectrum did a great job printing it - i got over excited and got a 4ft x 3ft print made. not really considering the onward implacations - cost of framing, transport, storage & travel box etc

But on the other hand, the image holds and seems to demand the obscene scale -

so i think another series of work that is unfortunately destined to exist portfolio size until some mystery benefactor/ museum/ gallery says 'we love it, need it, want it and we'll pay all costs'

Is this a mills & boons art vision - oh well

Looking forward to having everyone here for the weekend, with the added bonus there is beer festival on at the Leas Lift

http://theleasliftbeerfestival.co.uk/

So if you find yourself in Folkestone at the weekend please pop in to the show. all info at http://www.checkinandout.wordpress.com

# 19 [31 August 2011]

blimey - over a month!!!!

Thats what happens when the sunshine and the summer hits. Have survived the language students so far but all change tomorrow when we have our first boys ( 1x 16, 2 x17) to stay. Am wondering if they can be noisier than the girls and hoping they eat more.

I have set a target of a new image this week for the check out show which opens on the 24th September. I am aiming for a 30in x 40in framed print. Seeing it took 18 months to finish the last piece of work, it seems like im pushing it but i'm still thinking its possible. have all the stuff, have done a sketch - but typically now when younger son snoozing, oldest one entertaining himself by being my assistant - we have cloud cover & its going to P down. I dont have access to studio light so need to shoot outdoors. Have build a small portable set.

Ideas & images sit inside my head for so long processing at times, that sometimes its inevitiable they dont get made, get passed over by a newer idea. or on other occassions it can seem that I am really decisive and make a piece in record time.

Check out is in three weeks - so will start updating website soon.

Have childcare monday. Have applied for the AA2A scheme at UCA and hoping i get to be one of the four artists - as access to equipment on a regular basis would be brilliant and keep the momentum up.

# 18 [27 July 2011]

about to do something i havent done in a while - walk away from the computer and read a book.

I have studio/making anxiety and find myself surfing the net instead of knuckling down. I am avoiding the situation, the moment and feeling very out of synch with art, my art and the art world.

I have cried twice this morning both about the same thing, the shootings on Utoya, I read the texts sent between mother and daughter whilst the shooting was going on. How they could be so calm was amazing, makes me tearful just typing this post and i cried again when a radio 2 dj read out an excerpt when i was driving.

The power of text in real time is frightening, absorbing, addictive and detached but at the same time provides a space to project and to latch on personally.

The mother must have wanted super powers to fly in and swoop her up, and all the others.

The boys are out of the house and its very quiet and i am surprised by how furious and angry I am by my powerlessness.

xxx