ARTISTS TALKING

# 165 [22 October 2008]

TUESDAY - TALK ABOUT THE WORK

Last night was the Discussion Event organised this time in conjunction with Claremont Studios' Talk About The Work.  We held it downstairs in the Pine Gallery in the dark.

We had wine and Under Ground cake (made with ground almonds and chocolate) and people looked at the work, drew on the blackboards.

Each of us posed some questions and showed a short set of slides.

My title 'Dead or Alive' raised questions about the purpose of my practice - seeking animation, and setting up enlivening experiences, and the sharp surprise of how deadening the experience of working under ground has been.  How quickly I had urgent need to spend time over ground in the air and sun like a plant.  And raised too the purpose of participation by viewers, sparked by our Drawing in the Dark event and I questioned whether this enhances the experience of looking at art, engages viewers or only entertains. 

# 164 [20 October 2008]

YESTERDAY

Yes the Open Day for UNDER GROUND and Big Draw event Drawing in the Dark have happened.  Plenty of people came tramping down the wooden stairs into the dark.  Each collected a torch and looked, examined, drew on the boards or the wall.  Batteries had to be changed, drawings blutaked to the wall.  We talked to everyone.

At 5pm the torches were turned off.  We left everything and closed the door.

Today is a day away from the gallery, to recoup and prepare for the Talk about the Work discussion tomorrow night. Lots of questions are circling in my head; about the work, about people's responses; about participation.

# 163 [18 October 2008]

Adding finishing touches now. This week has passed so quickly, yet I'm pleased we've both made strides with new work - in 5 days! It will be great to photograph all of the parts of our installation in the dark.

 Big Draw day tomorrow - Drawing In The Dark. 

# 162 [17 October 2008]

FRIDAY

It's been a black bird day.  Sewing, stuffing, hanging.  I brought 4 bags of meadow hay back from my lunchtime outing.  Getting the bird to stand up took all our ingenuity.  There she stands with her shining eye.

The work is taking shape - much to manage tomorrow, last day before we open for drawing and showing on Sunday afternoon. 

# 161 [16 October 2008]

THURSDAY

Painted roots all day.  Not radical.  Walked out in the sun to buy fishing line.  Nailed the roots to the wall - very satisfying. 

# 160 [16 October 2008]

Our fourth day Under Ground. There is something strange about it - like being in a hidden world - no sun, no passers by - just us carrying out our strange self-assigned tasks in these half-lit subterranean rooms.

# 159 [15 October 2008]

When I left the world above ground this morning it was damp and drizzly. Under Ground the weather means nothing. Under Ground there is no sun, no mobile phone signal, no light except that which we choose. 

# 158 [15 October 2008]

WEDNESDAY

How gloomy these images are - dark and monochrome - a bit like me today.  Collywobbles.  However we finished the blackboards, got the wallpaper painted and on the wall ready to touch up.  Went shopping for lights and torches - a huge array of types are now available including wind-up, glow in the dark, LED spots.

Time is precious - only 4 days until Open Day/Big Draw Drop In on Sunday afternoon.  Make every minute work - a headline for tomorrow. 

# 157 [14 October 2008]

While working in the partially-lit basement today, I set up my camera & tripod to document some of the things we were working on. Just for a little while I let myself be distracted by playing with those long exposures which mean that if you're quick enough you can almost click the button on your camera & run in front of it to leave a shadow of yourself in your photograph. I didn't manage to get any really successful results, but quite liked this image of Annabel from Claremont - there ... but not there.

Then... back to work - no more distractions - on with the job in hand.

# 156 [14 October 2008]

TUESDAY MORNING

This is my first attempt to draw the black bird.

We had another busy day and things started to move on.  We found the lights in the back gallery, and discovered a sink in the workroom.  We have got the black boards up and begun each of the smaller projects in mind.  Loads to do, a race against time.