ARTISTS TALKING

# 31 [6 August 2008]

I am hard at work now finishing off work for the 'Recycled by Design' project. The group show starts on 20 September at the Guildford House Gallery and my solo element goes from 16 September at the Lightbox (my home-from-home). I have just begun to be able to relax into the work again after all the competing bits of this and other projects. Sometimes you have to turn off the editorial / organizing voice in your mind and just work things out through doing them. It is a huge relief to find that it's possible to do this even though the deadlines are hanging over me. I am very happy to be involved in all the things that I am involved in but it can get rather stressful. I'd better confess here that I am involved in another project or two straight after this one. This year has been more like a fun-fair ride than a calm meander through things; although I think I described it as 'free-fall or flying' at one point.

# 32 [12 August 2008]

Busy working. I'm not going to write much but I want to post some images of what I am doing at the moment. Ideally I would like to have a bit of time to step back from things but I'm not going to have the chance to do that. Most of the things I am doing right now have that feeling of being an endless or impossible task, like emptying the sea with a teaspoon or spinning gold from straw. Some of this work is for the exhibitions coming up in Guildford and Woking in September.

# 33 [12 September 2008]

Being chosen as 'Blogger's Choice' by Stuart Mayes has made me feel rather fraudulent. Firstly because I haven't posted to the blog for ages and secondly because of his lovely comment about my 'up-beat analysis'. It may be up-beat and even analytical in the blog but I am a major practitioner of the 'midnight worries' as a way of avoiding analysis and just heading straight to panic! However, onward!

I am in the middle of a real working-slog patch at the moment and will resume posting after I have got past this particular bit. I would urge everyone to go and look at Stuart's blog. It all seems very positive at the moment.

# 34 [18 September 2008]

It has been a bit of a week. I have been moving into a new studio (by coincidence back at St George's in Esher where my 'Papertrails' residency last year was based), emptying a store where lots of my work and loads of our personal possessions were kept and also installing my work from this year's project at the Lightbox in Woking. I have also been delivering (and helping hang) work for an exhibition at the Guildford House Gallery. Its all been rather hectic!

The exhibitions are the culmination of a project which has involved artists who use found materials or reuse discarded ones. (This project has been the main subject of this blog.) The exhibition at Guildford House Gallery is an overview of different approaches to materiality as shown in the work of a range of artists and designers whereas the Lightbox has selected  five artists to make installations of work throughout the building and courtyard between now and May 2009. My slot at the Lightbox was the first and the reason that I have been a little uncommunicative in the blogging world. My Lightbox installation: 'Translations' has grown out of a residency at the gallery where I have been working teaching paper-making, bookbinding, printmaking and other good things to a group of 8 to twelve year-olds. Some of the work shown has been made collaboratively and the rest including a fairly large wall based piece is my own reaction to the particular place and theme of materiality and transformation. I have a sense of anti- climax now that it is got to this point, partly because there isn't a specific event launching that particular bit of the work but also a huge sense of relief. The work looks good there; it could do with a bit of lighting, but they are working on that!

For more information about everyone else's work see the websites below. Over the next few months Lucy Fergus, Nick Sayers, Tim Gentry and Paul Matosic will be making their installations at the Lightbox too and some of them and Cas Holmes will be working or will have worked with other groups at schools and colleges.

www.thelightbox.org.uk

www.guildfordhousegallery.co.uk

# 35 [22 September 2008]

I have a couple of workshop days connected with the project still to do. One of them on Saturday in fact so I'll have to spend a while preparing materials later in the week. Until then I am working on research for the next couple of things coming up.

# 36 [23 September 2008]

I am in that dazed state I seem to enter at the end of projects. I suppose what I really would like is a couple of days off just to look at stuff and recharge a bit. Instead of which I am trying to get my mind focused on the next steps. On Thursday I am having a meeting to discuss setting up an art space and residency programme at a beautiful building in my home town. The redundant church where my residency in 2007 was based is in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust and also the Friends of St George's Church. They were very pleased with the way that an art residency brought the building into a purposeful use and have asked me to oversee and advise them on establishing a future strategy. In fact it isn't as distant and theoretical as that sounds. One of the requirements is to set up a residency for next spring / summer as well as a series of other events. At the moment my r and d is funded in kind but I can see a large funding application looming! To see more about the building and it's potential as a project space see the website from my project there: www.papertrails.org.uk

In October my next project as an artist starts in Caterham where I'll be working with various groups centered around the Arc. I am in the process of researching this area and developing approaches to the work. There are huge amounts of writing and photographs etc to look through so it will be interesting.

# 37 [29 September 2008]

The meeting on Thursday went well. I am very interested in working with what is now being called 'St George's Art Space'. The building itself is atmospheric and wonderful and there is a huge amount of good will driving the project but that's not enough unfortunately.

Also on Thursday I went back to the Lightbox to visit the installation of my work. One of the pieces is still a little under-lit but I am really pleased with how it looks overall.  Caroline Jackman, who has been organising this part of the project in collaboration with Michael Regan from the Lightbox, was there to discuss some final touches and we had a cuppa. It's good being the first of the artists involved in the project to have their work shown but it does mean being the dummy run for everyone else's installation!

Friday was spent preparing materials for the associated workshops at Guildford House Gallery. Running paper-making workshops always seems to involve hauling around unfeasible quantities of stuff; pulp, vats, moulds and deckles, materials of all kinds that might just come in handy, paper dryers, and even an iron and ironing board! Not to mention books, handouts and other paperwork. Saturday itself went really well. Both the children in the morning and the adults in the afternoon were a lovely lot who responded well to the activities and were a pleasure to spend time with. Jane Alexander, from the Guildford Recycling Department who was original instigator of the overall project was along to help and swiftly roped in various 'volunteers' to help with the morning session. Many thanks to everyone involved.

# 38 [1 October 2008]

From a promising start it's turning into a bit of a rubbish week. In terms of tasks to do I have to prepare for more workshops at the Lightbox on Saturday and I am continuing my research for the project based at Caterham, and also preparing information relevant to the development of St George's in Esher into a place for art. I'm not sure why I'm not feeling so positive right now; I suppose I would just like to actually make some work instead of all this 'stuff to do'. Sometimes I'm not so sure that it was such a brilliant move to alter the role of the artist to the all-round expert and general contortionist that seems to be part of the job description now.

Looking at things more positively though, it beats most other ways I have tried of earning a living and next week promises to be much more interesting than this one. I always enjoy running workshops even if I agonize about them beforehand! In relation to that, I had a lovely letter from someone who had been on my workshop at Guildford House Gallery on Saturday saying how much she had enjoyed it so that really puts it all into perspective. And in terms of counting my blessings, I have been approached by a gallery interested in some of my older work including this piece from 1999. So everything is great really!

# 39 [3 October 2008]

Tomorrow I am running some paper-making workshops at the Lightbox Gallery and so today I will be spending hours making cotton pulp; a cheery thought. Actually I enjoy it really!

With activity winding down on this project and the next project moving into consultation stage in November I am aiming to get out and do some recharging of batteries. Over the next couple of weeks I want to go and look at things. Sometimes I feel as if in 'doing' art I never have the time to 'experience' art. I am also visiting co-blogger from Artists Talking, Alinah Azadeh and her installation at Origin. When she posted a call for volunteers to help with some of the installation work I realised that I would very much like to see how that project goes and what better way than by being one of the volunteers! I am really looking forward to being in contact with people, communicating with them and participating in things because they seem worth-while rather than because it's part of a proposal or built into a budget. Yes, re-reading the above, it's clear. I need a holiday! 

# 40 [7 October 2008]

It's been an exhausting, happy, worrying and rewarding few days in that order. The workshops at the Lightbox were tiring but really worked well and Monday was good in the end. There have been such a mix of different things trying to co-exist at the same time that it has been a bit hectic. I have had good news about a potential exhibition, I've been selected for another, I have devised, prepared, run and cleared up workshops. I have visited Alinah and her growing installation at Origin at Somerset House, helping to thread ribbons of words through her structure and I have also been 'Mum' to a twelve year old with suspected appendicitis. We spent most of Monday at Kingston Hospital before (happily) being given the all clear. So I might have a slight blogging break to catch my breath and tend to my son.

 Anyway, if you are in London over the next couple of weeks I urge you to go to Origin and see how Alinah's installation progresses. It was going well and finding lots of contributions from the visitors yesterday evening.