ARTISTS TALKING

# 130 [22 November 2009]

Is it just me or is anyone else a bit dubious about Saatchi's new art show?

After the first round, Matthew Collings apparently said ""It's worth the public watching this. They should be thinking about where that utter s*** comes from that those poor little young artists are spouting."" Can I just ponder whether the entries they received were representative of 'poor little young artists'? Would it not be the case, as with X Factor, Big Brother etc, that the people likely to apply to the show were quite keen on becoming famous and saw this as a good short cut.

The article also picks up on one finalist, who was praised by Emin: Suki Chan. I have seen Chan's work a couple of times, it was beautiful on both occasions. However, one look at her CV will show that she is doing pretty well already: http://www.sukichan.co.uk/cv.htmThis leads me to wonder what exactly is wrong with the slow burn?

Perhaps the art world is too insular and maybe the fact that people can do well and not be visible to the public at large is not desirable.. I don't think so though. Doing well and not being famous surely just gives artists a chance to grow, develop and build up a body of work (also without the press heaping scorn on everything) before they are given the sort of opportunities that earn them mass exposure, if they want it -  and when they are ready. That's the way most people go about their careers, because experience usually counts for something.

Why do we (as a nation) seem to feel that celebrity is so important, and that it should be treated the same way in art as pop? There is another series on at the moment too - not sure which channel - for Britain's best young Butcher, Hairdresser etc. Not sure what it consists of, not watching it either. I am interested to see how this panel choose what is 'best' from their artist candidates.

So, will the contestants end up being famous for having odious/adorable personalities rather than their work? I also wonder how it will work for the artists' legacies, I mean, how many off the show will keep their credibility - or will it just end up a load of Jedwards? Guess I'll have to watch and see...

# 129 [19 November 2009]

I really have to get myself packed and off to Yorkshire, but it's been a week of 200 miles a day in the car and I can't be bothered! I've had a good week though, with high school kids for the first time; they aren't as scary as I expected.

Also, the much-anticipated meeting with the curator at YSP. Firstly, I got a free copy of the Rob Ryan catalogue, so it was a good start. Secondly, she suggested an exhibition of new work in the Bothy Gallery (my favourite one in the park!) all going well... probably in Feb or May 2011. There would be support, in both money and practical/development and there was also talk of an accompanying publication. This is all still incredibly precarious, so I won't jinx it anymore by talking details. It feels pretty incredible considering I went along thinking the best I might be offered would be a cabinet in the corridor for my books.

Staying a travelodge at some random services on the M62 tonight, which is pretty bland way to spend an evening. But I shall take some books parts to be assembled/cut/sewn etc. Try and make myself useful.

Money is getting tight now (next payment of the bursary is not till February) so I shall have to do a bit of thinking next week and go over my finances. I should probably do my tax return too! Right, enough of that.. I'm off to pack.

# 128 [16 November 2009]

Have not felt this rotten for ages - have been barking like a dog all weekend and am at the point of exhaustion with it. My stomach muscles feel like I should have a six pack with all the coughing, alas, it is still hidden.

Back to YSP tomorrow - did pop in briefly to see the new Rob Ryan exhibition on Thursday, I couldn't go to the opening for fear of hacking up all over everyone. It's a lovely show, but a bit soppy. My Ma came over for a day to go to the park with me (so nice to have someone there) and bought me a roll of amazing tree paper cut based tape. I felt spoiled.

I found out at my last meeting with Helen about the bursary that there has only been one exhibition from Feiweles artists in the last 20 years. ONE? Odds not good for me then. BUT, I have a meeting with the curator tomorrow and she mentioned the possibility of showing my work. Many hedging words in the email, so POSSIBILITY is good, and I will be hanging on that for as long as possible. The curator I'm meeting oversees all publications at the park (what an amazing job) and has specifically asked to see my books.

I shall let you know. Fingers crossed.

In other news, applying for a couple of things that may be out of my league, but I thought I would have a go anyway.

# 127 [13 November 2009]

Probably kicked off by looking at other artists' work - I have been wondering lately what the difference is when artists initiate community based projects and comunity based projects. Where does the line site between art/activism/social science? Should artists receive funding for these kinds ofprojects? I was reading around the art mags online today and came across this article in Frieze in the Editor's blog, which pretty much sums it up perfectly:

original article here: http://www.frieze.com/blog/entry/underneath_the_ni...

Apologies for quoting lengthy passage - not much time/energy and if I don't write this post now, it will disappear from my brain.

"A question that begged to be asked was precisely to do with the issue of art; what is it about the ‘art’ element to a project that might make it socially unique and useful, rather than a community garden or youth outreach scheme like any other? What, for instance, makes the Baltimore Development Cooperative’s project to turn an area of wasteland in their city into an urban vegetable allotment any different to hundreds of similar, non art-related projects across the United States and Europe? Because it is run by artists? Are artists that special? Are they to be afforded more socio-political latitude or leverage as citizens than, say, gardeners or social workers? Is the label ‘art’ just an excuse for tapping into a broader range of funding streams? An impressive answer to that question came from artist Laurie Jo Reynolds, who spoke frankly in her talk about how she has used the label ‘art’ where it seemed most useful in order to support her admirably successful campaign to instigate reform of conditions for prisoners at the Tamms Super Maximum Security Prison, Illinois. Here was an artist taking serious political responsibility rather than just associating herself with it."

# 126 [9 November 2009]

Isn't providing references an absolute bugger! If you don't end up with your MA/BA tutor for years (which probably makes you look amateur), it can be really awkward asking for one from someone you have only done a short project with, no matter how well it went. More difficulties of being self-employed and spreading yourself very thinly.

After Hospitalfield, the Director was awesome and provided me with a word file containing a fantastic reference and some sheets of signed headed paper. That solved that for a while. But now... hmm, going to have to email a few people and of course, I have left it all rather late as usual!

# 125 [9 November 2009]

Full of a cold and bundled up on the couch looking at application TO DO TODAY!

Just noticed that the debate on the artists talking front page points to my blog at the moment - on the subject of professional v's amateur following entry #122. Looking through application opps today, this has unexpectedly reared its head again. I had earmarked a few things to apply for but was just doing a last-minute trawl through a-n and axis etc. when a Res-Artis newsletter appeared in my inbox - so off I went to trawl through that as well. Just when did it get so peppered with posh b and b's masquerading as residencies? These are rural retreats for artists with organic food in highly desirable holiday areas of France and Italy, not exactly residencies as I think of them. I probably started using Res-Artis about 6-7 years ago and I don't remember it being like that then.

These kinds of 'residencies' are, if not exactly a scam, guilty of false advertising. (see also: Lindsay Sunley's thread 'scams' on the forums). Yes, if you go, you will be resident there and they do only invite artists and they have studios, but it still seems more like a holiday. They are quite good value as accomodation however, so might be worth bearing in mind for next summer.

To my mind this is the same problem of some pay-to-enter exhibitions that are just looking to get as many artists in as possible to top up the year's money, and books being published where artists are invited to be included, for a price. It is taking advantage of artists who want to further their career and aren't sure what the best way of doing that is. They seems to be aimed specifically at (what is probably an unfair sterotype) semi-professional artists who have come to art late and have money to support their new career/hobby and don't mind paying. You are essentially renting a studio somewhere amazing.

What I have found the most valuable about residencies in the past is meeting and having dialogue with other artists, having access to great facilities, workshops, lectures and also being asked to provide workshops and lectures. All of these things contribute to professional development and offer support to artists. Basically, I just wish that these places weren't included in Res Artis listings, or were kept seperate; it would save me a lot of time. I do wonder whether I am being very dogmatic about this though - does it bother other people as much?

So, as an example, I don't really recommend applying for this residency if you want the above things, although it looks pretty damn good for a bit of a working holiday somewhere lush:

http://www.resartis.org/index.php?id=42&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=882&cHash=7250137cf9

# 124 [8 November 2009]

Manchester Artists' Book Fair yesterday - finally it is done and the flat can stop being covered in paper trimmings and cut off lengths of linen thread.My husband will be very pleased.

It was a really good day; lots of inspiring works, a really interesting lecture from David Faithfull about his Inkubator project, and sales. Of course, sales only just covered costs back to zero - these things can never return a profit. But I sold three books to the Manchester Met collection and five to the University of West England Collection (where Sarah Bodman, Queen of artists' books is based). 200 ish of my cards went out (although there was a ton of students there getting ideas and making notes/taking photos, so these may just be stuck in sketchbooks!) and my website stats are showing a big peak from yesterday and today already. I also just love chatting about book things with and it is always encouraging when people show an interest in your work.

The costs were £60 for the table, £10 train, £10 subscription to the Blue Notebook from UWE and £15 in M & S on lunch and then dinner stuff too - too tired to cook, I will also count in costs the £30 worth of printing I couldn't use because it wasn't good enough - another expensive and valuable lesson learned about not rushing things! So weigh that £125 up against £148 of sales and that leaves me with £23 towards labour and production costs on a lot of books. Still, probably a worthwhile investment in myself when all is considered.

I met Carol Ramsey and Annie Harrison (not Hamilton!) - fellow a-n bloggers who both came over to say hi. Add to that Angie Butler from PET Galerie, who I have had e-contact with in the past (through Artist Book 3.0 community on ning) and it made a really good chance to meet people and have a good natter about what we all had going on. I mentioned an idea I had for a mobile book fair next year to one person and word quickly spread, with people coming over to ask to be added to the mailing list/submit work. Guess I will be doing that then! Sometimes I need that pressure to make sure things happen, but then I often find I have put myself in incredibly stressful situations and I am never sure why I feel the need to do it (over and over). But as I will be moving to the countryside in January, I am thinking a rural tour of artists' book van may be an option. Watch this space....

http://emilyspeed.co.uk/section.php?name=bookworks

http://artistbooks.ning.com/

http://www.petgalerie.co.uk/

http://www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk/about.htm

# 123 [1 November 2009]

Found this link to my website when I was going through my website statistics today:

http://bird-in-the-house.blogspot.com/2009/10/emil...

Thanks Kathryn.

I guess speaking at a seminar about sharing information works for sharing information..

# 122 [30 October 2009]

I have been meaning to post this article for a while:

http://www.perspectives.creativescotland.org.uk/di...

and was reminded to when I got the AIR update email.

The article by Hans Abbing, goes into (among other issues) the fact that subsidies for artists are not the answer for sustaining professional artists.

Whenever I go to a discussion event and indeed, it happened at the seminar I was at in Cardiff last week, someone always pipes up with the fact that artists get support in countries like the Netherlands and Germany (Germany have stopped this now I think). They wonder why don't we support our artists like this?

Hans Abbing says:

The moment more money flows into the arts - whether from more demand (including more public commissions) or support (including subsidies and donations) - the number of artists tends to grow and so does the number of poor artists. In the case of support this is problematic: support leads to more artists being poor while hardly increasing the amount of art that reaches the public.

I really don't think artists should be subsidised by a general benefits system like the Netherlands - what right do artists have to warrant a use of tax payers money in such a way when our health/education systems need it so badly? I don't understand why people feel they are entitled to special help either: I want to take responsibility for myself. I don't oppose other sources of funding like Arts Council - the arts needs some support - but in a competitive field where quality is important, not by career choice default. The Arts Council has always been there while I have been an artist and I suppose I take it for granted. The first time I thought about how much we all depend on it (although I realise it's not an entirely popular organisation - especially in Cardiff!) was when thinking about the fairly likely event of the Tories getting into power next year. They say they won't cut funding, but don't have a great track record.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/oct/08/cons...

So I shall have to think on that one as I just take all these systems for granted, I've never considered whether they are the best solution to supporting artists or not.

Alan Davey on the other hand, says funding the arts is very good value for moeny:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/oct/21/arts...

The article also made me think about where my income is coming from - a few organisations supported by Arts Council for a start, although no direct funding. It's hard enough to make a living to start with, nevermind stopping to think about the morality of it all.

I found Mr Abbing's article a pretty depressing (and realistic) read in that it highlights just how impossible the situation is, but the idea of stopping people trying to become artists is a sad one.  I also had to wonder if I am one of those 'In-between' artists he mentions... I hope not.

# 121 [14 October 2009]

Today was one of those days where you think you are simply not being paid enough to go through it: 47 kids and me alone in the school hall, tired and impatient at the end of the day. Sod that. I am insisting the teachers stay tomorrow!! Ugh, wine and bath making it go away..

On a more constructive note, I have noticed something going on in my applications of late. I have been applying for exhibitions this year as they are distinctly lacking on my CV. For three, (that I really wanted to be in) I was contacted by the curator, shortlisted and then not put in at the last minute. When I asked for feedback, all of them more or less said they wanted existing works - my proposals had all been for new pieces (as I don't have much work in existance).

It seems like this potential future work way of going about things might make you too much of a liability, and of course, when they are galleries with a budget (these were), then they want to spend as little as possible, so transport over production costs/artists fee seems far more viable.

Further proof that I need stock!!

Manchester Artists' Book Fair is coming up in a couple of weeks (or three..?) on Saturday 7th November. I am really looking forward to a half term off so I can get making some more books and printing a couple of brand new ideas that have been waiting patiently..

http://www.artdes.mmu.ac.uk/rightonpress/bookfair/

Come and see me at my table if you're in the area..