ARTISTS TALKING

# 176 [15 March 2010]

Monday - and started by waiting in for the postman to deliver materials that didn't come, rubbish. Was planning to work with those this afternoon in A Foundation, but maybe tomorrow.

Just wanted to flag up this:

http://www.longhouse.uk.com/artist-projects/in-con...

This is an online conversation I am having with Anna Francis as part of her month guest editoring the Longhouse website. There are a few conversations on the go, we are manily talking about activism in the arts and improving working conditions for artists (sound familiar?).

The weekend was fantastic - hardback bookbinding with Lucy May Schofield at Hot Bed Press in Salford. Amazing results and it sorted out a lot of my bad habits.

Last night I went to the pub with me ma and over a few glasses of plonk she manged to help me sort out all sorts of irrational thoughts I have been having about making work at A Curriculum. I have no idea where all the insecurity comes from, but I shall have to ignore it if I want to make anything...

This morning was invoices, phone calls about unpaid invoices and updating accounts. They are behind still. I have made a list, which may help me to prioritise, it may not. Now I am off to Metal at Edge Hill for a meeting about the Liverpool Art Prize exhibition, then A Foundation, then cooking tea for my granny, then home for Glee with sister, bath and bed. What an exciting life!

# 175 [11 March 2010]

As I mentioned, A Curriculum started on Monday and it's been a good week so far. The space we have is ridiculously big (and chilly). I am feeling a bit out of it in some ways.. being local and also the OLDEST!! But there's no escaping the fact that my experience will be different to the others'. I hope it is too - I want this residency to be a very productive period and also to feed into my studio practice afterwards. I have to find a better balance of making work and taking on other projects!

We all gave presentations about our work yesterday and it was great to see what everyone is up to. Normally I'm not too bothered about speaking in small groups like that, but something was up yesterday! I suppose it always makes you feel a bit vulnerable speaking about your work - I always forget half the stuff I want to say too. When there are no questions either - that seems worse than too many somehow! Anyway, enough reflecting on that - we all find the speaking stuff hard I'm sure..

During A Curriculum I am also making a (cardboard) set for a new comedy/performance production at the Bluecoat in April.It will be a slightly surreal affair and I am planning a lot of pipes that become other objects, a cat/telephone  mix was also mentioned last night at out meeting...

I will also be working on a collaboration with Nathan Jones, poet in residence over the last year at the Bluecoat. We will be creating an artists books with one or more of his poems. He has written an especially beautiful one entitled 'Slow Magic' about the experience oif gallery spaces and we will concentrate on that.

Right, to my little red van and A Foundation. Ta ra.

# 174 [8 March 2010]

'Kin Hell. I have been shortlisted for the Liverpool Art Prize.. not expecting it and very very pleased.

http://www.liverpoolartprize.com/

I am in very good company indeed (pretty intimidating company actually) so I hold no illusions about winning any money. It will be good to be in the exhibition alongside the other artists though. Also shortlisted are Gina Czarneck, David Jacques, James Quin and Paul Rooney. Gulp.

Started A Curriculum today. It was great to get in there, although those studios are COLD. It's a bit strange actually as I am in a position I haven't been before; where I have no desire to explore so I am just ready to get my head down and work. I'm not making work about where I am for once, just work. I quite like it. Going to take my socks off tomorrow and cast my legs. BRRRRRRR.

# 173 [6 March 2010]

I've been doing some research for the next Taxed event in Liverpool and have been visiting some people for a chat as well as emailing (and proabably irritating) everyone I know. I have also been using exhibition openings to prey on artists to answer my questions. So far there have been some really great answers and I'm glad I asked because a lot of things that came up hadn't occurred to me at all. Patterns are beginning to emerge. Sacha from the group is also doing some research on this so it will be good when we meet up next week and compile the results..

I started a thread on the a-n forums here:

http://www.a-n.co.uk/forums/read/33,781

and that's got some interesting  responses - but I want more please! Just three questions -

ARTISTS SKILL SWAP SURVEY - Please fill me in!    

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3BXTDRT

Ideally before 5pm Wed 10th March, thanks!

Also wanted to mention Waygood in Newcastle - who may be getting their funding withdrawn by ACE, ending 15 years of support for artists. They are collecting good wishes to present to funders on their website. They point out on their website the irony of ACE's aims to support young artists in light of their decision to withdraw funding to an organisation like this. Please have a look and add your own message.

http://wishesforwaygood.tumblr.com/#428170127

The original ACE 'think piece' by Nicola Slawson, a 25 year-old artist can be read here:

http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/consultation/think-pieces/supporting-the-development-of-future-artists-and-arts-leaders/

# 172 [4 March 2010]

Oh my I am tired and extremely headachey. School this week is hectic. One more day and I shall get home, hopefully in one piece, and sleep. I am armed with a bottle of baby bedtime bath and new pyjamas. Get set.. zzzzzzzzzzzz. Me, Dan making me tea periodically and the cat stomping around my head and a newspaper I can't be bothered to read. An amazing picture. Only three more days in schools after this week until the end of May, so this is a real chance to get some rest and reflect a bit on how it's all going.

A Curriculum starts on Monday and I cannot wait to be back in the studio. The boxes and materials are already packed waiting to go. Looking forward to some brain strain although nervous about all the people I will meet and have studio visits with, also about the presentation to other artists... The curator from YSP is coming to do a studio visit at A Foundation too, so I feel the need to be prolific in the first month of the residency. What was I saying about rest? How about I call it a child-free period instead? I like deadlines. Actually, that should probably read -I need deadlines. There was a nice comment by a book artist I saw, something like 'without a deadline, there is no book'. Quite.

Sent off the interim report to YSP, which seems to have gone down okay, I think?  Although I had an epic technology fail and lots of trouble making the pdf as it was a humoungous file and my laptop wasn't coping. Looking back over it I realised that the latest version hadn't saved and the one I had sent had a generous number of typos! I hate that. Really really hate that and I feel embarrassed that they will think I can't read/write/spell. Seems to be the way my life is at the moment.. best intentions but some avoidable and unnecessary cock-ups in retrospect. Pah. I think I'd better start saying no a bit more - better to do less things well than lots of shonky ones.

Lastly and less self-indulgently, this is a good read by Charlotte Higgins in the Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/0...

The case for safeguarding arts funding in the future.

# 171 [2 March 2010]

Ah haa, this explains a lot. My husband forwarded this link after reading my Fraud complex blog entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruge...

"The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which "people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it".^[1] The unskilled therefore suffer from illusory superiority, rating their own ability as above average, much higher than in actuality; by contrast the highly skilled underrate their abilities, suffering from illusory inferiority. This leads to a perverse result where less competent people will rate their own ability higher than more competent people. It also explains why actual competence may weaken self-confidence because competent individuals falsely assume that others have an equivalent understanding."

# 170 [2 March 2010]

Offline for two days and it was when everything needed to be emailed. Anyway, much hurried emailing of reports and things that hadn't sent because they were too big.. silly girl.

This is interesting and worrying..

Margaret Hodge: the arts are a 'closed shop'

http://tinyurl.com/ycu9q96

"someone who works for a major gallery told me that the same thing is happening at their workplace: people are being made redundant and replaced by unpaid interns."

I know someone whose contract hasn't been replaced at the gallery where she works and she is sure that she will replaced by interns. It's so insulting!

In other news; some good news, but further updates when I know more!

# 169 [26 February 2010]

A friend sent me this link yesterday:

http://jangosteve.com/post/380926251/no-one-knows-...

basically he defines the FRAUD COMPLEX; something I think a lot of people suffer from, especially artists (me included). It's difficult as there are hardly any measureable successes in this business, so if you do well, sometimes you can't pinpoint why exactly and there is no guarantee of replicating that. Everything seems subjective and uncertain and precarious and so on ad infinitum....

At a discussion group at Royal Standard last month - about what inspires us to make - the fraud complex business came up and most people nodded a bit.

In the blog post, he defines knowledge by shit you know, the shit you know you don’t know, and the shit you don’t know you don’t know. I have a lot of the middle one; shit I know I don't know, which can be intimidating, especially when you presume everyone else does know it. This often leads to not trying things or writing off your best ideas before they have chance because you presume you will probably fail. It also means that you know something isn't right, but you can't necessarily fix it. I have this a lot when I read back through things. I know it's not right, but I am me and I will probably write the same thing again, even though my head tells me otherwise.

Also - this new blog on artists talking looks like it might shape up to be interesting...

Critical Creative Support Campaign by Mark Brereton

http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/sing...

# 168 [25 February 2010]

I keep looking at the Arts Council consultation and trying to do it... but there's so much reading to it and I have too much report writing to do for YSP at the moment.

http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/consultation/taking-...

You can have your say until 14th April. I will do it, I will.. can't really moan about artist not being represented if I don't can I?

# 167 [24 February 2010]

Jack Hutchinson had tweeted some interesting stuff about internships when I had a look this morning. The BBC have done a report on the growing number of unpaid internships (in all professions). They reckon 90% of internships are unpaid and 60% of interns say their experiences were in no way beneficial.

Video here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8518617.stm

That's not great is it? They interviewed one of the founders of Interns Anonymous, so get adding your experiences on there if you have anything to say:

http://internsanonymous.co.uk/

The Arts Groups have just launched a report on internship called 'Emerging workers: a fair future for entering the creative industries'

http://www.artsgroup.org.uk/2010/01/emerging-worke...

As for me, I am having a slow morning today, partly because I couldn't get up! Husband left me in bed so was a bit disoriented when I finally woke!

Went to Blackpool to do a talk on my work to Illustration & Fine Art students yesterday, then I took a small group for an artists book workshop in the afternoon. It was lovely and they came up with some very clever and thoughtful ideas. There was talk of whole bookbinding day at the beginning of the year on October, which would be great for them. I also had some really kind emails waiting when I got home, from students thanking me, thanks!

I also popped in to the Grundy gallery while in Blackpool to drop off a CD of images from the Collaborate & Make project I did there in January. Their current exhibition 'Magic Show' touring from the Hayward is worth a visit. Sinta Werner has been commissioned to make a site-specific piece and it's awesome! She is the next artist in the Showreel series in Milan that I am doing, so I was keen to see her stuff. I think Alice Channer's work, which she showed at Showreel in Milan back in December is in Frieze next month so I must remember to buy a copy...

http://www.grundyartgallery.com/

http://www.sintawerner.de/

http://www.showreelproject.com/artisti.html

In other non-art related news, we have a cat. She is lovely, but mainly under the sofa at the moment. She is adopted from a friend and very nervous. She was living with three basset hounds so is stll waiting for the dogs here and is very suspicious of doors. Hopefully we can give her a non doggy life where she can chill out a bit! Luckily Dan is a cat whisperer so they are already firm friends.