ARTISTS TALKING

# 220 [21 September 2010]

Watching the BBC Four series on Mathematics last night got me thinking. There was a piece about Henri Poincaré, who shaped his working day to consist of two hours in the morning and two hours in the early evening. The time inbetween was for walking and letting his subconscious roam freely. He is quoted as saying "it is by logic that we prove, but by intuition that we discover".

http://www.storyofmathematics.com/19th_poincare.ht...

The result generally, he thought, was sparks of inspiration and better efficiency. Like the two hour lunches in Italy or siestas in lots of Europe (I know it's not hot enough here) this makes total sense to me. In my life, it's more like the hours part of his idea is substituted for weeks, but there is the same effect.

Have been trying to follow the Lib Dem conference a bit since yesterday - it worries me that Nick Clegg seems to be becoming a bit of a scapegoat, when actually it is Conservative policies to blame. Watching 'This is England 86' also makes me think just how shit the 80s were for loads of people, and I certainly remember a lot of tension and worries over money at home while my Dad struggled with his own business.

People losing jobs as part of the cuts doesn't make much sense to me when they will then have to go a claim benefits/housing and be more of a drain. I guess cuts to benefits will come just in time to lessen that damage. The cuts feel very focussed on the middle and working class and are missing out a massive point of revenue from the very rich - something that the tories are unlikely to touch I know. Whether the deficit is cleared by 2015 or not, it doesn't feel like the government are thinking about what's best for the long term.

Urgh, anyway, sorry about that political aside!

I have finally got a skeleton website up for Cardboard Folly. I'm finding it very hard to put together a journal like this as I keep seeing great work that should be in it. However, time is limited, my resources are certainly finite so I shall have to stop asking people and leave it until issue #2 next year. I think it will be interesting to spread the contributions out next year so I am only working with one or two artists at a time and it develops in a more relaxed and fluid way. The theme for issue #2 is Holes so I already have some people in mind. There I go again, getting carried away with future things before present things!

It is without logo or too much information at the moment, but that is partly what I will be working on next week in the Cooperative space:

http://cardboardfolly.co.uk/

Also, egg number one is hatched! (see pic). This is the simplest by far so the others are way more likely to get broken or not cast well, but when my rubber moulds actually dry (tip - use accelerator) we shall see..

# 219 [20 September 2010]

Well, the holiday is gone and I am pretty sure I need to go somewhere a bit warmer next year, a place where swimming in the sea is not painful. Fingers are crossed for some sun in Milan! Still, I read 6 whole novels, spent a lot of quality time with my adorable 4 month-old niece and climbed some hills. The fresh air was much needed.

Now I am back and I am working on my eggitechture casts and press material for Milan for the next couple of days. My week in the Coop starts on Wednesday, so I am also getting prepared for that and figuring out all the content for Cardboard Folly. I am seriously impressed with the stuff coming in, some really great writing from Rich White and Gordon Shrigley and the visual content is shaping up to be just as interesting and diverse. I've invited various people to come in and work with me and am looking forward to a rich and varied week! Some of my first visitors will be Piccadilly Projects, who also have a blog on here:

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

http://www.thecooperative.info/

The website should be doing a little something by tomorrow, just making a background tile from a lovely brick pattern from the inside of an envelope today.

In money news, this discussion might offer up some interesting ideas on the FUTURE... maybe

Public Art Private Money:

http://www.ica.org.uk/25719/Talks/Public-Art-Priva...

Below is a teeny animation I made during the week I worked at PSL in Leeds last month. I need a) sturdier tripod to stop the jumping and b) to watch the focus more closely! Still, it was great to complete and I have a better idea about how I would do it next time!

# 218 [9 September 2010]

Working from home seems to be a bit of a topic today, people writing on the joy of the walking-down stairs-commute and the hell of self-motivation. Some insightful writing and helpful suggestions on how to work from home and be happy:

Terribleminds

http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2010/09/07/want-to...

Becky Hunter

http://www.beckyhunter.co.uk/2010/09/happiness-for...

and 'Why working from home is both awesome and horrible' from Oatmeal. Hilarious cartooning:

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/working_home

Up early for an exciting site visit in Cambridge, a swift sleepover in Finsbury Park and then back up North to be swept off to north Wales for a week on holiday. Praying for a little sun. See you in a week or so.

# 217 [7 September 2010]

For those of you who haven't seen this already (and it has done the rounds, so you may well have) it isa minimum fee schedule from CARFAC.

http://www.carcc.ca/documents/PDFeng.pdf

Director, April Britski is working with a-n at the moment on secondment and also wrote this in the last issue:

Reflectons on the arts funding crisis

http://www.a-n.co.uk/publications/article/663031/7...

How brilliant to have the experience of someone who has been through it already.

I have been feeling a bit out of things recently, which is probably why this appeals so much! I have a habit of setting myself tasks that are just stupid. I decide to do something and then I make it as hard as it can be, just at the point between likely failure and almost possible. Then I am horrible to people close to me while I get incredibly stressed out. I blame it on my dad, for various reasons, but since he is no longer here to defend himself I shall just have to take responsibility for it and stop subjecting myself and others to it. I have worked in this pattern consistently since I was about 17, so stopping is harder than it looks from the outside. It is also a way of making sure I do acheive things and I'm not sure how to function otherwise, but I would like to calm down a bit generally.

August/September was supposed to be quiet time for the studio, but it hasn't come out like that at all. It has even got to the point where I am feeling like the week in Wales coming up is going to get in the way of deadlines. IDIOT. Anyway, I am going through the obligatory -I-can't-possible-do-this-it's-going-to-be-shit phase of a project, so perhaps the holiday is actually at the perfect time. A bit of fresh perspective never did any harm.

I am really really looking forward to going to Milan in October and putting work up for Showreelproject.com. The interview with California-based curator Ciara Ennis is finished and will be in Mousse magazine in October - I think? She was really great to correspond with and her insight into my work was really unexpected and appreciated. I am working on eggitecture for that and it is taking a lot longer than I anticipated, but this is no bad thing, I am sick of quick fixes and it has been pretty calming to file away at minute architectures.I have found myself wondering if a day trip to the architectural biennale in Venice is possible though -  there I go again! Why can't I just enjoy Milan? DOH.

I am off to Cambridge on Friday for a research trip, so excited and intrigued about that. After holidays I have a week here:

http://www.thecooperative.info/

to work on Cardboard Folly (amazing work coming in for this!). I have invited various collaborators in to make things/discuss/give feedback really looking forward to some input and company in my work. Then I have been asked to do an exhibition that should be really exciting, although it's not really confirmed yet, so I shall not jinx myself!

# 216 [23 August 2010]

Today I spent the afternoon with Sarah, one of the curators at YSP and had a good look around my gallery space (mine for a few weeks of 2011 at any rate). It was brilliant to sit down and find out a few things about timescales, money, materials, and stuff and generally sort out how things will happen a little more. I feel SO much more relaxed having things said out loud. Actually, I'm not sure that relaxed is a word that will ever be right in connection with this exhibtion, but I can't think of a better one at the moment.

Anyway, I am still rubbish at talking money, but I have promised to get better at asking for help. Sometimes I forget how some things that would take me ages and drive me insane are just daily tasks for staff at the park. Default position is to ask, just incase.

One incredible development is being offered the use of the boat house as a place to work in the run up to the exhibition (starting in November by the looks of things). It's amazing and there is a little wooden side part that is made for photographing things in (my things at least!). First residential dates are in the diary for November as well a meeting with technical staff to start asking my list of a million questions.... how would I make this like this? Can you help me make this like this? ETC ETC ad infinitum.

I'm so excited that I have almost forgotten I am doing workshops with the public at the park over the next two days. Anyone in West Bretton please come and make a self portrait as a building with me :D

# 215 [22 August 2010]

Finding a balance as an artist blog:

There has been a good deal of discussion on the blogs over the last few weeks about ways in which we operate as artists. This covers a vast range of issues from making a living, to subject matter, working intuitively versus politically and the dirty matter of being able to market yourself and retain integrity.

I wanted to add another voice into the discussion. Joanne Mattera is an American artist who writes a great blog, in particular, her Marketing Mondays (MM). Bear in mind that a) she is American, b) her work is very much in the traditional gallery model of making and selling and c) she deals with the US philanthropic way of operating all the time, so many posts deal with auctions and fundraisers - the type that we don't really have (YET!). Other than that, she offers some great experience, anecdotes, advice and wording for emails and letters.  She represents an especially generous type of artist to me; one willing to share so much with her peers.

This MM post looks at changing career tactics (the old argument of the starving artist in a garrett versus sleek marketing artists - In reality I guess most of us sit in the middle). She says

"The new breed of artists—and many mid-career and even late-career artists, who are purging themselves of ingrained old-think—are not just working in their studios but presenting themselves to the world."

http://www.joannemattera.blogspot.com/2010/06/marketing-mondays-new-emerging-or-re.html

I liked anon's response:

"Anyway, I believe that every artist seeks (and hopefully finds) the balance between promoting the work and not having that promotion interfere with artistic integrity. Each person's balance is sure to be different, and the main thing is to find what feels right to you--even if it means living with fewer material comforts (which in itself is not a bad thing)"

My position is similar. I want to get paid and I want to have integrity. I believe a balance is totally possible, but I also don't expect to be 100% pleased all of the time. I also want to be in art for the long haul, so I feel like it's really important to find my own pace and not worry too much about what everyone else is doing, at what age etc. I still do though, of course! Perhaps the artists shouting the loudest are not the most interesting anyway. I often find that the artists I admire most tend to slip away for periods of time, probably when work overwhelms everything else.

Pragmatic wihout denying the inner drive to make art - Anthony Boswell's last few posts have pondered some of these issues: http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/sing...

he says in #44:

"I have done too much empty talking -just forget what it is to be an artist, ask the questions inside what we want answers to and make the work."

On that note, I better go and get on with some...

# 214 [20 August 2010]

http://www.thecumbrianetwork.co.uk/arts-council-fu...

There's an interesting debate going on in the comments here about the effect of funding cuts, from a practitioner perspective (seeming largely unaffected) and from the independent organisation perspective.

It's been pointed out several times that regional areas may be the hardest hit as they are unlikely to draw philanthropic support like high profile London venues. Christian Barnes had this to say about local autority funds:

"Public sector and especially local authority support for the arts is so important because it sits so close (in principle if not in recent practice) to democratic accountability and in this respect it has been the Arts Council's disastrous mistake to approach this period by 'dis-investing' the local authorities. This sent a signal to the local authorities that it was OK to dis-invest in a non-statutory service - after all if the Arts Council doesn’t want to support local authority provision why should a local authority? Many authorities here in Cumbria are now feeling that it’s OK to follow suit. At the time of dis-investment local authorities accounted for a high proportion of revenue to the arts so this was always a questionable and risky position, one whose rationale has never been adequately explained to the sector. The Arts Council chose instead to partner with the Regional Development Agencies"

# 213 [19 August 2010]

Also wanted to flag up a couple of things:

The foundry looks like it is finally getting knocked down. Has anyone heard the protest that "the development is cashing in on the local art scene at the cost of artists" somewhere before?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-110276...

Also, an opportunity for artists that made me laugh thinking about the proposals they might get; The House of Lords seeks to commission and artist/designer/craft practitioner for site specific work for its permanent collection. This involves a 6-8 week residency for 2-3 days a week at the Palace of Westminster library with a fee of £10,000. So it's a well paid opportunity indeed, and their collections of rare books and manuscripts sounds amazing, but it's such a complex situation at the moment. I guess it's not a residency in the house of commons - that would be different.

If anyone would like the pdf of application details just ask...

# 212 [19 August 2010]

I went to Birmingham today to see the BOOK SHOW, which was great and certainly food for thought... of course there was a talk this evening and I missed it - sod's law, but then I did get the BOOK and think I may even like that better than the exhibition. I also saw a sumptuous and beautiful video piece at Ikon Eastside and 'Inbindable Volume' at VIVID, which was astonishing. It was strange and a little pretentious at points, but beautiful, poetic and laugh out loud funny in parts.

http://www.vivid.org.uk/

http://www.ikon-gallery.co.uk/programme/current/ev...

After my brief trip to Edinburgh at the start of the month I had a bit of a revelation about why I left my BA as clueless as I did. Depending on the traditional tourist pound means that Edinburgh just doesn't have the same kind of art scene as cities like Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. It's a bit insular in a way, although vastly improved since I lived there and Martin Creed was fab. Funny to experience the lift piece in Birmingham again today. So I thought I would go to a few more cities and see what they are like. Newcastle is next on my list. It all helps to appreciate what you have at home and Liverpool is fantastic really, despite its flaws.

I am currently being interviewed by an LA based curator via email. This will be published somewhere to accompany my exhibition at Showreel in Milan this autumn.

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

As questions and answers go back and forth I can recognise this as a really valuable experience. It's rare to have someone delve so deeply into my work and I have enjoyed being challenged and pushed on things. I have a meeting with the curator at YSP on Monday too and a good look round my space, so things feel stressful and rich and bursting with possibility. I am also terrified, but this is familiar territory...

# 211 [16 August 2010]

On life:

I've been in Leeds for a few days doing the Drawing Shed project at PSL. It was a lovely thing to do and although I haven't really looked at the animation properly yet (I suspect it is slightly dodgy - need a heavier tripod as there was stll jumping around in the picture) I did what I said I was going to. That might be the first time such a thing has happened.

http://www.projectspaceleeds.org.uk/emily_speed_un...

I was also invited to a dinner the gallery held for its new volunteers - this was interesting; to see it from a gallery's point of view. Given that they a) made the volunteers dinner and b) asked what their preference for work times and roles were and c) offered to help with things like CRB checks, I would say PSL are some of the good guys. Helps to be a small team within a less formal organisation I guess, but nice to see a two-way relationship. I also had some visits from people - Axis came and interviewed me in the shed (seriously, much err-ing and hardly anything of interest said!). I also had a visit from Josie Flynn, an artist and relation of mine, which was a really nice surprise. Lastly, Liz, a curator from Axis popped in - we had a good chat about online stuff, doing art for a long time (i.e. me still cracking on 9 years after graduating - not that it has been seamless I might add!) and how children affect (or not) your career. All great input. Also enjoyed getting to know the staff at the gallery, although I had met Amelia before on an a-n trip to Lille. Phill, an artist and all-round gallery assistant was an interesting chap and I have interviewed him about art, life, money and working conditions. Seems I can't go anywhere without getting people on tape. I shall transcribe that and post some of it here later.

Now I am making eggitecture, which involved learning about silicone rubber. Techy stuff gives me brain strain if I'm honest. Also thinking about the exhibition at the start of October in Milan as I really need to let the curator know what I will show. Trying to adjust to this mad future timetable and planning concept, but it is all new to me. I think the days of making things when I get there or on the day of the opening may be over!!??

In other exciting news, my twin sister has finally bitten the bullet and is opening a craft workshop/shop in Frodsham. I am really thrilled to see her doing something about her real love (not a career in HR) and will be offering lots of support.

Lastly, the journal, Cardboard Folly, seems to be looming so I shall have to see where it is all up to and start on the marketing. Best crack on with the logo/cover then! Yeeeek.

On the funding cuts:

Spoonfed have done a quick ask round about funding cuts from those in London. I liked what Cathy Lomax (Transition Gallery) had to say:

Lots of institutions will be struggling – the cuts could be seen as helping to weed out wasteful institutions and practices but I don't really see it like that. Some people like to think that adversity produces better art and I find myself thinking that sometimes. But ultimately I don't believe its true. I think that art patrons like to think of their artists as struggling. Look at the whole outsider art thing – patrons like mad, poor, suffering artists. It's a kind of weird vicarious-ness – you can buy into some bohemia and wallow in the terribleness of the artist's life and then go back to your own good/normal existence. Cuts basically mean that people that don't have privileged backgrounds will not be able to make art.

http://www.spoonfed.co.uk/spooners/tom-699/funding-cuts-the-impact-on-culture-in-london-3544/