ARTISTS TALKING

# 21 [6 October 2009]

Got drenched on the way from the car to our cosy stall (Chorley today) in torrential rain. A big, red umbrella caught our eye immediately, the red being a pattern of bright red strawberries. We swiftly purchased 2 which came to £9, bargain. Jo of Jo's diner nipped out to the shop to get some porridge for us which has become ritual. I take mine with sugar and Teresa (mum) takes hers with honey (always the healthier one). After breakfast we began our usual performance of trying to make eye contact with passers-by, especially those who are wearing red. As always we've had lots of interest and people are thrilled to hear about our project and those who are unable to participate wish us the best of luck with our venture. It really does give us a buzz when their reactions are overflowing with enthusiasm, and although the 'red day out' will be the exhibited work, it is very obvious that our art isn't only about a final performance but an ongoing performance which reaches people on every level and in every walk of life. One chap happened by us and began laughing, 'lost your horse?', he asked. We haven't heard that one before and he didn't hang around long enough for us to ask what he meant. We've had 3 more recruits today though. One is a young man named Ross whose mission is to break into the fashion world in an unconventional approach. He is going to create his own outfit and add a bit of glamour to the day. As time creeps towards the finale we now have almost 40 people so only another 10 to go. Bury on Friday as we're meeting Rebecca to sort out her outfit. We have a lovely dress lined up for her so fingers crossed it fits and she likes it.

# 20 [3 October 2009]

Its been quite a while since we last posted anything but we have been very busy collecting our two groups of people in Bury and Chorley who will be joining us on our 'red day out'. Our aim was to get 50 people, 25 from each town, and so far we have 35 definites, most of whom are from chorley and a small group from Bury.

We were in chilly Chorley today and we have recruited another 5 people, Lisa and Sharon, Jean, Jade and Enid. We sent Lisa and Sharon away each with a red outfit from our collection to try on at home, who are then going to give us a call to confirm they fit and feel confident and comfortable with their choice. Jean is calling back on Tuesday with what odd things she has in red so we can match up what shes lacking with what we have available from our collection. Jade and Enid both have lots of red clothes and accessories and so need no help from us in creating their outfits for the day. In fact Enid, an elderly lady, was positively thrilled at the prospect of dressing in red and promises a real treat of an outfit for us. Very funny lady indeed, good on her! Hopefully we will hit our target of 50 people and if anyone is interested in taking part, feel free to contact either of us by email.

dominiqueholt@yahoo.co.uk

teresaholt@hotmail.com

# 19 [21 September 2009]

Although its been a while since we last updated our blog, it only feels like a day or two. Despite this we have been very busy working our socks off in Bury trying to get volunteers to participate in our 'red day out'. For practical reasons its been a huge challenge getting people on board, the main reason and obstacle being we haven't got our collection of red clothes on site and though people are eager to take part, the difficulty is getting them to come back to Bury on another day to try on suitable clothes which we bring from Chorley. We have a small group of definites on board. We also visited the college on Friday and had a very encouraging meeting with Peter Hague who works for the Arts department. He took us on a guided tour of the the different arts courses including the foundation class, photography and performing arts where he introduced us to the tutors, filling them in on what we're doing and how it would be great to involve them somehow. We are arranging to go back and give a presentation to the students and offer them the opportunity to join in.

On Saturday we began working on Chorley market on a large stall (and a kiosk round the corner which we're going to use as a changing room) which didn't take us very long to give a clean up and to display all our red props. We got a very warm welcome from all the market traders, one in particular named Peter who owns a stall with his wife Bev. They sell jewellry and wedding hats and similar accessories. After walking round the market and introducing ourselves to the traders he wandered across with two beautiful red bracelets, one for each of us, which he described as his donation to the project. What a lovely gesture! We had a great day and a very encouraging response from everyone who happened by us that day.

# 18 [29 August 2009]

Dominique blogging today as its 'my turn'! We started off the day with bacon barmcakes and cappuccino's at Katsouris whilst admiring all the cakes on display and wondering if its possible all my red clothes might not fit me at the end of the month. After gazing longingly at amaretto biscuits for 10 minutes we headed to our stall to set up for the day. Once organised we began smiling and attempting to make eye contact with the people walking past. Its almost like sitting in the centre of a merry-go-round and when its busy with shoppers it sometimes make you feel sick! We had lots of interest and two ladies are keen on getting involved which is great and means that on our first 3 days on the market we have enlisted 15 people to participate; after 4 weeks who knows how many people we'll have! We had the pleasure of meeting Bob, Bury's town crier and we exchanged conversation about our project and what its like to be a town crier. What a lovely man along with everybody else we've met so far on the market, all very friendly people. He was very happy to have his photograph take outside of Carmina Bags before strolling off to the fish and meat market to shout his announcements. After lunch we spent the remainder of the day handing out more leaflets and creating more interest by just sitting there dressed in red. Most people comment on my red hat which is commonly agreed to be magnificent. Some people even want to try it on! Today, Trisha from Manchester modelled it superbly and it seemed an incentive to participate. On Tuesday we will be setting out to find more wonderful and unique hats which we can paint or dye red and add to our collection.

# 17 [28 August 2009]

Teresa here after another horrendous day, weather wise that is.  We left home, Dominique without her purse (did she do that on purpose?) and the photographs; me without the tablecloth and with no money whatsoever, so at that point we were penniless but I did remember to bring the pencil sharpener - so not all was doom and gloom!  When we finally arrived, after taking our lives into our hands and aquaplaning to Bury along the motorway, our gazebo was leaking and the table and A board were soaking wet and far from encouraging.  It all seemed a bit bleak to say the least but Craig came to our rescue and moved our table inside the market to a nice warm and cosy spot next to the cooked meat and haberdashery stalls.  I must say it was a far nicer atmosphere compared to the outside stall we occupied on Wednesday.  The stallholders here were far more friendly and even entered into the spirit of our project by wearing Dom's 'magnificent' hat (Jean, the owner of Bury Health Food Store) and a red beret (Pete from Bury Bacon Co Ltd), red, ha ha, which we took along in case the temperature dropped to freezing, which seemed distinctly possible when we embarked on our journey from Chorley.  All in all it proved a much better day than we initially anticipated and we now have a grand total of 12 people from Bury wishing to participate in the 'Red Day Out' to take place on Saturday, 3 October.  ps I do swear I wasn't sloshed today just dazzled by the flash!

# 16 [26 August 2009]

Dominique here. Today we began the second phase of our 'Red' project which will be taking place in Bury and Chorley. During our residency in the St. John's Centre in Preston we aimed to encourage at least one person everyday to get dressed entirely in red and walk a set route around the city centre and stop for a coffee on the way. The project ended with a large group of people dressed in red walking the same route single file. In Bury and Chorley the project will be slightly different. The challenge is to gather as many people as possible in both market towns over the next 4 weeks to take part in a 'Red Day Out' where the people of each town are invited to visit the 2 seperate locations together as one group. A guided tour of each town will take lace and the performance will be videoed and photographed as documentation of the event.  

We left at 7:30am to head to Bury with the aim of getting parked up and meeting Craig Allen, the manager of Bury's famous market, at 8:30am in the market offices. Needless to say, we got stuck in traffic, couldn't find the recommended car park, and when eventually we did, the ticket machine next to the car was broken so I made haste to the only other ticket machine which was of course miles away. The wind was blowing and the rain heavy and horizontal. Freezing cold and just about managing to carry all our equipment, we stuggled forward with our heads down and hair blowing in our faces to meet Craig. Despite all the hurdles we were only 10 minutes late.

Against all adversity, our first has been a success. We are situated in the centre of the market, outside of the fish and meat hall and right in the middle of all the activity. An excellent location with an endless steam of people passing by and taking interest in why we're dressed in red. We have already recruited two gentlemen named Andrew and David Ballard, brothers, who were extremely enthusiastic about getting involved. They stayed quite as we discussed what would be happening on the day. Another man named Maurice, an artist himself, offered to paint my portrait for £2 and an interesting one it was. We are back in Bury on Friday and are hoping the sun will be shining for us.

# 15 [3 August 2009]

The weather on Saturday morning couldn't have been any worse but our event went ahead and despite the torrential rain, we  had an excellent turn out.  Everyone turned up prompt and the shop was thoroughly chaotic with hats of all sizes and styles being pulled from one head to the other.  Scalves were in great demand and we only just had enough accessories to satisfy everybodies enthusiasm and creativity. The pound shop had lots of red umbrellas set to one side for us but we didn't need them as the rain stopped minutes before we set off.  Hooray!!

The 24 people dressed in red set off on the walk and together all walking single file, we stretched almost the full length of the market and Fishergate. We created such an impact that as we walked along, people stopped and stared in disbelief, took photographs, smiled and laughed, and one lady even joined the tail end of the walk and joked about her bum looking big on the video.  We all sat at Mr Cappuccino and watched the people on the square watching us.  Everyone chatted and laughed and shared the unique experience.  It seems that a great time was enjoyed by all.

Thanks to everyone who came along as it made it spectacular, and thanks to Elaine, Phillippa, Charles and our lovely volunteers who were brilliant and Kevin for doing the video.  We both really enjoyed every minute of working in the St John's Centre and we start Bury on the 19th August after a well deserved rest!

# 14 [31 July 2009]

Hello again, for my second post of the day!  Not a long one though, as we have lots of dying/painting things red and washing and ironing to do in preparation for the grand finale tomorrow!

Today, three lovely ladies kindly gave up their dinner hour and called into our shop to get dressed up.  Libby, Stephanie and Anne-marie all came bouncing in one after the other and as time was an issue, all needing to be back at work at 2, they spent no time deliberating over their outfits and grabbed what was available(if only everyone was as easy).  Looking fabulous, we we're out of the shop in no time at all and on a shortened version of the walk....directly to Mr Cappuccino for one of his delicious, full to the brim and totally boiling hot cups of coffee.  I had it in my hand for 3 seconds only before spilling it all over both mine and Libby's knee.  Liz, a work mate of Libby's, didn't get dressed up in red but came along for the walk and took some photographs of us all together which was very good of her, then dashed off to the cash point before heading back to work.  

Tomorrow at 12 o clock midday, the event will begin to take place as everyone who has done the walk, some who haven't and anyone else that wants to participate, will all arrive at our red shop to take part in our en masse red walk.  Its going to be a bit of a free for all with the red clothes and hopefully some people will already be dressed in red when they arrive.  We hope that the weather will be kind to us but we have plenty of red umrellas at the ready if it decides to rain.   We shall keep our fingers crossed and look forward to making it a brilliant success!

# 13 [31 July 2009]

Dominique here today.  Didn't blog last night as it was a manic busy day and when i got home i was absolutely exhausted.  I put all the red washing in(my normal washing is almost touching the ceiling) and then collapsed with a glass of dry white wine.  The rest is history.

Yesterday was our launch. It went really well and lots of people came along to see our work and hear us talk about the project.  Elaine, Phillippa, Kathryn, Katrina, Gemma, Jenna and Adele all got dressed up in red for the occasion and all looked stunning. Security patrolled the centre looking the picture of authority in there red straw hats.  Even the pound shop and thorntons got into the spirit of the project and added red accessories to their uniform!  All in all, it was a great success, and a brillliant turn out.

In the afternoon we dressed up three gorgeous girls in red and what a performance!  Hazel, Margaret an Margaret had real fun in their outfits as the chuckled and howled all the way round the walk.  They had all the accessories on and really went to town and thoroughly enjoyed the experience!  We have alot on today and as getting picked up in 10 minutes i'd better dry my hair and get some makeup on!  

# 12 [29 July 2009]

Teresa here and I've just spent an age trying to sort my computer out and get Internet access.  So, will be quick as I've not eaten yet and its now 8.30pm.  Jake and Max, my lovely twin grandsons came to do the walk today as they can't come on Saturday.  We had a few histrionics from Jake regarding his red trousers which didn't quite meet his approval.  Otherwise all went well and we generated quite a bit of attention - Dom's rather large and thoroughly magnificent hat and the gorgeous boys I think.  Tomorrow's the launch and we're looking forward to seeing everyone.  I'm finally going to get to wear the pride of place, red velvet creation which I've been secretly saving for a special occasion.  Well tomorrow's the day, so hey ho let's hope it all goes well (and it still fits?).