ARTISTS TALKING

# 18 [27 March 2011]

This will be my final post from this blog. In the last few months I have moved out of Salford, back across the river into Manchester, to Rogue Artists' Studios, where I was lucky to be offered a studio in their recent expansion. 

http://www.rogueartistsstudios.co.uk

So it's a good moment to reflect. I was pleased to have the opportunity to show work last year, mostly existing work, but also some new.  I started a long project called '107 garments' based on research I did at Nexus in 2009, and showed it at Rogues Open Studio as a guest of Jackie Wylie. I also made my first Artists Book, after doing a course with Lucy May Schofield.  

http://www.lucymayschofield.co.uk/

The book, 'Cow Lane, Salford' was shown at the Manchester Artists Book Fair, and it was selected for the Latitude exhibition by the Manchester Modernist Society.

I've restructured my website and lately have put most of my writing energy into a blog that is linked to that site, where I write about exhibitions, books and sometimes even my own practice! 

http://annieharrisonartist.blogspot.com/

As for upcoming projects, I'm working with Jane Lawson on a new installation, 'Flood', for the Chorlton Arts Festival in May. And I've just accepted a 2 year Artist in Residency at Lime - an arts and health project. This will be the subject of my next a-n blog.

http://www.limeart.org/

Jackie Wylie, Jude Macpherson and I have started to collaborate, and have already submitted two proposals, the first was not successful, and we are waiting to hear about the second. We see it as an ongoing relationship, and it's a great opportunity for me to work with two more experienced artists.

I've also decided to do start a part time MA in the summer, and am in the middle of applications. I hope to learn how to locate my work within a fine art context and root it in a solid theoretical framework.  I also need to learn how to balance the very time-consuming site specific, research-based work that I love, with work that can be shown anywhere. I am very short of the sort of work that can be put into an open call.  

It sounds like everything is going well, but I feel that the balance of my time has been weighted towards thinking and preparing, and I haven't done enough making. This has an impact on my confidence, so I need to focus on hands on work in the next few months. I'm feeling a bit nervous, but I'm excited to see how things develop.

Thanks for reading.

# 17 [7 November 2010]

It is so hard to judge how long things will take. And I get so absorbed by what I am doing when I am in the studio, i don't keep track of the time. So I am always underestimating and getting behind and having to work madly to keep to schedule. That's what it has been like for the last few weeks, working full time and trying to squeeze in as many hours as possible at the studio.

Anyway, I did manage to get enough 'Cow Land, Salford.' books made, but only by the skin of my teeth.

I made 4 for the Manchester Artists Book Fair, and 4 for the Latitude exhibition, plus a handling copy. I made 1 to give to the colleague at work who gave me the idea for the book, and 1 to donate to Lucy May Schofield's Bibliotherapy project

http://lucymayschofield.blogspot.com/search/label/...

So the Book Fair was on Saturday. I was sharing a stand with some of the other Hotbed Press bookmakers, so only had to do a 2 hours shift, leaving time for a lazy morning, and some looking round the Fair and chatting. There was some fabulous stuff. My absolute favourite thing was a pocket Orrery (sort of star map) by Alex Pritchard. He had also created an amazing book showing all sorts of scientific information in graphic form.  

While I was on the stand, I spent a lot of time explaining what the book was about, so in future, am going to copy Emily Speed who was across the aisle, and had a short explanatory text next to each book, including the price. It makes it so much easier for the viewer and potential buyer.

My book got a good reception, and I sold 2 copies. I am really pleased. A couple of people also suggested I should make a series about different places, which I think is a good idea.

At the end of November as well as Latitude, I'm putting a big sheet installation into the Knitting and Stitching show at the Harrogate International Centre. Fortunately I won't miss the Latitude opening. I will miss the second half of the exhibition, but will be around for the first weekend, which is the most important bit.

I've been stressing about the practical problems of getting 1200 bed sheets to Harrogate and then actually into the building, but the logistics team are being extremely helpful, even offering to build me a trolley. 

I'll be so happy to get back to working part time. There is just too much else I want to do.

# 16 [17 October 2010]

Have I told you about my book?

The first time I went to the Manchester Artists' Book Fair in 2006, I thought I was going to a sale of books on art.  I'd never heard of the artists' book, and I was blown away. Subsequently I spent some time in MMU's Special Collections looking at examples, and trying out my own versions.  

But this summer, I did a 10 week book-making course with the supremely talented Lucy May Schofield 

www.lucymayschofield.co.uk

at Hot Bed Press - a fantastic resource, which by a massive piece of luck is right next door to my studio in Salford.  

www.hotbedpress.org

Lucy not only taught us techniques, but got us thinking about ideas for books of our own.

About the same time, I had a conversation with a woman at work who wanted to know why I only worked half time.  When i told her I was an artist with a studio in Cow Lane, she got really excited and told me about her great grandfather who had settled in that area when he came from Ireland in the 1830's.  

Her story sent me to the local history library, to find out more about Irish immigration, and to look at the site of the studio, and what had been there before.

So somehow, these two ideas merged and my book became the story of the wave of inhabitants in the area around the studio, from a few scattered farm buildings in 1794, to the densely populated back to backs of the second half of the nineteenth century, and then through the post war slum clearances to the middle of this decade which saw the area completely uninhabited.  

My deadline, always useful, was the open submission for the Manchester Modernist Society's 'Latitude' exhibition, for which they wanted work to do with maps and mapping. Perfect! 

www.manchestermodernistsociety.org

The book has been accepted and I am delighted!  I'm going to do an edition of 25 and this year I'll be at the Manchester Artists' Book Fair as an exhibitor. 

# 15 [24 September 2010]

Ok everyone, the summer's over and it's time to get back to work.  

I've been thinking about my studio.  Mia, my best friend from college, gave up her half of the studio and now it is mine all mine! Including paying for all of it.  

And ironically, this coincided with my first period of not going! Does having a studio make me an artist even if I don't go?

Is a studio the same as a gym membership?  

Actually I have been very frustrated about not being able to get there. I have so little time at the moment.  From now until Christmas I am working full time, to help out in the busy period in the project I work for in my non-artist life. I've negotiated doing my full time job in 4 days, but that means I'm too knackered to do much on my precious extra day.  

Gone are the two and a half leisurely days I used to have. Now I cram what I can into the time available, running from one place to another, snatching a few hours at the studio at the end of an already long day. 

Bob's new job in a 7-day a week project has had the unexpected benefit of giving me weekend days when he is at work. But the disadvantage is we don't see each other and we don't get to go to exhibitions together which was a favourite weekend thing.

Little time does focus the mind though, and I have managed to almost finish my Cow Lane book ready for a 30th September submission deadline.  I am very proud of it.

Today I can't get to the studio because I have calls to make to contacts for the Farfield Mill residency.  They are already a bit overdue.  I will have to put off my session with the fundraising consultant because I haven't done my homework.  

Back to the treadmill.

# 14 [29 July 2010]

A couple of weeks ago I went to the lovely Bob's graduation (1st in Art History - so proud of him) and by chance, this year's Embroidery students were at the same time. Only a year since I was there myself! 

At that time, I was still in the dark about how to be an artist, how to get started. It was veiled in mystery.

So it has been good to reflect on the year. I have been very lucky, I have had some great opportunities, and have been able to take advantage of them all so far. I haven't been paid for anything yet, but then, I guess it is like any small business, it takes time to get returns for your investment. My investment has been mostly time, but also money and I've been lucky to have had some help with that from my family or I would have found it very hard.

There have been different phases during the year.  I remember early on, in despair, going through the Arts Council mailings, and the A-N jobs and opps section, looking for things that I could apply for, finding very little that seemed relevant to me, and thinking I would never get beyond that stage. 

But as the year has unfolded, my experience has changed my expectations of where work will come from.  Some work has come by chance or through friends or contacts, and some I have generated myself, and some things have come out of other things I have done.  

The residency at Nexus which i wrote about in my last blog was a gift. It came out of a chance conversation and was such a great start.

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

It gave me a space to work, and a structure, and a subject for my work, and some external expectation but not too much pressure, to come up with something coherent.  It gave me the confidence that I could work outside the University environment and generate new ideas. It gave me a great showcase for my work - the sheet installation i made for the show I curated, was the best I've done. 

That experience pushed me into finding a studio - seeing how much more effectively I worked when I had one. And the studio has become a subject for new work.  Having just finished a bookmaking course with Lucy May Schofield at Hotbed Press, I'm currently developing an artists book on the history of the street where the studio is situated.

http://www.lucymayschofield.co.uk/

http://www.hotbedpress.org

University contacts got me an opportunity to show a sheet installation in Stroud at the International Textile festival, and out of that, I've been asked to return as an artist in residence next year, and will be working on a project about the waterways.

A friend suggested me for a collaborative installation at Platt Hall, which will have been there for six months by the time it comes down, great exposure for my work.

Another friend, an artist whose work I saw and liked and then chatted to and got to know, asked me to show with her and another artist at Rogue, and is continuing to apply for group shows for the three of us. We will be meeting over the summer to hammer out what we want to do together. The other two are much more well established than me, and I feel like I'm hanging on to their shirt-tails and being taken to places I would never get to on my own! I'm very grateful.

Recommendations from people who have seen my work have got me opportunities at the Knit and Stitching show in Harrogate, and at the Farfield Gallery in Sedburgh. The Sedburgh project looks very exciting, and if it comes off, I think it could be one of those pivotal experiences which helps me orientate my work in the future.

So a year on, the mysterious question of how to be an artist is no longer on my mind, I am just getting on with it, and grateful for my good luck.  But for now I need a holiday!  See you at the end of August!

# 13 [11 June 2010]

I was just rereading Rob Turners wonderful post about rejection letters 

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

(see post no 28)

I want to submit this one for the prize of 'rejection letter most likely to be received with cheers'

'Thank you for your submission for the xxxxxxx commission.  We very much liked your work, but felt that there would be other areas of the xxxxx where your work would have more impact and we would like to retain your information for future commissions.'

Hurray!

# 12 [3 June 2010]

Is self belief the only thing an artist really needs?

Two days to go to the Rogue Open Studio where I'm showing some new work in Jackie Wylie's studio, in a group show called 'All cats look grey in the dark'

I've been feeling pretty ambivalent about telling people about the work, and inviting them to the show.  It's my first new work since I graduated, and the first time I've had to develop work without the support of tutors and peers.  It's been hard to assess whether it works, without that regular feedback.

But today I realised today that I need to really believe in the work, I need to champion it and feel proud of it. I need to be like a proud parent of my work, and see it through eyes of love and appreciation. Otherwise my work will become tentative and apologetic, and I will grind to a halt, which is the last thing I want.  

I came to this realisation because I've been asked to do a residency next year, and I will probably need to get a team of helpers together.  I was thinking about how that would be and how I would need to really sell the project to them, even if I have my own worries and insecurities, because I will need their enthusiasm and commitment, and to generate it in them, I will need to embody it myself.

So I need to cultivate that attitude with all of my work.  As artists we are always asking people to trust us, that the work will get done, will be relevant, will be interesting, and an insecure attitude by the maker will not help.  I'm not saying that a massive ego is a prerequisite to success, but that having confidence is important, to challenge the interior critic that I have, and I'm sure everyone has to some extent. 

I'm going to try and see it as a discipline to practice - like believing 10 impossible thing before breakfast, I'm going to practice thinking positive thoughts about my work and see what happens.

# 11 [21 May 2010]

Shouldn't be writing - should be packing!  I'm heading off to Stroud in a few minutes to catch the last weekend of the Stroud International Textile Festival.  

http://www.stroudinternationaltextiles.org.uk/

The sun is shining, we're camping at a lovely site and alls well with the world!

http://www.thistledown.org.uk/camping.html

Except I've just picked up the hire van and the small one I ordered has not been returned so they've given me a massive one!  I don't like driving anyway, but this is even worse. At least everyone seems to defer to me on the road.  I feel like putting a big sign on it saying - 'Give me plenty of room or risk your wing mirrors!'

So my advice to A-N readers is, avoid the M6 and M5 until about 6pm tonight.

i

# 10 [16 May 2010]

After a day in bed with food poisoning, I am going to have to struggle into the studio today to make up for lost time. And I've also missed most of the FuturEverything events which are all over Manchester this weekend 

http://www.futureeverything.org/

But on the positive side, I have clarified what I am doing for the Rogue Open Studio show. All I need now is to make the pieces!  I am still pretty confident that I can get it all done, but I'll have to spend every spare minute in the studio. An added complication is the time I'm going to lose when I go to Stroud on Friday to see the last weekend of the International Textile Festival, and to take down my installation.

On a positive note, I've solved the sheets storage issue.  I've had the chance to take on another studio space which I can use for storage and as a space for doing bigger work, trying out installations etc. which there is no room for in our new studio - it is pretty full with the two of us.  It is a big relief.  I love my sheets but they are a logistical nightmare!

Ok, off to work.

# 9 [11 May 2010]

Hotbed Press staff and members were wonderfully helpful last week, 

http://www.hotbedpress.org

and I got my screen made and some prints done and started trying out some ideas.  I think I am going to show a series of samples, rather than a resolved piece, and have been showing my work around and getting ideas and feedback.  

This is my first non-textiles show, and ironically, the work is more textiley than anything else I've done. I feel nervous but also excited. There is so much to do to get it all ready and not only making - also sourcing materials and shopping - which feels such a waste of time.  But deadlines do concentrate the mind and I'm being very efficient!

Mia and I moved studios at the weekend, to a smaller but warmer south-facing studio - which is more practical but I rather regret the smaller space. And am slightly worried about the signs of leaks in the roof.  Not having had rain for weeks, it is hard to tell if they are old or current, so I made sure everything was out of the way of them before I left on Sunday. However we are next door to Hotbed who are having some work done on their part of the building, so I think the landlord might also sort out our roof, fingers crossed!

I'm not going to get to the studio today because I promised to help with some student assessments - really interesting to see what they have done.  I met them at the beginning of the year and this is the outcome of their years work.  They have all moved on so far.  

It is also helping me to reflect on my own development over the past year.  I've been really luck.  I've had some great opportunities since I graduated - some that I have strived for, but reassuringly, some that have come out of the blue, or out of other work I've done, or from connections with other artists. I'm beginning to develop some new work and learning to work without the support of tutors.  I've got a studio and getting down there regularly.  It feels like I've made a good start.