ARTISTS TALKING

# 1 [23 February 2010]

I just can't wait to get into the studio!  I pick up the keys on Friday and my palms are itching. Since I finished my residency in January, i have been frustrated by my lack of production.  I am not disciplined unless I can get out out the house. I'm definitely not one of those people who can work anywhere. I need a bit of physical distance between me and the distractions of the rest of my life. 

I will be sharing the studio with Mia, who I met on Foundation and who also did the Embroidery degree.  We know each others work and working style very well, and I am really pleased that we can carry on this connection and mutual support. We are showing work together a couple of times this year, including the Stroud International Textile Festival in May.  Mia has been working on huge stitched portraits, and will be back at the sewing machine as soon as we move in getting new work ready for an exhibition of Scandinavian artists later in the year (she's from Finland).

Cow Lane Studio www.cowlanestudios.com is part of the Casket Works, which includes Hotbed Press www.hotbedpress.org , a truly fantastic resource, so I expect to be doing more experimenting with print. I'm also looking forward to starting on a new body of work that came out of the residency.  

But before any of that, next week Christine Evans and I start working on a collaborative installation for the reopening of Platt Hall Costume Museum on 13th March. It is my most important commission so far, and I'm nervous, but I have a lot of faith in Christine, and we are both working with very interesting material, so I'm confident it will be ok, or even good!

www.manchestergalleries.org/our-other-venues/platt...

I want my blog to be part of my reflective process, a way of recording my development, and also a way to make links with other artists. In writing this first post it already strikes me how much collaboration features.  Here's to much more!

# 2 [7 March 2010]

I can't get over how much having a studio has affected me. I am so excited about it, so happy when I'm there.  It represents more than it's dimensions!

I had the space at home. That's not what I needed. The studio represents time, not space. I set aside time to go there, and if the work is difficult or challenging, or if I am stuck or have no ideas, I have to stay with it, because I am there. 

Mostly so far, I have been organising and setting up my work area. But yesterday I got out my watercolours and the photos I took in the snow and began to do a sketch. At home, I wouldn't get beyond that initial resistance, but at the studio I keep on going. 

I won't have much time there this week because we start to build the installation at Platt Hall on Monday. I have some MMU students coming in to help, which is great, because the work is physically demanding. 

Christine and I sampled last Monday, trying out ways of getting our two materials to work together, and I came away feeling very anxious that we would not be able to do it. But after looking at the photographs, I can see a narrative emerging about the role of the gallery which is about conservation as well as display, and the installation could be a metaphor for the attempt to hold back the creep of decay.

Christine's big crochet pieces are quite sinister when seen against the sheets, which create order and structure. So I think there needs to be a tension between the two materials, rather than an attempt to make them work together.  

Surprisingly, I feel pretty relaxed about it. It is an experiment and some people will like it, and others not. But I hope the gallery like it!

I had a couple of very useful meetings this week about how to find opportunities to get my work seen. One was with Mark Devereux from Blank Media collective, who champion emerging artists.

www.blankmediacollective.org

He had some practical ideas about on-line portfolios and using social networking sites. I am going to start looking into that. I'd be interested to know what other people are doing.  Perhaps I can raise it at the skill swap that Emily Speed is organising.  

www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/4973...

# 3 [9 March 2010]

I am kicking myself! I completely forgot about the Antique Textile Fair on Sunday. I've been waiting for 3 months to get a chance to buy fabrics that I can use for my next body of work. I can't believe I forgot! I'll have to get back on the internet and see what other possibilities there are, but this one was so convenient, cycling distance from home! 

I guess I am preoccupied with the installation at Platt Hall, which is going well, we tried out some new ideas yesterday and the whole thing fell into place. Now it is just about building and small decisions. We decided we don't need the full week so Christine can do her paid work today and can I have a day off. Back in tomorrow and Thursday and hopefully we won't need Friday. We had a great volunteer yesterday from MMU's Embroidery degree, and have a couple more tomorrow.  It helps to share out the heavy work of moving the sheets around.

I've just discovered google analytics where you can track who visits your website. It is well worth a look, mainly for me it is a reminder that there are potentially interested people out there.  You can track what route people come to your site from, how long they spend, which pages they look at, and what national or international location they are in. It is a bit geeky, and slightly voyeuristic, but even for a not very business-like artist, it could be useful.

www.google.com/analytics/

# 4 [16 March 2010]

The Platt Hall Costume Gallery opening was lovely.  They counted over 500 people through the doors, and though most people were there to see the newly renovated building and the costumes, and the entrance was pretty crowded most of the afternoon, there was a lot of interest in the installation.

Highlights for me were Susie MacMurray's new garment 'Widow' which is stunning,

http://www.susiemacmurray.co.uk/

and the cases of shoes, just beautiful!  If you haven't been, or haven't been for a while, it is really worth a visit.  

http://www.manchestergalleries.org/our-other-venue...

I always have mixed feelings when I see people photographing my installations.  Of course, I've done it myself, even in places where photography is forbidden.  I am flattered that people like the work enough to want to have an image of it.  But it also feels a bit like stealing.  Is that just a product of an ungenerous spirit?

Am settling into a routine of one day at home doing computer stuff, and organising, and two days at the studio. Today I worked on my website, updating the exhibition information.  And I've also put a link to the film I made during my travel bursary trip to Argentina.  I posted it months ago and immediately lost the link and only found it today!  If you have a few minutes to spare, take a look.

http://www.annieharrison.co.uk/annie_harrison_Che_...

# 5 [19 March 2010]

I had a chance conversation with Mary, from Manchester University.  I told her I had a studio at Cow Lane and her eyes lit up. She said she always looks out for Cow Lane when she drives past, as it is the only place in the area where you can see a remnant of the community where her great grandfather lived when he came over from Ireland in the 1840's. 

That's just a great start for my practice!  I spent a bit of time yesterday mooching round the remaining streets - much of the area has been razed to the ground in preparation for new apartment buildings. (though when they will be started is in the lap of the economy!) Then a couple of hours in the local history centre in Salford Art Gallery, looking at maps. 

The Casket Works which houses us and Hotbed Press and Suite studios, was built on the site of Grooms Buildings, three rows of particularly cramped back to backs with alleys rather than streets between them, and a shared pump. The new building was a confectionary works in 1910, and it was extended between then and the 40's, to take in some terraces at the back and three big houses with gardens.  Hotbed and Suite are in the original building, and we are in the 2 storey extension

I also crossed Chapel Street to look down at the Irwell, which is so beautiful at that point, opposite the Crescent of Georgian houses.  The road at that point is 6 lanes, with pedestrian crossings which take for ever to change, and are so far apart that no-one ever gets the chance to stroll over from the University buildings to see the view.  You can always tell how people are treated by how the rivers are treated. In this case, both have been sacrificed to the car.

# 6 [2 April 2010]

I'm so enjoying working in the studio, despite the cold.  I'm trying to get into a routine of 2 days there a week.  It has been quiet since Mia and I moved in, but yesterday three other artists were there and it felt like more of a community. I'm having a meeting next week to take over responsibility for the website. It will be good to get it up to date.

I had a day researching Victorian underwear at Gawthorpe Hall this week, for the work that I'm developing from my last residency. They have a massive textile collection and the staff are so helpful, but I just didn't have long enough.  I looked at the construction of knickers, chemises and combinations, but I could have done with a day per garment.

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-gawthorpeha...

They also told me about a 19th century book called 'The Workwoman's Guide' which has construction details for everything from clothes to curtains. I found a digital version, so I spent yesterday creating some basic patterns and next week I will take in some cotton sheets and start sampling.

I'm thinking about applying for an internship with BlankMedia. I've been very impressed with the shows they have curated, and I had a mentoring session with them which was really helpful. I think that I have time at the moment and it would be an opportunity to get more links with the Manchester arts scene. Their exhibition at Nexus Art Cafe is on until 11th April, and their Greenroom exhibition is on until 10th April and both are worth seeing

http://www.blankmediacollective.org/events/

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# 7 [6 April 2010]

Pride comes before a fall.  

I confess to being too smug about my recent discipline in the studio.  Today it started to unravel. I could have gone but instead I went charity shopping in Wilmslow!  I didn't even find anything I liked.  And I've just looked in my diary and realised that I have booked non- art things in for every studio day for the next two weeks.  I'm really pissed off with myself. it is too easy to see studio time as flexible time - as opposed to paid work time which I just have to do and nothing gets in the way of that. studio time can get filled up with hairdressers, opticians, meetings... And some of it is art-related, which is fair enough, and are hair appointments and eye appointments not part of life and art is part of life, and something about having this 'free' time makes me feel expansive and happy and does that not help the creative process?  or am I justifying being flaky and thinking I'm an artist when I'm just floating about and saying I'm an artist instead of making art which is what actually makes me an artist.  that's my biggest danger, thinking rather than doing. I spent 40 years doing that.  

And the other thing is that a break makes it so much harder to get started again, and allows such insecurities to creep in. Loss of momentum leads to loss of confidence, which is fatal to creativity.

Oh poo!

# 8 [4 May 2010]

Well, that's interesting - last time I wrote I was complaining that I was not being committed to my practice.  Well that phase doesn't seem to have lasted! I haven't been able to write my blog because the lovely Bob has been on the computer, finishing his dissertation and revising for his finals. But I have been working. 

I spent last week installing a piece in Stroud in the International Textile Festival. I was very stressed about having to drive a tonne of bedsheets down there.  And also worried about whether I would have any help. But it all went smoothly and I had a lovely volunteer. I was even promised some money to cover my travel!  

The installation looks good, it is in the window of Millets, as part of the Shop Window project.  It was tricky to build it because of the limited space, and I had to climb out of the window space, and go through the shop and out into the street to see what I was doing! It attracted a lot of attention - including the photographer from the local paper who saw it as he was passing by and took some photos. 

I was pleased that they chose one of my images for the leaflet, because there isn't much about the project in the main brochure. The director of the festival really liked it and has asked me to talk to her about doing more work with the festival. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  

My current project is getting some work ready for a group show that Jackie Wylie is putting on in her studio at the Rogue Open Studio at the beginning of June.  I want to make new work based on this idea about the Victorian women's refuge which I have been playing with since my residency.  I've done my research and have patterns for victorian underwear.  But so far my samples have not really been what I wanted.  I've decided to make parts of garments and use the map images that I've been collecting since I moved into the Cow Lane studio.  

Is it foolish to think that I can get something new done for the show?  I might be naive, but I'm thinking of it like a university project - we would only have about 6 weeks to produce a piece of work. Well I had 6 weeks notice of this show, so am going to try.  If it absolutely doesn't work, I can put in a sheet installation.  

In the meantime - I'm going to Hotbed press on Thursday to learn how to do a photo screenprint from the map images, and will print up some fabric and see what it looks like.  I spent yesterday doing pin tucks, and have this idea about breaking up the images by the part construction of the garments. It's still a bit vague but I'm just going to go for it. 

# 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.

# 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.