ARTISTS TALKING

# 17 [6 May 2010]

It has took me this long to recover and catch up in work.

The Open Day at the Butterfly Park was fantastic, I can't thank all my friends enough for helping out.

So many late nights really did pay off in the end, we had 400 visitors and even though it was more about raising awareness, we raised a princely sum of £374.36p.

So many people were chatting and telling me how they didn't know the park was there, so raising awareness worked.

Emma's Elastatone work was a big hit, all kinds of people young and old were making 'music' and all the other art was much admired.

I met the head of Cheshire Wildlife Trust who thanked me for all my efforts, as did all the Butterfly Park team, though I couldn't have done it without them either. We do make a good team I think.

2 local schools would like workshops and I have also been approached by a local resident who is setting up a 'regeneration' shop within New Ferry and would like to discuss my putting work in or more. Great news, this is exactly the type of response I was hoping for.

I've posted some photos on the facebook group http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=20600&id=112509052095055&ref=mf

but theres a few on here too.

# 16 [5 May 2010]

Amazing day on Sunday,

too busy to blog but here's some things to look at until I can.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/loca...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30661871@N03/sets/721...

# 15 [30 April 2010]

Thankfully both of the fabricators came through in the nick of time, the steel was cut and collected today, looks not too disimilar to the design I drew, they had to alter it to dash marks so that the pieces of metal wouldn't fall out - understandably-I re-designed i with lots of dashes and dots which looked great but would have cost double to cut!!! So they did a design that was cheaper (still £500+) and it's fine but crazily - the little bits that were cut out were lovely, going to have to do something with them for sure.

Then Matt the Stone Mason came with 10 etched perspex panels and they look fabulous, so happy with them. Going to be 30 over the course of the summer which would cost £20 each and worth every penny BUT Matt needs a draughtsman to draw some stone designs up and so we have done a skill swap - I'll draw for him and he's charging me nothing. 

I've probably blogged this before but it's very exciting good news!!!

Need to finish assembling the bench, my other half has been at it all afternoon and it's getting there, blinkin nitemare of a job though.

Have found some sponsors too, Aldi are giving us all the BBQ food for free, the local garden centre is donating a Buddelia plant for the tombola and the pub opposite is donating 2 bottles of wine and the use of their loo all day(thats the best bit!)

Emma and Chris finished their installation, haven't seen the finished product yet, have that to look forward to in the morning.

So far on this project I am artist,curator,fundraiser,event organiser and marketing officer - the joys of multi tasking :)

# 14 [29 April 2010]

Off to meet the Daily Post photographer at the Butterfly Park - in the rain - soon.

Shame its raining, the butterflies all tend to hide, one sunny day last week I saw at least 20 of them and a Peacock Butterfly landed briefly on my sleeve. Won't happen for a photo shoot though.

My hand is tres numb.

16 hours of ink drawing yesterday means I cannot feel my fingers. 

However 7 drawings completed and at the etchers. Hope it works!

Posted some but here's the rest if you want to see.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=20158&id=112...

Oh and our router broke yesterday, £140 for new one so I'm going to hire one on the way back from the photographer to try and get the bench finished, still haven't heard if the steel is cut though.

Designing booklet later to have at the open day. More computing :(

# 13 [27 April 2010]

I must learn to say no - problem is so many interesting projects in work that I really want to be involved with (pedal powered film screenings, touched talks, seminars and I'm helping co-ordinate a visit/lecture/series of workshops by Bruce Mau!) but I also need to do my own work - so I have taken the rest of the week off and I'm getting stuck in so's to speak.

It's all going really well, the artists have all been down and 2 have finished.

Emma + Chris have made a test piece for their percussion installation, a much smaller version and are coming back Thursday/Friday to go large!

Karon brought her new sculpture based on a Peacock Butterfly Pupa and an older piece that I had specifically asked to be included, an iron chair that looks fantastic in the space. My project will involve providing seating in the park in various forms so this piece was chosen to represent the future. Nobody can actually sit on it but the idea will be in their minds at least. I can't post the photo today as it wont let  me rotate it but watch this space!

Hayley (with husband Roger in tow) has been and made a veritable Housing Estate of Multi Storey flats for insects. Housing Market Renewal at it's greenest.

They all look amazing, I'm so pleased with how it's come together and think the right places were chosen for each piece.

My own work is so much slower, the bench is being made by my husband and a metal fabricator. It has been a very strange experience to design an artwork and have it completely made by someone else. I can't even lift one of the railway sleepers let alone 3! and the metal work has to be laser cut so I don't have a say in that.

Hope it works, it's an odd feeling though, I feel rather detached from it.

The Botanical Illustrations are being laser etched by someone else too but it's different as the actual drawings are taking so much time and effort and so i feel I have actually contributed more to thispart of the project. Hoping to have ten signs made in time for the opening with a further 10-20 appearing over the course of the summer.

Organising an Open day has been a good experience but who's to know if it works, I might get 20 people over the threshold or maybe 100 - we can only hope the weather is beautiful so the locals arrive in droves.

I feel like it's a finale even though it's just a beginning, a quick presentation of what can be achieved over the next 12 months, the promise of more workshops and more artwork.

I'm looking forward to getting in touch with the local schools and youth groups and might invite some of my old college down next term, it would be good to see what type of land art they could come up with in a day.

But for now...I must carry on drawing or there will be none of my artwork on the day!

# 12 [18 April 2010]

Had a painful weekend, have somehow managed to crick my neck to such an extent that I can hardly move, happened Friday but eased off a bit, went out to a concert Friday night (had already paid for the tickets) managed to dance a bit, whilst holding my neck but I was ok-ish.

Then Saturday - agony and today just as bad.

Have achieved absolutely nothing and am really annoyed with myself!!!

All the posters are printed and ready to be handed out but I couldn't do it and I had planned to spend the majority of the weekend at the Butterfly park installing work, so fed up!

In work this week and back at Uni Thursday crazy busy with that so have no idea when I'm going to fit it all in now. Think I'll have to drop some posters off on the way to and from work each night and just be there all weekend too.

Best laid plans hey?

# 11 [16 April 2010]

Paul from the Butterfly Park has been very busy promoting the Open Day, the Cheshire Wildlife Trust are now taking a table with us and we're on the BBC  Breathing Spaces site (you have to scroll down to the second entry for New Ferry Butterfly Park to see it) http://www.breathingplaces.org/public/search?hasjs...

I'm going to deliver posters over the weekend, asking local shops, cafes, libraries etc.

I had an in box message on facebook from the Butterfly park fan page, a teacher at a local school has asked if she can bring a class of children to the park one day to study mini-beasts, I was really chuffed that the facebook page works as it's only got a few fans so far. I've suggested she might like the kids to make some Butterfly Bunting too, then they get to see their own art work at the Open day if they come along.

I have had a conversation with Matt from Heritage Stone, who has the laser etcher, he's certain now he can get my small signs made and in time, he's just got to source the perspex and price it up. He's also suggested I do some etching for them as a skills swap to save on costs - hoorah!

Things seem to be hotting up :)

# 10 [15 April 2010]

Poster for Open Day done, don't know how good it'll look on here as a jpeg but it's ok - does exactly what it says on the box...so's to speak.

Very hard to not go too arty, have to keep remembering it's a nature reserve not an art gallery :)

# 9 [15 April 2010]

I'm 40 - I need to keep reminding myself of that as I usually don't feel anywhere near 40 but at the moment, I am feeling more inline with my Mum.

My Laptop had/has a virus - such a pain it's untrue. I was up until 4am last night trying to re-do the Open Day Poster and Press Release, still not finished the Poster...maddening.

4am and the up at 7am getting kid ready for school is NOT a good mix.

Today I shall be mostly cursing computers.

# 8 [14 April 2010]

We had a work day last Sunday at the Park, it was a beautiful day so lots of volunteers turned up and it's starting to look good now.

I did some more work on the Twigwam though its far from finished, the structure is there now. I need to bind some of it up with some sort of twine or raffia, something that  doesn't quite cover but will make it more of an enclosed space. Plan then is to ask kids to collect leaves, feathers etc form around the park and start filling in the gaps.

Hayley turned up with her husband and they worked hard at retrieving bricks from the back of the site, some of them covered in moss and were beautiful.

She did a test run of one of the insect habitats on a stone base, I've added a photo. I think it's great, love the idea that we're fighting the land owner who is a builder, he wants to take the butterfly park back for construction purposes and here we are building multi-storey flats on site (albeit for insects.)

I also got very up close and personal with a pair of mating tortoiseshell butterflies, they stayed very still and didn't fly away, for obvious reasons.

It was the A.G.M of the Butterfly Park Monday night It was interesting in that I used to work in the past for large charities that had a really good turnover of donations through grants and fundraising. This is so different, hardly any fundraising as such  goes on, it's nearly all through donations of visitors and well wishers really and there is hardly any money at all considering they are a charity. Don't get me wrong, they can cover the costs of running the place but not much else.

It has a lot to do with the landowner, if the Council can complete the complusory purchase order and secure the safety of the park, they can start applying for grants then. It's impossible to apply for funding for workshops not knowing if you're actually going to be there in the future. In court on 11th May.

So much hangs on this, I've grown so attached to the site, it would be heartbreaking to see it go back into the hands of a builder.