Keeping It Going

Another studio move …

Considering so much of the work I make responds to what’s going on around me, the place in which I create it and store a fraction of my collection (my work material), is clearly important. Signing on the dotted line of the new contract yesterday reminded me just how important my working space is to me. It’s so obvious when I think about it – how much my mood is affected by the environment in which I find myself and how that in turn, impacts on the work I make. Caught up in the general busyness of life, you sometimes forget these things.

On the move (again) Photo: Kate Murdoch 2015

The new studio is light and airy and despite having virtually an entire wall of windows, is slightly warmer than the one I’ve just left – and it’s a half, as opposed to a quarter share, so there’s a little more room to spread out while I’m working. That’s the key, really – having sufficient space to move around in, to be able to stand back from the work and to see it with some degree of space around it. A bigger studio inevitably costs more money, but I’m prepared to sacrifice other expenses in order to try and make it work.

My focus is currently more outside of the studio and on the making of the short film, ‘I Always Wanted To Be …’ (documented on my ‘Keeping It Moving’ blog, here on a-n), but I felt the need to document the new studio here – to mark it as an important event. Just as starting this blog questioned whether or not I’d be able to sustain writing it, at the same time as being creative in the studio, I’m curious to know how much of an impact this new space might have on my work in the future. I’m already excited about working in it in the new year.

So, new year, new start … I’m not wanting to wish the time away, but I’m already excited about the start of 2017 with an improved new space in which to try out new ideas.

The quote below by psychoanalyst, Hanna Segal is taken from her interview with journalist John Henley, published in ‘The Guardian’ in September 2008:

‘But the important thing is to keep a little fire burning; however small, however hidden. I find this extraordinarily helpful: we live in a mad world, but for those of us who believe in some human values, it is terribly important that we just keep this little fire burning. It is about trusting your judgement, and the power of love. A little trust, and a little care.’

The word ‘surprise’ has been used a lot in the media this past week in connection with Donald Trump becoming president elect. Just as in the UK’s General Election result, the information and predictions fed to us in the lead up to the USA presidential election seem to contradict the final outcome. I didn’t expect Trump to win on Tuesday, any more than I expected the Tories to be re-elected in 2015.

It’s very much a head in the sand response, but the plinkety plonk sounds and the pretty, twinkly dancing girls of the music boxes in the meantime, are providing a welcome relief from being fixated on world politics. More future updates to come as the film making and editing for the “I Always Wanted To Be …’ short film continues.

neglect

verb

. fail to care for properly
. not pay proper attention to; disregard
. fail to do something

noun
. the state or fact of being uncared for
. the action of not taking proper care of someone or something
.  failure to do something

Bread and Roses was created as a response to the General Election result of May 2015 and the subsequent threat of severe austerity measures.

Since then, the gradual decay of the bread and roses – from fresh to their current, decayed state – has been documented. These images from October 2016 clearly portray the impact of neglect.

Neglect, as we know, can have serious consequences.

In terms of keeping it going, I’ve just added a new post to another blog I started in August of this year. It’s called ‘Keeping It Moving’ and was started in order to document the making of a short film (working title: ‘I Always Wanted To Be’ ) which revolves around my collection of vintage music boxes. The making of the film has been made possible by generous funding, awarded by the a-n Artist Information Company as part of a professional development bursary award. This has enabled me to pay for an experienced film maker (Henrietta Thomas) to help make the film. Read about the progress we have made so far here:

https://www.a-n.co.uk/blogs/keeping-it-moving/date/2016/10

Photo: John McCormick

I’m feeling a bit more relaxed now that I’ve had time to give the film rushes for the ‘I Always Wanted To Be …’ film footage my proper, undivided attention. The rushes are essentially the initial recordings, raw and unedited. Henrietta (Henri) Thomas, the film maker I’m working with on this project sent them through some weeks ago and I’ve been waiting to find the time to go through them thoroughly. Now that I’ve managed to, I realise what an intense process it is. It’s taken a lot of time and concentration, analysing every second of two 45+ minute tapes, thinking about what’s to be kept and what will eventually be edited out from both the visual and the audio footage.

There will no doubt be a lot more of this editing to come – a process that’s completely new to me – in a film version, anyway. Otherwise, editing is what I do all the time while working with objects – weeding out the ones which aren’t wanted, keeping the ones that are, in any given assemblage. In terms of the film footage, I have to say that so far, I’ve found this part of the process pretty boring and tedious! I’m not renowned for my patience in any case and never feel particularly comfortable around uncertainty and the unknown.

The filming day at the end of August/start of September was always anticipated to be a day of experimenting and playing around with ideas, but I still surprised myself that I strayed quite so far away from my original ideas for the film. This process is, of course, a part of a huge learning curve for me and retrospectively, I’ve been able to work out more accurately what I’d like to feature in the final film version.

It’s now clear to me that I’m not actually so interested in the exteriors of the boxes – it’s the dancers inside them that interest and fascinate me more – seven different ‘personalities’ and the amazing images conjured up by the dancers being reflected in the boxes’ mirrors. I also keep getting drawn back to the theme of competition amongst the dancers – who’s the most robust?/who is going to ‘make it?’

So, now it’s a question of focusing on the additional filming that needs to be done and working out how far the budget will stretch to enable this to happen. The ideas I have in mind have been confirmed as ‘doable’ by Henri and a provisional date for the filming is now in place for the end of this month. I’m going to be focusing on doing as much preparation as possible so that Henri and I are able to make the best possible use of time when it comes to our next day of filming.

The beauty of being given financial support for this project means that I’ve been freed up to experiment and try out various options and possibilities – all with an experienced, flexible and willing film maker in place (thanks, Henri!) It goes without saying what an absolute godsend it is to also have the a-n Artists Network professional development bursary in place, enabling me to be flexible with the budget and secure in the fact that there is money in the budget to pay for another day of Henri’s filming expertise (thanks also to a-n!)