I was excited, but also nervous yesterday about the Artelier presentation by Nick Kaplony at HMS. It’s like hosting a party and wondering if anyone is going to turn up… only worse because Nick was on his way from London and I felt responsible. Stupid I know, because artists were bound to be drawn to this exciting project facilitating connections all over the world for free The website http://www.artquest.org.uk/artelier/' will be launched next month detailing how artists can become members. It was described a bit like a dating agency for artists and arts organisations where exchanges of creativity, resources, studios, galleries, accommodation etc can be facilitated … and on an international scale.
Anyway, we laid out the medley of chairs including fold-up, garden chairs, stools and of course the donkey easel. 40 seats in all. We stocked up with wine and nibbles and I picked up Nick from the train station. The new road works and the rush hour traffic highlighted the distance from Nottingham which took longer than normal. Would the artists travel to Long Eaton?
No worries. It was bums on all seats – with standing room for late-comers. Representatives from Southwell Artspace, Banks Mill, some newly formed studios and a few established groups from Nottingham came. We had MA students from Derby, Bianca from Creative Launchpad and a few curators too.
The atmosphere was relaxed and the talk generated loads of questions. HMS artists were as always, helpful, with plenty of offers to pour wine and clear up.
A seasoned form-filler who was used to producing figures for funders to crunch, asked me if everyone had signed in. I had intended to be organised this time, but was enjoying the occasion too much to get the visitors' book out. Jess has photographed and videoed the event so we do have a visual record.
