Wood for the Trees

Lots of projects on the go, I really need to learn how to say no!

The piece of work in the photos, I’ve just been working on – think it’s finished now.  I had originally been working on it in the time before the degree show at college and called it ‘unneutral’, but that doesn’t fit it anymore.  Am wanting to battle out in paint and text, mostly because it’s my own battle in my work.  The orginal text was pasted on and cut off and re-pasted.  Now I’ve gone into it in dark paint and then (stealing from Kate Morgan-Clare) using white marker pen to write over the dark areas of paint. While doing it I’m thinking that the writing is going into and out of the paper.

The hang for the h.Art Young Open Exhibition is on Monday 1st Sept – coming around very quickly!

We have combined PV invites with 2 other city venues – all on different evenings, our PV is on Tue 2nd 6-8pm – so a very short run up from delivery of work – Monday, to the opening evening the next day.

We have display screens still to paint in Hereford. The directors of Framework Herefordshire (an organisation set up to support emerging artists who live, work or have studied in the county) handling much of the planning of this are now fairly spread out geographically – me in Abergavenny, Alex in Nuneaton, Daisy in Worcester, Marion a drive from Hereford and Johnny is the only one in Hereford.  We are in constant email communication, have regular meetings.  Sometimes it isn’t enough, so we’re going to have video calls more.

And also – the downside to all that funding stuff is I haven’t decided what to display yet!  There is lots to choose from, but I’m erring towards showing some of my most recent work where I’ve decided to pitch intuitive painting against writing, in the same piece.  I don’t think its become destructive enough yet, I want to PUSH the writing and PUSH the painting until one of them takes over. Haven’t got there yet!

It is now only 7 weeks to our R K Burt Gallery Exhibition show ‘Paperfields’ and I have used all my available time (5 hours a day, including last weekend) preparing our funding application to help us get there and help with the cost of it all.  35 hours in the past week to get it all ready (and I hope I did a good job!)

It was made a little harder in that it’s for a group exhibition and so I need lots of details from the other artists to get it together and being August with people away made it very hard!

I am relieved to have got it done, and now it is time to get on with some artwork.  I managed to limit what I had to do today to 3 relatively simple tasks, done at the Apple Store Gallery studios in Hereford.  And I took up the kind offer to use their studios today as I wanted to do something messy after all that number crunching and writing onto my laptop!  (My son has been doing a drama activity in Hereford this week, which has given me time – unusually for the holidays – in the middle of the day to work.  My holiday work routine usually involves getting up 2hours earlier than I otherwise would to get whatever I need to do done- then having an active as possible day,  – then getting back to art after dinner.)

I took up any offers of help from others to read through our application as came my way!

Hopefully the next one wont take quite as much time to get done!

With 8 weeks to go until we (7 graduates and students from Hereford College of Arts) put up our exhibition in Union St, London, it’s hotting up!

The group are:

Daisy Rickards
Kate Morgan-Clare
Rosie Daffern
Alex Weaver
Jack Clough
Ethan Carey Seaton
and me!

I’m coordinating the exhibition.

Kate Morgan-Clare is seeking (and with success!) sponsorship for various things we need. So far she’s had results in finding a local luxury biscuit company and cider company who are willing to donate these goodies for our opening (Wed 15th Oct) in return for having their logo’s on our publicity.  She is also liasing with college’s marketing department to help raise our profile.

Daisy is taking the lead with publicity – currently getting our poster design together.  We each had the chance to submit ideas and material to be used in the publicity and Daisy’s designing for us to choose the best for purpose as a group.  Daisy is keeping us on our toes about fundraising and any other things I miss as we go.

Alex is lead in fundraising – he’s made us an Indie gogo account and made a video outlining what we are doing, who’s involved and what goodies donors can receive as a thank you.  It’s been online for a very brief time and we’ve had our 1st donation – feels great!  We are also putting in an application for Grants for the Arts with the Arts Council England.  We are about to submit it in a few days, meant to have it in much sooner, but end of year show, holidays and graduation got in the way.  Sadly, Alex and Rosie (also exhibiting) have moved to Nuneaton, so our communication is mostly electronic.  Really miss the face-to-face banter!

Rosie is applying for funding with support from all with the number of sections to be completed!

Ethan and Jack are stepping in with help as and when needed.

We are having meetings, about monthly now, but we’ll be increasing them now as we draw closer to the exhibition.

With Rosie and Alex at a distance, I am thinking that having them present when any of us meet via Skype would be really helpful. We’d feel more in tune with each other.

We have a time plan developing and we are allocating who will set-up, when each of us will steward and dismantle (and clean) after taking down the exhibition.  Still subject to change at this time.

The whole exhibition preparation feels really huge now, with it approaching rapidly.  I feel there is too much to do, but it is helpful for members of the group to take on lead roles, but not leave anything ALL to one person.  Speaking to a painter the other day who said the way group exhibitions are hard to manage and complicated is why he just puts on solo exhibitions now.  Having only put on a few exhibitions with others so far, I can relate to his sentiment – so complex and we all risk believing someone else is doing x, y or z but actually they’re not.

Communication is (obviously) essential.  Inclusion. Not easy. All but one of us are on facebook – so we do most of our banter and planning on there with the combination of being able to post photos and text and files.  Some via email, but again, not everyone responds to that. Others respond better with a text message and others still through a phonecall (hard to keep track of all details covered when talking quickly on phone I find).   Any tips on communicating better in a group via technology would be most welcome.

I have been warmly welcomed to The Print Shed (http://www.theprintshed.net/) for the start of my time as artist in residence there by Jill Barnaby (owner and artist) and Richard Bavin (studio artist based at The Print Shed).

Getting started at The Print Shed today I sketched in the grounds to get my bearings and familiarise myself with the setting.  I would love the take this opportunity to get stuck into printing.  I have a feeling there is a lot I can do in printing in my exploration of writing, listening and communication.  The Print Shed is in a thoroughly rural location 6 miles from Hereford.

August is a disrupted month, productivity-wise, for me (and much of the UK!) being a holiday month.  The time after the end of the college year and after Christmas tend to be very reflective times for me to take stock of where I am and where I want to be.  I am trying to be less outright critical of my own every move and just make /paint when possible.  I often think I haven’t done much, but then get the work I’ve produced together from the various ‘safe’ (!) places around the house and sheds and find there’s tonnes there.

I am working at breaking up text and seeing/altering what happerns with the gaps in between the fragments.  The piece I did in Whitchurch in May/June this year is on my mind and I am curious about what these fragments might do on a large scale or on a 3D surface.

I need to decide which pieces I’m putting into the Young Open Exhibition at St Peter’s Church in Hereford in early September (any media) and Paper Fields exhibition in London, mid October, (works on paper).