ARTISTS TALKING

# 31 [29 August 2007]

Tuesday 7th

Spend day involved with grant applications. In eve go to the informal CIBAS Creative champions meeting, conveniently held in a pub local to the Art College. Good meeting, spend most of the time composing answer to the council about the current cultural strategy. After able to just talk. Like all artists we are prone to get tired and low and meeting others for mutual support really helps.....

# 30 [5 August 2007]

Monday 6th

Will not be writing much today.

Today my word and thoughts are dedicated in memory of those 10,000's who died at 'Hiroshima' in 1945.

'43 seconds' is all it took for the bomb to fall

What would you say?

what would you do in 43 seconds if you knew that was all that you had left?

'we all have fallen'

# 29 [5 August 2007]

Sunday 5th

Totally exhausted.

So spent some time in garden but unable to do much other than paint one wall. Spent some time with new camera manuals and updating this.......Deliberatly uneventful.

need space to think, hone ideas and prioritize next few months...

# 28 [5 August 2007]

Saturday 4th

Spent most of day intimately involved with camera manuals in garden. Hot. I was taught how to use a camera at the age of 7-8 by my father. he was photographer in the Navy so always had a camera in his hand, from my earliest memory. My very first camera was a box Brownie which although the first film taken (at the zoo) was well exposed all the exposures were doubles as i had clicked twice on the 'lever'. My first camera was bought with a fiver i found on the way back from school when i was 9! I was taken to Portsmouth and was bought a secondhand 6x6 Agfa for £3. I used this until my first SLR a Russian Zenit. Because they were all manual i learnt the relationships between shutter speed and aperture. Even used a light meter. Since then i have been through all-sorts.  plate cameras, roll film, Minolta SLRs etc. So back in the 80's i always dreamed of having a pro-amera let alone thought of 'digital'.... Had pictures published for a while but gave up in early 90s after six months as a wedding photorapher...so it nice to get back to some 'creative photography' with possibility.

Dropped emergency 3 submission off at Aspex and caught train to Hove. Had received an invite to a private view a few days before. (3rd space) The work was displayed in the basement of a Georgian townhouse in Hove, and very interesting. One of the artists was involved in one of the other Art Plus 07 awards project. Thought the 'wings' were themed very geological, intimate and moving. balmy evening, quite hot.

Train was full heading back with visitors to Brighton, so had to stand part of the way. In at 10 and spent more time with manuals..........very tired.

# 27 [5 August 2007]

Friday 3rd

Long Day....

Left for London on the Victoria Train at 9:30, needed to be there at 12. Got off at East Croydon and headed to London Bridge. Fist, walked via Bough Market to Tate Modern, very full but wanted to see the Dali expo. I then needed to be in Islington, near the Barbican for a meeting with my project worker from UnLtd. (CODA project funders) Met with U and explained how far i had got with preparing. Went well and left for the Barbican Centre. Back in 1982 i had worked as a gallery attendant there. This was the first time i had been back since then. (Spent a year there, so happened to meet a few famous people who visited the gallery of theater.) It felt very strange yet uncomfortable familiar too. My most vivid memory was 'Friedrich Stowasser' sitting on a humus toilet he installed in his show. It was deserted, empty, resonant, so sat a while, then visited the gallery level and left out on that level and started for Morgate station.

Found some 'hidden' work. (see pic)

Headed over to the West end to get a lens and Flash gun for my  new camera. It went smoothly and somewhat financially painful, was very hot so sat in pub with Cider n ice before leaving at 6 for Tate Britain. Late at Tate....

Meet up with J and C from Caravan Gallery.. They were very busy all the time i was there. caravan looked smashing parked out front. Headed inside and after looking around for 10-15 minutes 'left' a word 'somewhere' in there.......tried to take picture but was  unsuccessful. Went back out and met with J and R from Aspex gallery. Spent time with them but had to leave at 8 to get train from Victoria home.

Very tired on train and in allot of pain. When i get tired my ME (or CFS) plays up and i feel it worse in my legs and hands. Sometimes am unable to hold pencil and draw. Takes its toll. Need a rest..... Respite on journey! There was a guy on the train who walked up n down the carriage asking for tickets, brought some humor as he wasn't the conductor but did comic 'performance'. In late....

# 26 [5 August 2007]

Thursday 2nd

Spent the morning finishing the proposal for Aspex emergency 3 and printed it out, packed it in box and sealed it. Will drop it off today. Went into the university for a few hours. Just in time as it started to pour with rain hard, so gave up idea of walking to Aspex. Some 'supplies' for a future piece themed around dyslexia and genetics had arrived so went to collect them.

Left and went to meet KG about our joint project we are planning. Had creative conversations and the time passed to quickly. Left to walk home, took a few pictures on way home and collected some tea.

Spent rest of the evening setting up a new website for CODA. Community Of Dyslexic Artists, a project i have been preparing for and hope to get started in the Portsmouth area in the next few months. (Again its a googlepages website so take a look)

http://joncoda.googlepages.com/home

# 25 [2 August 2007]

Wednesday 1st

Went to Artsway today.....realy good day

Will write more later as very tired...

Went to meet with PB and HS at Artsway-Scan about a project i will be doing with them next year. Really good meeting, good discussion and very creative. Lots of options am quite excited. Train over was OK, pretty hot but was there quite quickly. Discovered 2 things:

I was asked about why i left the word 'TIN@ a few weeks before, Easy- Misspelled TEN and tin is the 'anniversary' element for 10 years.

On the way back i found an 'intervention' i had left 9 months before was still in place...

At the station i was able to advise someone of the best train to catch. (Yep i know its starting to get 'sad' but am getting to know the train times and routes. The first person to use the TS word gets it.) We chatted and shared the journey back as far as Southampton. Interesting lady, interesting chat, turns out she is a choreographer from Winchester. rest of journey passed uneventfully and quick.

Spent evening looking at project examples on the Internet.

# 24 [2 August 2007]

Tuesday 31st

Spent most of today working on a new website,

http://alternativeplatform.googlepages.com/home

Total trial and error, but keep getting requests to see my work on line, so had to go for it.

no spell checker though so feel very vulnerable.....

Met with some senior lectureres at the university in the afternoon about an ongoing arts and disabillity project. There is close collaboration between the Social work lectureres PS the Social work inclusion group K and SO a lecturer in SCAFM. The project will create contacts betwwen all three groups to engage the students from both Social wk and Art, film and media. I will be an example of a practicing artsit who happens to be 'disabled' and advice on 'disability arts'. (part of my role here as research fellow. See 'inside out' )

http://www.art-architecture.co.uk/insideout/index.php?location_id=53&item=7...

We were meeting to plan the coming years projects. Last year my 'reaction to my dyslexia' was the subject of one of the visiting students dissertations so spent time with him being interviewed. It revealed personal detail and issues long burried about the abuse i recieved at school. I have transcripts and the recordings so may use this at some point as the basis for a piece. Cris cross as i normally use other peoples words and stories. I dont 'make' autobiopgraphical themed work to feel better, its not therapy, thats the 'basket weaving mentality theory'. something like this.... 'Lets put the disabled in the corner and they can weave themselves better!' I make to have it in the open, not hidden, i dont like 'suprises'. i can 'see' what i am dealing with then.

Worked on application in the evening not listening to Korn

(nb This post has been writen on a computer with no spell check)

# 23 [30 July 2007]

Monday 30th

Caught up at last:

Worked on starting the new website most of the day and also some admin. Played music till late last night/ early this morning as just couldn't sleep again. Have some important meetings this week and just can't seem to rest....

Have two of the 3 applications almost done and will hand them in later this week. Still feel nervous about handing 'written' work in, gets to me. Big deal. One of the rail companies had a meeting today about sponsoring the project, just waiting to hear. waiting to hear from the other as well as a part time job- maybe why i am restless. Don't do 'change' well. Need it but just find it hard.

Starting to receive invitations to other artists private views, quite exciting as have two to go to this week as it is. Also starting to get collaboration requests from other artists too inc emails  from other 'dyslexic' artists just to share experience. Big change for me, always shy-ed away before. Feel practice evolving too. 

http://alternativeplatform.googlepages.com/home

# 22 [29 July 2007]

Sunday 29th

Take a quiet day again and draw for a bit....

Sat in sun with some paper, a pen and some Korn on CD......

Themes arround blame intreage me. At school my 'deficiencies' steming from my un-diagnosed 'dyslexia' (well it was called 'stupidity' and i was called 'retarded' then) was always my fault.  If i spoke well in the class i was always told i was 'lazy' for not handing written work of the same quality in. If i wrote my name wrong or spelt something wrong on a drawing, i had always 'spoilt' the 'work'. One teacher, One incident at 11 stopped me from drawing for 10 years, 'what you learn at school stays with you?' after all they are adults and 'in charge'....... they must be right?  Normal fault- always mine?

common amongst dyslexics is low-confidence steming from 'school experience' with teachers. Reverse fault- their fault?

'We dont need no 'edukashon', they do..........'