ARTISTS TALKING

# 28 [13 May 2007]

Thursdays envelope stuffing was fine and went quicker than I had expected fueled by homemade apple cake and coffee at Surrey Arts. Thanks everyone! On the way home though I got soaked to the skin (ironic for an art project which is based outside, to get wet on the day in an office.) On Friday to my huge relief some missing artwork from the schools exhibition was found in another classroom within the same school. It must have been taken there by mistake after I had delivered their work back to school. So now back to the project!

# 27 [9 May 2007]

Today all plans for the day had to be rewritten as some problems emerged. However it did make me realize that generally things have been going very smoothly, so as long as things can be resolved I'll be back on track. Tomorrow I am going to Woking to Surrey County Arts who are being very kind and letting me send out some of my flyers with one of their mailings. On Friday and Saturday there are open days at St George's and I am running drop-in workshops in papermaking. If there aren't too many people I will be making some of the elements I need for a piece out in the landscape and if there are loads of visitors they will be helping me!

# 26 [8 May 2007]

After the bank holiday on Monday, unfortunately today becomes admin day. Having one dedicated day of the week for admin is a very good idea, 'Thanks Bettina', but it is my least favourite day of the week. The weather always seems to be better and brilliant ideas about my work drift unasked into my head but have to be ignored until the next day when they don't seem so good! However, good things seem to be happening at present and order is being established over the events still to be finalized for the project.

# 25 [1 May 2007]

Its so interesting to watch everyones projects developing and evolving on this site. You can't help but get involved with the stresses and elations and worries that emerge from the blogs.I felt a huge sense of relief that the video installation at Morning Lane went so well and I compare my church (St George's, in Esher) with the one that Imogen Bardwell's project, Festial, is set in. I would love to visit the projects in reality as well as through this site.
My own project is gearing up into a period of making work which I always find frightening as well as exciting. Its that balance between allowing possible disaster or being too controlling.

# 24 [30 April 2007]

Admin day comes round again. It's one of those times when despite really wanting to make some work I also really, really need to do some filing, sorting and emailing. Actually I feel as if admin week is what is needed at present!
On the positive side though, I am looking forward to starting on a piece that will be temporarily sited on Littleworth Common in the woods. The armature is being made, I hope this week. I am going to be working on some smaller companion pieces too so in the next couple of days I will be making a start on them. www.papertrails.org.uk

# 23 [27 April 2007]

The last couple of weeks have been mainly devoted to organising materials and events for the next period of work out in the landscape. There have been rather frustrating points where the snags implicit in a project with several partner organisation have emerged, mainly in terms of clear communications but these seem to be clearing.
Today I took back most of the schools work which left the space empty. it was sad in some ways particulrly as today three people visited the studio specifically to see their work but it was wonderful to reclaim my space.
It was interesting to see some of the new work I have been working on in a clear area. I spent quite a while this afternoon just looking and assessing things. I love working at St George's Church. It is a very calming place.

In June I have an exhibition which marks an important stage through the project and I need to not just to prepare the work but also sort much of the publicity and admin. The two activities are difficult to resolve because they both demand a great deal of time and attention. But all I want to do at the moment is make work.

# 22 [23 April 2007]

The opportunity to spend time in the studio at the church has been very productive. While their work is still at the church I have been working on some peices based on the wonderful shadows cast by the forest of sculptures made by one of the school groups. I am putting these together with other shadows and traces from the woods and also from St George's. Today there were quite a few visitors and it was good to show people the work in progress and talk to them about it.

# 21 [19 April 2007]

I have been out in the woods planning work and taking photos. The light is wonderful and just being in the open is so uplifting. Tomorrow I'll be at the studio at St George's Church which I also find uplifting though in a rather different way. Calmly uplifting if that not a contradiction in terms.

# 20 [17 April 2007]

Spent much of yesterday despite my best intentions, phoning and emailing. I had to finalize some project dates for the Summer and sort out some publicity. I have realized since the begining of the project just how useful a curator or administrator would be. There is a danger that at the end of the year I will have learnt an awful lot about admin and press releases and how to programme in eductional elements and not have been able to make as much of the work that I really want to. The next couple of weeks I am going to devote to my work which is after all the core of the project. www.papertrails.org.uk

# 19 [15 April 2007]

Contemplating the week ahead I am aiming to redress the balance of the project which until now has been fairly heavily weighted towards working with other people either in workshops at the studio and schools or out in the landscape. This week I am intending to complete some more work based on 'stories'. The stories I am thinking about are the different ways we can describe the same place or the different filters through which we view somewhere. Working with other people and gaining insight into how they see the landscape has been very valuable and now I find this feeding into my work. The main overlapping, sometimes contradictory ways that people view the woods and commons can be summarised as: unspoiled, untouched nature, managed land, landscape which tells us about our past, recreational space, green belt, something to be preserved, something to be used. There is also the woods of our imagination where anything could happen.