ARTISTS TALKING

# 18 [10 April 2007]

Easter has been a wonderful opportunity to draw breath and think about things. Betina, who is mentoring me said that I should assess progress, look at my original aims and work out if I am deviating from them or indeed if I would like to change them. Real people taking part in projects tend to have a way of doing things in unexpected ways. Liking one thing and not another, taking things in an unexpectedly wonderful direction which throws the planning out completely!

# 17 [6 April 2007]

On Wednesday I worked with Simon and Hamish, countryside officers, on a childrens activity day. We made some paper and went out pond dipping and then came back to work on some sculptures and bind their paper sheets together to make a book. It was a very full day. It seemed slightly tangental to the project despite involving papermaking I suppose because there was little time to think about why we were doing what we were doing. Note to self for next time! However, the children had a good time and we all learnt a lot. I now know a great deal more about mini-beasts!

# 16 [2 April 2007]

I'm catching up with the events of the last few days at the moment. The schools exhibition is up and is being visited by proud children bringing parents and grandparents and reasonably large numbers of other people. I am working on a children's trail through the woodland with the countryside people on Wednesday and needing some inspiration went out there again on Saturday where we photographed 'the perfect tree' amongst other things.
Today I ran a papermaking workshop for a lovely group of ladies although we got slightly sidetracked by the arrival of tea and biscuits it reminded me of what I am enjoying about this project which is the opportunity to meet all sorts of people. The community aspect is important. The news about the cuts to Grants for the Arts made me reflect on my luck at having gained one but also made me think about all the people who are having a day out or learning something or feeling a sense of acheivement because of my grant. I hope the people who make these decisions about funding realise that art isn't just about new buildings or blockbuster shows it's also about small things that may change people's ideas about themselves.

# 15 [1 April 2007]

On Thursday I went to the AIR Open Dialogue event at Fabrica which was interesting for all sorts of reasons not least being able to match names and faces of people whose projects have become familiar through the a-n blogs. The main discussion centred around 'support'. The desirability and need for support in all its forms, financial and emotional countered by the need to be 'off balance', and not too comfortable. There was a fair amount of doom laden talk about how we have never had it so good and also some gentle reminders about how lucky we are to have a subsidised art sector at all by comparison with say Italy.
I always get incredibly frustrated when I hear discussions about how artists need contact and a forum to be in touch with other artists because it seems to me that the forum is there. It's where the discussion is being held. I suppose I am a very direct sort of person. If there is a need for something I want to say 'Ok lets organize it now!' Probably why I have been on so many committees in the past!
Earlier in the day I had gone to see Alice Maher's 'Natural Artifice' at Brighton Museum and Art Gallery. I really liked this exhibition. There are so many people in different ways dealing with this meeting place between Culture and Nature and I found her approach very enticing. After that I dodged the pouring rain and met up with Bettina Linstrum from artagenda who is my mentor for the Papertrails project. She had given me much good and calm advice when I was applying for my Grant from ACE and now was in the same boat having just made an application. So we had a nice cup of tea.
Back home afterwards and it was time to finish putting up the exhibition of school's work related to the 'Papertrails' residency. I have mixed feelings about this show. I know most people will view it (if they come along at all) as just jolly kids stuff or even more cynically as a bit of box ticking on my part but I know how much of an effect (particularly with the week-long School residency) the opportunity to work like that had on the children participating.

# 14 [28 March 2007]

Started on some new work today which I have been planning for a while but have just not had the opportunity to actually put into practice. It was wonderful to make a start. When I am planning work I think about it for a long while. make endless drawings and notes but try not to look directly at it as if the idea is going to run away if it notices I am watching.
This month has been very busy. I have been working at primary schools across the borough introducing them to some of the ideas underlying my project. It has occasionally been frustrating not being able to carry out work that I have been planning but I have also found it illuminating. Its also very good to be with people who are purely enjoying the act of making.

# 13 [23 March 2007]

Again this week has been full of, as Gabrielle put in her blog, (Exeter Studios) 'stuff' rather than work. Today I decided that deadlines were just going to have to slip. I needed to make something and not post rationalise something or propose something or evaluate something. Just get on and do something. It's my 'artist in residence' Friday anyway so I was in the studio in the church but I had actually taken in the laptop to do some typing! Instead I made some work. It felt like playtime. I found myself thinking that it would be fun to do this more often.

# 12 [20 March 2007]

Today was very cold. I was working at Cardinal Newman School on an Art / Environmental day with Simon James, the Elmbridge Countryside Liaison Officer. Plans for the day had to be slightly altered to allow for the fact that it was too cold to be outside for long so drawings were very perfunctory . The clipboards were away on a trip with another group of children and the first group came out without pencils anyway! However the children made some good work and seemed interested in the ideas they were introduced to.

# 11 [17 March 2007]

In some indefinable way this week has been extremely busy. Yet I can't work out what I have been so busy doing. I suppose it's one of those periods when you do a little of many things rather a great deal of one thing. So I have been having meetings, researching things, making maquettes, having ideas, moving work, making paper, staining it, trying to remember the bookbinding knot I was using before Art Week and catching up with paperwork (the other kind of paperwork!). Looking at that list makes me feel better althogh I still have a feeling of dissatisfaction. I really want to spend some time on a peice of work and concentrate on it rather than having to flit from one thing to another.
On Monday I am going out on a walk with some friends who walk their dogs on the commons everyday. I have asked if they can follow their usual route through the woodland and pick up eight things from along the way (or make note of eight textures or sounds) to produce the first bit in a fairly large peice of work 'sampling' people's experience of the commons. I want to ask all sorts of different groups to participate. If you are reading this and are from Elmbridge and want to participate, get in touch via the project website.

# 10 [13 March 2007]

I went to London this morning to meet Kevin Graal who I am hoping to involve in the project. Kevin is a storyteller. One of my starting points for Papertrails was not just the quotidian reality of the actual landscape however beautiful that is but the landscape of the imagination.'The woods' from stories, where the journey into them can be the first step on a quest and you will never be sure what you will find.
The forest that the children made at Hurst Park school last week in response to Papertrails reminded me of these stories and made me even more interested in involving Kevin.

# 9 [11 March 2007]

Art Week at Hurst Park Primary went very well and was an encouraging start to the month. It was lovely to see the children responding to the project and enjoying themselves as well. I have had some really interesting comments from them too. Though one of the best things was finding out that class three had been writing poems about their creations.
I had thought at the begining of the week that my role would be mainly as an enabler rather than in this context making my own creative responses but I have found the whole process so interesting that I have started developing some work, 'Traces' as a response to the landscapes that were developed during the week.