ARTISTS TALKING

# 10 [28 November 2007]

It’s been a while since my last, somewhat, frantic post. The exhibition is down and the adrenaline rush has subsided. I’ve even recovered from the shock of dropping one of my light boxes the night before the opening! More importantly the house is almost tidy again.

I always feel rather embarrassed and apologetic at the number of people who turn out on a cold November day to view my art, but I was particularly pleased that, with its specific focus, this show reached beyond the normal arts audience and attracted local residence. I learnt a good deal more about the area and realised afterwards that these stories should have been recorded; another lesson for next time.

So with only the evaluation report to write the project comes to a close. Yet these things never really end, instead they spark new ideas that flow off in fresh directions and the project is born again in a new form.

# 9 [11 November 2007]

Stress levels are rising, as is the pile of lights, wiring and projectors, in what was once the living room. I have reached that familiar point where I now know what I should have done and how I should have done it, if I was just starting the project from scratch!

At the moment nothing I do seems to work quite right. I’m in that panic phase when I don’t want any one to come to the show. But I’ve been here before. Deep breath, hang on, and it will be ok - I think. If I can just find the right bulbs for my small light boxes........

# 8 [2 November 2007]

It’s strange how, as an exhibition gets closer, time speeds up. Somehow I never quite manage to tick off as many things on my daily ‘to do’ list as I hope to. However, a gas company has just started to dig up the road outside my house so this encourages an early exit to the workshop to escape the noise. I always enjoy being there anyway and besides I’m finding it reassuring being back on familiar territory- making objects ready for installation. Ironically I’m busy making road signs not dissimilar to the ones directing traffic and pedestrians round the road works. My signs, however, are intended to shepherd people around our exhibition. This will hopefully lend a flavour to the show of the area we’ve been studying which seems to have an abnormally high density of signs hectoring and cajoling commuters on their daily grind!

# 7 [27 October 2007]

The core of this project has been about observation, more specifically observation aided by drawing. Somehow drawing makes you look more closely. The eye flicks repeatedly from the pen to the subject, but these are not casual glances they’re analytical stares. Each time you look you see something new. Having said that some of the drawings are quick jottings of salient facts, private aid memoirs. Often these are the ones I like best - though they’re probably only meaningful to me.

Some days the drawings have just not worked and I’ve tried taking photos instead, but on such occasions these too have been lifeless. Both activities require an engagement with the subject, which just does not happen if your minds off worrying about something else like a forthcoming exhibition.

# 6 [20 October 2007]

I cleared my workspace at the start of the week with the intension of having a concentrated creative splurge working on the drawings and photos I’ve made in the town over the last few months. But as usual things didn’t work out quite like that. For a start the good weather tempted me out to get some better photos of one of my inflatable sculptures, then it was back to being bad tempered in front of the computer, sorting out distribution lists for the exhibition advert, and trying to source materials and equipment. Is it just me, or do others have the same problem that there always seems to be something getting in the way of doing the art? The week has, however, ended on a good note. I’ve just heard the flyers have been printed, and I’ve been promised a projector. What’s more the studio’s in a mess, so I must have done some work.

# 5 [6 November 2007]

Fran and I initially became interested in the West End of Chelmsford as it is an area of flux, undergoing rapid change and redevelopment. Now after visiting the area, and drawing there on and off for almost two month, our focus has shifted. Click onto the map of the area (map) and flip over to the satellite picture, and you’ll see it contains both the railway station, and the bus station, as well as having a high density of car parks. Commuters pass through on their way to work first thing in the morning, then back again at night. The area is a mass of signs directing and corralling them, and adverts hoping to ensnare them as they pass. As a result it is splashed with primary colours.

# 4 [6 November 2007]

Huge relief. We’ve just got confirmation that Chelmsford Borough Council is supporting the project with a grant. Management gurus say groups take greater risks than individuals and I suspect that acting alone neither Fran nor myself would have committed to this project without a lot more of the funding and organisation being in place first. As it is we’ve been scrabbling to catch up, and the admin feels to be taking a disproportionate amount of our time. But art shouldn’t be safe and predictable. The frantic pace of the project gives it vigour. It’s great to collaborate again with another artist after a long period working by myself. The excited buzz this generates has been like being back on the foundation course - ideas flying around everywhere - what shall I try next? I feel like a kid in a sweet shop! Today it’s good to be an artist.

# 3 [6 November 2007]

This last week I’ve been struggling with technology. It’s horrifying how the time disappears when your sat in front of the computer, and you don’t always have much to show for your efforts. However, I do now finally have a Google map illustrating our investigations in Chelmsford.

I feel rather uncomfortable putting this unresolved work into the public domain, but that was one of the starting points for this project, to show our fumbling explorations rather than a polished trophy. So click on the link below and follow our journey. Caught in the Act: Google Map.

# 2 [6 November 2007]

I had hoped to have a clear uninterrupted day in the studio, but lying awake in bed last night I kept thinking of an ever growing list of chores that had to be done first, not least buying some drawing materials.

I want to continue my experiments with drawing on polythene sheeting and plastic bags so will need some new pens. Earlier in the week Fran and I had a really good session walking round Chelmsford drawing, and talking to people. We generated loads of ideas, but at some point we do need to get into the studio to work these up. Finding time to do that can be surprisingly difficult when it conflicts with a job that brings in some money! But the importance of such work should not be underestimated. For me it doesn't simply pay the bills. At the moment I'm scanning slides for a college lecturer and I'm sure its no coincidence that in my art work I'm looking at transparent materials and light boxes.

# 1 [6 November 2007]

It's been a week of form filling. Grant applications, project proposals, risk assessments, promotional emails, and of course the dreaded tax return, stalk my waking hours and haunt my dreams. I'm not good at these things, yet they appear to have become central to the artist's life.

It seems almost incidental that I escaped into town to meet Fran for a morning drawing. My confidence was fragile, perhaps from too much time spent in front of the computer trying to justify my art. So I tucked my self in a corner and made tentative marks in a small sketchpad. In contrast Fran laid out a large strip of polythene and set to work with a marker pen. People walking down the passageway where we were working couldn't help but get involved. Is this what they call community art?