ARTISTS TALKING

# 13 [7 July 2008]

Invigilating on Friday was surprisingly good, I met some interesting visitors and had a few hours to draw as well as chance to discuss an exhibition-in-progress with fellow studio member Sue Massey.

We are putting together a number of group shows to take part over the Biennial and each will include invited artists along with studio members. We have our eyes on some really interesting artists and wanted to get out ideas laid out before approaching anyone. The basic premise is artists who work transform objects in some way. That is putting it very blandly considering the excited discussion we had on Friday. 

Today I am working on the book that will be part of the 'Facade' exhibition in Berlin and also getting hold of some wood to start building the framework for my sculpture going into 'Pontoon' in Oxford in August. I am almost panicking and avoiding looking in  my diary as time runs out.

Some drawings here; each accompanies a thought about Facades and more generally the ideas surrounding inside/outside that informs most of my work.

# 12 [4 July 2008]

The exhibition is down, and so the next one begins for real.. Birgit, who I met during this last show at the Bridewell is very kindly translating some text into German for the Facade exhibition coming up in Berlin.  I am making a small edition artist's book to accompany the sculpture that I'll put in the show and I think it's important to have it in both languages.

I am invigilating at our studios this afternoon; useful time when I am trapped in one place and must make good use of it! Six hours of drawing accompanied by cups of tea and Jaffa cakes sound like heaven at the moment and I am looking forward to getting stuck in.  To the drawings as well as the biscuits.

# 11 [2 July 2008]

I also need to mention an amazing event that I witnessed last Saturday night: Sketchybeast and Nila music at the Bluecoat performance space in Liverpool. It was like being inside an anthology of slight screwed up fairy/folk tales.

Elizabeth Willow, one of the artists I did the residency at the community college with, was the set designer, and had just about killed herself making objects and functional pieces for the evening.

Entitled 'Under the Bandstand' Nila Music and the gorgeous, stupidly talented singer Hannah Peel had written songs based on the drawings of Sketchybeast, an illustrator. So each song told a little story about, for example, mechanical bears in the forest, a storm at sea, Tom Thumb's daily trials and hidden staircases.  It was too good. I could hardly sit still in my seat and at one point I even had a little cry. I should mention that I don't do crying in public. It was really, really good. Further to my defence; lots of people cried.

It was tantalisingly short at an hour and at the end I desperately wanted to win the music box in the raffle, but I didn't. The tickets themselves however, were quite lovely, so I shall put them to good use in the future, especially as my husband bought me about 20! He wanted me to win too, but was probably quite glad I didn't bring more clutter back to our flat.

So, clutching my CD covered with a beautiful print of the magical dump under the bandstand I came home, listened a bit more and started putting a bookwork idea together. Everything seems to be leaving my head in book-form at the moment. 

http://www.nilamusic.com/

http://www.hannahpeel.co.uk

http://curvegallery.co.uk/HTML/ElizabethWillow.htm

http://www.sketchybeast.com

http://www.thebluecoat.org.uk/

# 10 [2 July 2008]

It's July!! I can't really explain what happened in June - just a mix of frantically making work, working at the Tate and spending so much time writing applications that I couldn't face blogging.

I've also had my elbow popped back into place by a kind doctor. Apparently it had been out of place for a while - about two months in fact, which explains the sharp pains and inability to  saw wood or wash my hair with that arm. For goodness sake Emily.

The Liar, The Witch and the Wardrobe is being packed up today. It was a lovely exhibition full of whirring noise, pockets of light  and inventive displays. However, my dodgy knowledge of electrics let me down again when the circuit I made kept blowing the tiny bulbs. Another lesson! Images to follow this afternoon when it is documented properly. I also met some interesting artists working in Liverpool, and had my suspicions confirmed about a small place it is. 

Now it is all eyes on Berlin. Whilst standing in the gallery (Tate Liverpool) I have been formulating plans on the back of the rota each day and am desperate to get there and make. As there are five of us going from the studio: www.wolstenholmeprojects.org it will also be a great opportunity to spend some time together, to hopefully bury some niggling hatchets and have a really good chat about future projects and aspirations. We have a week to set up and the gallery owner has given us an apartment to stay in - what more could we ask for? Bier perhaps. 

I am also making a piece for Pontoon, an exhibition on the River Thames in Oxford in August. After promising myself no more unpaid work, here I am again.  But I have been hankering to make something colossal for a while now, and this seemed like a good deadline to work to. But another project that will cost me up to £200 to make is not something I can really afford at the moment. But I'll think about that tomorrow...

# 9 [13 May 2008]

Marriage.

It feels no different, except I am relieved that it (the fabulous day of dancing and fizzy stuff) is done and now a new chapter can begin, i.e. making work instead of invitations/decorations etc. 

I have been approached by the Bridewell Studios to put some work in a show, The Liar, the Witch and the Wardrobe, opening at the start of June.

www.bridewellstudios.co.uk'

I love the work of the other artists who are showing (I believe Birgit Deubner also has a blog on here) and I love the building -  so it's good. But I worry, well I always worry about showing work, it just seems very soon.

But the sun is shining, so the studio is like a sauna now, rather than the chiller it was until about a week ago. I shouldn't complain that it's too hot.. I am also furkeling about making short films, although I now need to borrow a camera after the last one had to be given back. I hate this dependency on borrowing equipment, but there is certainly no budget for electronic goods at the moment. I may just have to use my super8 camera for now and project. 

Plans for a group show 'Facade' in Berlin this July are also under way and I'm very excited about it. Again, worried by it, but more excited. 

# 8 [23 April 2008]

I am also finding shadows to alter, another thing that has been popping up in my practice for the last couple of years. I want to say something about the history or potential of objects and this seems to be a tool I keep returning to.

# 7 [23 April 2008]

I have a book factory going on the flat at the moment - I will despair later when I have to clean up the mounds of paper building up around me, but it is a good feeling to be producing at the moment.

I will screen-print the boxes that will house the book later today(I guess it's a build-your-own kit really, pictures soon) and then the assembly can begin.

I am also working on a glossary of my practice at the moment. A hefty A-Z description of my practice, which will probably never be finished! This is something I started on my MA and keep adding to. Now I am formalising it slightly and making it into a bookwork. I would like the finished product to include extra sheets and space for people to add their own vocabulary into the glossary. 

# 6 [21 April 2008]

Well, the exhibition is up, and what a massive kick up the behind that was!

I struggled with this one: possibly because I'm trying to organise my wedding alongside life (less than two weeks now!) but I really don't like to use those things as reasons, so perhaps it's because the work wasn't (shock horror) ready?

I made all the pieces upstairs in my bright, white attic space and then plodded down to the much darker ground floor, and was surprised when half the work basically disappeared into the walls. Don't get me wrong - the basis of the work is to be quiet and give some pleasure of discovery to the viewer, but half of it was too close to the door and got trodden all over, and the other half is only visible at night when lit by miniature bulbs and torchlight (there is just enough light in the day to render all my mini-electrics invisible). Pah. One drawing was noticed only by my mum (I may have pointed it out) and a super alert visitor, but was actually intended to be the point to which the eye was eventually led. Alas.

So, a valuable lesson all in all... to make more time for installation and a contingency budget of extra minutes for rethinking the whole thing if it disappears into the walls. I'm not so unhappy with it that I would rather not show it; there are successful elements. But overall, not my best work to date. Then again, I'm pretty sure I say the same thing every time my work is outside my studio! I have never exhibited much in the past; preferring to err on the side of residencies and project-based work, perhaps this is just part of getting used to the scrutiny? 

The show was a strong mix though, well done Brychan! I really enjoyed the critique that took place in the gallery on Saturday after the opening too, although I did learn from that not to stand up and slag your own work off in front of all attendees.

Ah, where for art thou confidence?

The show runs from Thursday - Sun 12 - 6 this weekend at: 

 www.wolstenholmeprojects.org

# 5 [10 April 2008]

All week I have been in my studio as much as the temperature allows. I have some work in an exhibition this Friday and am working in-situ in the gallery space downstairs. 

I wonder if all artists struggle with practice-management as much as I do? I have just about got used to the idea that I really enjoy the pressure of a deadline and the majority of my work is made later rather than sooner. I suppose there is also something to be said for taking time off and spending a sustained amount of time on one thing too; I find making work breeds more ideas and work all by itself.

The piece I'm making for Wolstenholme Projects is called 'no one home'. The abandoned and derelict frame of a building stands in for absence and the stairs and ladders in the work don't quite make it to civilisation. 

www.wolstenholmeprojects.org'

# 4 [8 April 2008]

The Joys of Letterpressing:

Today has mainly seen me make a mess in my flat as I clean up my three letterpresses, all Adana 3 x 5s, so quite small ones. They remind me a bit of those three blokes in Last of the Summer Wine (random I know) as they have different characters and a couple are not all there. I have also amassed a load of type, with some really beautiful fonts.

Anyway, I have finally printed some text; nothing very usable, but at least I know where I am headed.  

Letterpress Alive?

is an amazing list of resources for letterpressers, including places to get ink, plates made (from computer files - very useful for printing graphics!) paper, spare parts and perhaps most usefully for some - classes!

British Letterpress

is also a really interesting site and has a lot of info about Letterpressing /forums / resources.

Any fellow letterpress geeks who would like to chat more about it please e mail me: emilyspeed@hotmail.com