Tom sent me a video of the author Neil Gaiman speaking at an American College graduation. I don’t remember the ins and outs of the whole thing, but one phrase has stuck with me and now I use it, and people frown and wonder what I’m on about.
Closer to the Mountain.
When I do things or plan things I look at it and wonder whether it will take me closer to the mountain or not. The mountain being working as a full time creative person, generally making artwork and using the skills I trained in.
So far my journey has been steadily, if slowly, headed toward the mountain. I haven’t taken any giant deviations as yet.
My work has been sent to the Futures In Excellence exhibition in the Borders Textile Towerhouse in Hawick. Along with a set of postcards which will be 50p to buy! I will need to take some time to go down and see how they have displayed my work, and also get my screens stretched.
This week.
-More studio stuff.
-Forest Cafe installation proposal meeting prep, doodles and colours and samples. Must try and go in for coffee to scope it out one day, tomorrow
-Mike Kearney Ka-tet photos, I’m working on these now
-Website updates, I really really MUST finish this
-Prep for the Stitch Up project classes I will be running
In the months following graduation I have been exploring the many options for the next part of my life. It took me at least two to realise that I wasn’t going to be able to make work, to continue in the same area in which I had trained, unless I was able to set up my own workshop or studio.
A lot of thought went into this decision, and it is still always on my mind.
Finding a studio has been frustrating, daunting and at times seeming impossibly expensive. I worried I could not avoid the vicious cycle in which I could either afford a studio space by taking more hours and therefore having no time to use it or I couldn’t afford a large enough space, in which case I would be paying for a space in which I wouldn’t be able to work efficiently or at all.
Sharing a space is now my best option.
After what feels like a very long time, subjectively stretched by the stress it has casused, I met Mica. Mica is a yarn dyer, looking to expand from her garage into a space with electricity, water with good drainage and ventilation. Her add on Gumtree appealed for information or offers of space in the city. I emailed her with the offer of possibly sharing a space and perhaps we could meet to talk it over.
We met and I immediately took to her, no nonsense and straight forward with a very specific space and facilities requirement – which conveniently matched my own.
Together we appear to have found a space at the Arts Complex on London Road. I cannot take any credit for this find, it is entirely down to Mica’s pragmatic and determined attitude and also for her having been in the right place at the right time.
Finding a studio was a hurdle that I did not forsee as being too difficult, coming from a University which specialises so exclusively in textiles it didn’t occur to me that most people looking for studio spaces are illustrators, painters, jewellery makers or graphic designers. They don’t require the sheer size of space that textile printers need to produce any amount of work.
So setting up a studio is my task for the foreseeable future, all thoughts of whether it will make money or not have to be put aside.
In other news I am still working as a bartender and waitress, whilst trying to juggle as many creative projects as possible. Last night I took some photos for the Mike Kearney Ka-tet at Brew Lab Artisan Coffee, today I have been editing them and though it is nigh on impossible to expect 8 men to not blink and focus in unison, I am pleased with the outcome.
On Sunday (though the contact with the organisers has been a little sporadic) my work will be collected for Futures in Excellence, the exhibition at the Borders Textile Towerhouse for which I prepared 5 different postcard designs to sell. More on this soon.
I’m still painting the frames and in the sun they warm and become home to all sorts of critters.
The Grandfolks are, well… grand. Both Grandpa and Grandma have recovered from a tough year of varying illnesses and have been swimming in the sea and generally disregarding their age on all accounts. A shining example to us all, they are no less adventurous now than they were more than my life’s years ago.
Grandma humoured me in laying out all her Liberty print shirts, most older than I, and a few other patterned gems. Much gentile perplexity at my Iphone, which I would randomly hold in front of day-to-day objects to capture their image and exclaim at their beauty or interest.
To me, these objects are little windows into a past I never lived through- whereas to my grandparents I am just taking photos of their bathroom wall or old curtains. I know it tickled Grandma, though I’m not sure she understood why I was doing it.
My brother and I returned to an old childhood haunt to walk in around two hours what took us an entire day when we were children. I really must be a grown up now. The banks we walked along were made up of a warm yellow clay from which I fashioned a marble, hardened and dried between finger and thumb. A reminder of the place.
Now that I have returned to Edinburgh, my home for so many years, I cast my eyes over my trinkets and wonder if my granddaughter will one day exclaim over their beauty or if they will ever even last that long. (or if I will have a granddaughter… too many ifs).
Tomorrow.
Two studio visits! One down at the bottom of Easter Road and the other over in Canonmills. This time tomorrow I will be at work in the basement bar of the Traverse but I’ll have a better sense of my life one way or the other.
Bellow, a few of said photographs from the Grandfolks.
The colour seemed to not have faded over the years, though I cannot vouch for their comfort
Week’s end, tomorrow I will be sitting in my grandparent’s kitchen which hasn’t changed since ‘God knows’ (according to Mum). A strong reminder of being young whilst now ostensibly being a grown up, the bed I sleep in still has the same white and blue sheets (with ruffles). The metal slinky I used to play with on their stairs will still be on the shelf. I can’t wait.
This week.
Sam from Ethics Girls impressed me with her enthusiasm and breadth of ideas. Happy to take on my ideas and to develop classes and projects together with equal input, our chat threw up different avenues of directions. I will write a post solely on our work together soon, this week has felt more weighted towards my personal development. Perhaps it is something to do with it being Sunday.
Wednesday saw a return to Gala and the sun shone as I drove down the A7. It was only a few months ago that I did that same journey up and down five times a week, the drive became second nature and now it felt like it deja vu – which naturally gave me the creeps, like I was remembering someone else’s life.
Anne and Tony are saints. I am the proud owner of ten standard square screen frames, a wealth of information and a couple of phone numbers. The Whaleys man turned up so I had all my questions answered and a few special runs of fabrics noted down. Once I have rust proofed and painted the screens I will head back down to get the mesh stretched onto them and inevitably ask more questions.
My quest for a studio continued with lack of funds surfacing as the main issue, I haven’t found the right fit yet but I’ll look until I do. On the road to the mountain (the mountain being wherever and whatever it is you want to be or do) you hit pitfalls, they aren’t necessarily bad and can tell you more about what you want to do by showing you what you definitely don’t want to do.
By this point on Sunday I have another promising meeting for a studio space and a lot of designing, arranging and acquiring to do.
It’s all good. To come:
– another day with Joanna K-T this Friday
– a post with the ins and outs of studio acquisition
– a post about Jess Fisher and our new collaboration
I am still struggling to pull myself from the lethargy that accompanies getting over the flu; still the days are quite long and the sun is showing face so I’m giving it a go.
My time with Joanna Kinnerly-Talyor last week was cut short by my falling ill and missing the final two days. I was disappointed, I am sure I could have learnt more and have been of more use, but I was in no state to do anything other than sleep and ache (which I did in abundance).
Despite the short time I picked up a wealth of information. As I suspected simply being in a working studio and going through each process with Joanna threw forward bits and pieces, methods and ways of doing things on a smaller scale than I have previously had experience of.
The example which can stand for all is her use of bricks. Common building bricks used as elevators for wet screens, keeping them from creating puddles on the concrete floor and also for screen weights. Simple things like this will make all the difference when it comes to setting up my own studio.
On this note the path to your own studio appears to be paved with emails. Progress, however, is still being made and I’m edging towards my goal, one email at a time.
Today I will be meeting with Sam from the Stitch Up Project who I met at the Big Tent Festival in Fife, where I was volunteering for Greenpeace. A project trying to encourage upcyling, reusing and a move away from the throw-away shopping culture, Sam has some opportunities with which I may get involved.
The sun coupled with my recent rewatching of Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic makes me wish for a longer summer, a red bobble hat and a bit of travelling.
I’m sure there is more, as there is always more, but that is it for now.
Tomorrow I will head to Glasgow for the rest of the week to work for Joanna Kinnersly-Taylor. My list of things to do has never felt longer or more appealing, thanks life.
August is, as it always will be in Edinburgh, an insane month. 50 hour weeks in the Traverse Theatre are my latest means to make enough money to pay for: a new home, a bit of my overdraft, new glasses(?) and life things. Roughly in that order.
My new home, ground floor flat on Lauriston Gardens is a walk in, live in symbol of new things, beginnings and possibilities. Plus I have a vintage wardrobe with a drawer marked ‘sundries’, brilliance. Maybe I will grow woad in the garden?
Ideas revolving around getting a studio together, collaborating with friends, applying for jobs (both paid and unpaid) and travelling all seem possible, even if some are a little far fetched. Far fetched is my new manifesto, why not.
Here, a beautifully burned image from Insite12 – enjoying my day off by looking through the photos and working on putting them online.
What I See: What We See – constructed Wednesday the 8th of August
Jill and I were both separately asked to submit a proposal for InSite 12, we quickly decided however that together, given that we were allowed around 4 hours to construct the work, we could carry out our ideas to their fullest and construct something large and striking. Together, we would not have to compromise on scale or materials. Jill and I collaborate well, our joint effort on this project being one of the major successes in my eyes.
Working within the constraints set out by Craftspace we produced the idea for this adaptable installation piece. The constraints included – 4-5 hours construction time over one afternoon, no damage to the site in any way and the piece was required to be site specific. Jill and I considered each aspect in the earliest stages of our discussions.
Pigeon Park was a great location, full of life and the comings and goings of Birmingham. We had been correct in our findings from Google Maps and the trees were well spaced and leafy. The sun shone and there was a constant thoroughfare of people- it was lovely to have so many people around, interested and interacting with the work.
What struck me when I arrived at PigeonPark, and Jill and I scouted out the ideal location for our installation, was the range and diversity of work being held at InSite 12. Graduates from all over the country, from across the design disciplines were creating work there and it was evident. Now, having looked over what happened on the days following our Wednesday, I still feel the same, it was excellent to be a part of.
What I See: What We See was constructed in a little over 5 hours (we stretched the time limited a bit). The structure of the net went up quite quickly but the knotting took longer than we had anticipated, but it went smoothly with interesting things happening as we put it up. Throughout the construction process people came and chatted, took photographs and fliers and interacted with the work.
In this way the fabric fulfilled its purpose, its aim in that people could see it from across the park and many people came over to ask us what we were doing.
Jill and I are a natural team, the high level of preparation we had done for the day made sure that we completed the structure in time for members of the public to interact with the viewfinders. The flyers were an essential addition as it meant we had a summary of the work in a concise form and we could continue working on the net as people passed by.
Having had a successful trip to Birmingham and two full days of interesting conversation with Jill, we returned to Scotland. The photographs have been developed and uploaded and our next task is to review the photos that have been produced by the installation. What is next for the work? Already some of the photographs stand out as being something special.
Although the installation day itself is over, the work is ongoing with still one camera film to be developed and a whole set of digital photos to be uploaded.
