the evening before meet the artist

 

and i returned from an evening walk thinking i'd like to write down some stuff about the trail. 

sitting with my laptop to write i became aware of the achy limbs and overall fatigue from today's heat. i recalled the times back in january when i wrote about the snow.

it has been a long journey to get the trail to this point and i thank all those involved in getting it ready for their effort and patience for staying with the process.  

for me right now i'm too close to be reflective about the journey, in fact after my walk i'm tired and would really like a cup of tea.

the website description has been tweaked for new visitors and all that is left to do is ... well nothing really. there's  the odd tweak here and there to satisfy process end.

we still have some preparations to do for the stall at the food festival and that can wait till next week. my thoughts turn to tim as he prepares for tomorrow... the car packed and all things set to go.  we've has loads of really positive and complimentary feedback about the radio interview. i'll write about that...however not now as just maybe i should have something to drink and put my feet up.  after all ... all the hard work is done. 

radio interview

andrew, tim shore and ed stagg in the studio at bbc radio derby

sarah from strutt's north mill first came up with the suggestion that i should try to get onto the radio to chat about the trail. i chuckled and thought nothing more of it.

i bimbled away getting the things ready for the install and the more i thought about it the more i thought why not give it a go.  




in a very subtle manner i started communicating with andy potter of bbc radio derby and i have to say he was very cool about my subtle approaches.  the trump card of getting some interest came about after sarah was able to list tim shore's "meet the artist" event on the bbc things to do website.  i thought i could set sarah up with andy to talk about the event.

little did i expect that the response would came back that the programme would like to chat with tim and there to be someone there to talk about the trail too. i set about contacting tim and seeing if in his busy schedule he could find the time to commit to chatting on the radio.  i was really pleased after several phone calls that all was arranged and we were to go onto the afternoon show on wednesday.

day of the interview:

at a personal level i find it very difficult to fill the time before something starts to happen, so i was so relieved to see tim already at the studio when i arrived.  we caught up with things and happily chatted and i felt immediately at ease with him. our conversation transported me to another time and soon we were being called into the studio.

as we walked down the corridor i quickly negotiated with the producer for a photograph for the blog. ed was really happy to do this and i have to say we had quite  a fun time jogging around the studio to find a good spot in which to stand.

i was very nervous and this photo opportunity and subsequent banter helped me to ease some of the nerves.

we didn't really know how the interview was going to unfold and even though i felt this as it began i felt confident enough to engage with the opening question and the interview itself.  i know that my nerves are in part related to part of my dyslexia, that of processing information in real time. it's something that at times i find very difficult to do.

the interview is available on the iplayer until july 10th so rather than describe it all i'll leave you to listen to it http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/p01b1dnq/  scroll to about 2:12 into the programme, the music leads into the interview.



after the interview finished we both walked back to reception. i was certainly pleased that it seemed to go without a too many hitches. as i don't do this kind of interview very often i was a little short on reference points as to how well it had gone.  again in the moment of talking and thinking on my feet, i am aware that my dsylexia can at times grind me to a halt  when i have moments of processing hitches.  it was my biggest fear of doing the live interview that i would go completely blank and know not what to say.

that was yesterday.

today after the single installation meeting of the day, i have spent many hours really making the most of the opportunity to get the message out there about the trail. i did this for those artists showing so they can feel that their works are going to get as much publicity as possible. 

i did it for the businesses and venues talking part to demonstrate our commitment to attract an audience to the trail 

and

i did it for the audience as we don't yet know you yet and i wanted to show you enough of the trail to tickle your interest to come along 

and 

have a look 

and 

take some time 

to make you very own ...

journey of favourites.

#belperarttrail june 8th peer to peer meeting

following on from the creative roadshow that chris spoke at last week we have a peer to peer meeting scheduled for saturday 8th june at strutts centre beginning at 2pm and running till 4pm.








the peer to peer meetings are for practioners in any medium who wish to talk about what they do to an interested group of people and engage in conversations and exchange of ideas and thoughts.

the format works at it's best when things that you've made are brought along to show and discuss.  we can offer you a safe place to talk about your work and experience constructive words and feedback about what you do.  it's also a place to gain advice on topics and to ask questions of the group to test out ideas/creative concerns/ or simply where to get something done.

we charge £3.50 and that includes a hot drink.

we look forward to welcoming returning and new participants.

thank you to all of you

 who have submitted your particular favourite to this year's trail.



we (corridor arts) now embark on another phase, well several phases before we finally arrive at our journey of favourites in july.




alongside the trail we've (as a group) also expressed our interest in being involved in the belper well dressings again this year.






at a personal level, i'm now adjusting to the shift from not knowing who will submit to who has and all that follows.  we'll be in touch with everyone who has submitted when we have a little more to say than thank you for your submission.  i know if i had submitted that i would be wanting to know if i'm in the trail and where my work will be shown.  being on the inside of the process i know that to get to those two things there's a bit of discussing to do and leg work to be done. 

at some level we're all now on the same journey to the trail, experiencing similar things.  this part of the journey is a little bit up hill for us (corridor arts) so i can say at this time that we might be appearing to be slow but we are putting in the effort to get from the purple hedge to.....

the journey of favourites

learning from january weather

january presented many sledging and sliding opportunities and also one for me to experience how weather conditions affect decisions to do things.  

24 hours before the january peer to peer meeting we had clear roads and a venue that would be open. there was also a warning of overnight snow.  


reflecting upon last weekend, the peer to peer meeting went ahead not only because it was booked for that day but also so i could experience the position of potentially needing to make a decision based on weather conditions.  last weekend presented an opportunity to research something, so that in the future i can make decisions based on an informed position.

we did have a meeting with a small turn out, however once again the space to talk proved invaluable for those present.

since last weekend the weather has cleared of course and a return to a regular rythym of life has been noticed.






also since last weekend i visited the latest exhibition by ivan smith in the bulls head pub just outside belper.  i found smith's work amusing and placing it in a pub presents interesting discussional points about the liberalness of a white cube gallery space.  it's well worth the drive out to the pub to take in the ambience of an exhibition in a pub space.

preparations for the art trail continue. our january social media push about the call out has been responded to well and we've had some initial contact from sara brighty about her own journey project.  we were deleighted to recieve the email, so thank you sara and we look forward to your submission.  there's still time to spend time on your own journal journey before the deadline on march 10th.

peer to peer meetings for jan, feb and march announced.

we're pleased to confirm the next three peer to peer meetings taking place in belper at the strutts community centre.

the peer to peer meetings are a little haven of artistic conversation for a couple of hours on a saturday afternoon.  

i act as a facilitator to guide us through our informal conversations.

in previous meetings we've had many discussions, ranging from the practical to the philosophical.

we never really know what we'll talk about on the day as the discussions evolve out of those of us around the table.

it's also an opportunity to bring work along, whether it be a painting, a photograph, an artist book, a video, a sculpture or even a mixed media piece.  for me some of our best moments have been when someone brings in a piece of work and we look at it and discuss it and the artist whose work it is poses a question or invites feedback or leads a discussion about whatever else they need at that moment connected to the their work.

the peer to peer meetings offer an open opportunity to discuss one's practise and to find out about other artist's practises.

we make a small charge to cover the room rental and in that is included refreshments.

for more details and information check out http://www.corridor-arts.org.uk/abcd/dates/

#belperarttrail what really makes our favourite?

as the daylight begins to get longer, we're focussing on another round of promotion of the artist callout.  it was launched back in october and there's about two months left to run.  at a personal level, being this organised is giving me the space to develop my own practice and ideas some more.

this morning while preparing my thoughts for this post, i spotted some information about the mostyn open 18.

i learnt that for the first time in the open's history they will be awarding a prize to the artist whose work receives the most public votes.  the open states about this vote:

 In doing so, the questions that are raised, and central to this renewed edition, are: How do we examine and judge artwork? What criteria do we bring to perceiving, interpreting and understanding artwork? What really makes our favourite? [1]

the last question caught my eye as it resonates with our journey of favourites call out theme.  the proposition in the callout will allow the audience in july to connect with the chosen outcomes of the artists who set out to arrive at their favourite work.  in those works being presented, we're then putting the audience members in a position where they can then select their own favourite from the works that we selected to be displayed.

unfortunately we don't have a financial portfolio like the mostyn, however what we do have is the process and opportunity to get out into the community and look at art work and experience what then happens as a result of seeing it.






happy new year everyone. 






[1] http://www.e-flux.com/announcements/mostyn-open-18/ accessed 09:57 8th january 2013.

do you photograph the #bluesky

a question that came up in conversation today over a coffee. i retorted that i usually record the sunsets with the huge contrasts.

somewhat inspired after the meeting i took a walk with an intention to record some of the blue sky of today, as it really did sum up the morning activity.

onward.