Destall continues!

It is taking rather a long time to destall the exhibition, but today it seemed like I made real progress when the packing peanuts were bagged up.

Thanks to my new housemate, Sophie, for lending a hand!

Out of Kansas destall

Today was the day we had to destall Out of Kansas from the Lit and Phil. How time has passed so quickly. 

Thankfully, taking the forms down from the top of the bookcases was easier than it had been to get them up. We carried them downstairs out of the way, and dismantled them. 

There were a number of reasons why we did not keep them intact. Most importantly, the forms had been made specifically for the Lit and Phil, and they would not work in the way we wanted them to work if they were sited in another context. 

    

We also have very little/ no room for storage of work. 

Thirdly, having spent hundreds of pounds creating the exhibition, we had no money to pay for another van to transport the work back to the studio. 

With the seats down and some careful positioning, we were able to fit the components of the forms in Jodie's car, but not when they were fully constructed.

The moveable forms were not so easy to transport, and involved us pushing them from the Lit & Phil through a bustling Newcastle city centre on a sunny day at lunchtime. Despite the number of people around, no one offered to help, even when the wheels of one of the forms got stuck on a kerb of a busy road! Half-way on the journey, two of the wheels fell off one of the forms, making it even more difficult to manoeuvre! It must have been a rather funny sight, seeing two small women pushing two large shiny silver geometric shapes along the busiest street of Newcastle! 

As we approached the University, a friend spotted a moving triangle, and knew it had to be me! He stood outside the cafe and laughed as he took a few photos!

The Gallery of Wonder - on tour

This afternoon I was part of the crew helping Irene Brown to destall The Gallery of Wonder which had been erected in the grounds of Newcastle University prior to it going on tour across Northumbria.

May, 2015 Group Show

Touring Show

The Gallery Of Wonder will travel across Northumbria, appearing at Northumberland county and border shepherd shows in a distinctive customised dark grey wagon, covered in symbols of curiosity and mysticism presenting tantalising clues to its unique contents.

TOUR DATES 2015

Northumberland County Show Monday May 25th

Woodhorn Miners Picnic Saturday June 13th

Powburn Show
 Saturday August 1st


Spittal Seaside Festival Saturday August 8th

Falstone Border Shepherd Show Saturday August 22nd

Alwinton Border Shepherd Show Saturday October 10th

Newcastle City Campus Saturday October 17th (tbc)

At each venue the crew will erect the gallery, a big black circular tent decorated with countless piercing eyes, some set with small lenses providing a distorted peep into the shadowy interior. Outside, a barker (performance artist Dennis Jobling) entices the public to purchase a ‘magic ticket’ to gain entrance to the mysterious exhibit.

Within is an exhibition of new works of art created by seven nationally and internationally known artists who have responded to the idea of wonder, captivating an audience and holding them spellbound by what they see.

How exactly do they do this? It must be seen to be believed. What we can say is that fifteen-foot snakes, enchanted flowers and vindictive fairies are part of this extraordinary spectacle.

The tented gallery makes specific reference to the history of travelling booths and side shows at fairs, when items of curiosity such as waxworks of famous people, coronation tableaux and strange misshapen creatures were presented, juxtaposing the exotic and the amazing, the scientific and the fantastic and firing the imaginations of visitors.

The Gallery Of Wonder On Tour has been developed by Arts&Heritage and is project led and designed by Irene Brown.

This is an exceptional project that sees a national arts and heritage agency taking artists’ work to a very different place - muddy fields and isolated rural village fairs.



Albert Einstein said,

“He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand in rapt awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed”.

Can you pause to wonder?

The Gallery Of Wonder On Tour has been funded by Arts Council England, Newcastle University’s Institute for Creative Arts Practice, Berwick Visual Arts and Northumberland County Council.

http://irenebrown.co.uk

Destall commences

Today was the final day of 'BRIMMING', my solo exhibition at 1 Royal Terrace. I am delighted that it attracted over 160 visitors, and the responses have been so heart warming.

As I had been using the gallery as a studio prior to the exhibition, there was a lot of my equipment, materials and tools that were stored in one of the spare rooms in the flat.

My parents came to Glasgow this weekend to see my exhibition, and whilst they were here, they offered to help me move some of my belongings from 1 Royal Terrace to my studio at South Block.

Last night I sorted out what was going where, some things were for the bin, some were to go to my studio, and there were a few items that were to stay at Royal Terrace e.g. my camera and tripod

This morning, before the gallery opened, we collected everything at Royal Terrace that was destined for the studio, and then made the trip to Osbourne Street to drop things off at the studio.

We also sorted through things in my studio, and made a pile of items that are to be kept in storage, a pile for rubbish and a pile for staying in the studio. We had a shuffle around in the storage area, and fitted new things in.



This evening I took further documentation of the exhibition and made a start with destall. The laser cut pieces have been removed from the walls and the blocks taken from the bookcases. I will finish destall over the week.

Farewell to Gallery 3

Having spent the weekend getting yet more documentation and then packing all the work, the time had come to move everything from the gallery.

The legend that is Kev helped load up the van and we took the majority of the work to my studio. Thank goodness that the lift was working as there was a lot of stuff to take up the three flights of stairs!

My studio is now crammed full, and it will take me a good while to sort through everything and clear some space for me to make work!

We then returned to the gallery to load the remaining sculptures into the van, and then delivered these to the Briggait where they will be exhibited for a while.