TRIGGER - An audio survey of Kielder

After our proposals for Kielder Water and Forest Park was accepted, all the selected artists were asked to prepare presentations to be presented to each other as well as Peter Sharpe, the curator at Kielder and Andrew Burton, the member of Newcastle University staff overseeing the project. 




The afternoon of presentations was very interesting. Ten different artworks have been selected, two of which are collaborative works, so in total there are 12 artists involved. The artworks range from sculptures to performance and a video projection.



These slides are visualisations of TRIGGER: An audio survey of Kielder.

Invite from The Glasgow Artist Guild

Monday night was the first in The Glasgow Artist Guild's programme of monthly events. Each month 1-2 guest artists are invited to give a lecture on their practice, with an open discussion afterwards. Each event is free, and open to the public. The events are informal and encourage artists and creative minds to network, discuss, and share contemporary ideas, perhaps leading to opportunities in the future. 

The Glasgow Artist Guild was founded in 2014 by Samantha Madonik and Philip Gurrey, with the intention being to create a networking experience for local artists. 

Louis Skehal and Craig Barrowman were the artists giving presentations. 

  

A State of Place

Louis Skehal is an artist living and working in Glasgow, a graduate of the Glasgow School of Art. His latest work A State of Place, was installed in a large disused railway arch in Laurieston, Glasgow. Skehal was the first artist to display his work as part of the Artists in Arches (AIA) initiative. Other sculptural works have included a large-scale work in Easterhouse, Glasgow, consisting of two works designed to stimulate a dialogue between the Arts Centre in Easterhouse and The Glasgow School of Art, exploring perceptions of place, status and situation.

Solo Exhibition at the Pipe Factory, Glasgow

Craig Barrowman is a Scottish artist, currently a studio resident of the Pipe Factory in Glasgow. Barrowman also works developing collaborative projects and presents the work of emerging artists through the collective Stray Dog. His work was recently featured as part of Art in the Clay Pits, an outdoor sculpture trail located in Possil, Glasgow. 

Temporary Art School, 2012

For more information about Glasgow Artist Guild, have a look at

W: http://cargocollective.com/glasgowartistguild

F: https://www.facebook.com/groups/glasgowartistguild/

Glasgow Artist Guild have kindly invited me to present at a future event. I'll keep you posted!

Postgraduate Presentation

Today I did a presentation for a group of Postgraduate students at Glasgow School of Art. I was asked by Lesley Black to discuss how I use market research in my art practice.

I began by discussing Glasgow International Artists Bookfair; how Harald and I had the idea when we were participating in the Contemporary Artist Bookfair in Leeds, 2007 and realised that there was no event of this kind in Scotland.



We did a lot of market research that weekend, talking to other artists participating in the bookfair to assess their interest in our idea, and asking advice from the organisers.



I then talked about the market research we did when back in Scotland, and how we put a lot of thought into how we would make GIAB different from other artists bookfairs.





We felt there were things missing from other artist bookfairs:

- People exhibiting on their own do not get a break - provide volunteers who could relieve artists for a while to allow them to have a lunch break

- The artists don’t get a chance to look at the work of other artists - have an hour before the bookfair opens to the public for the artists to look at each others work

- No real opportunity to see any of the city in which the bookfair is taking place - organise a day trip for the day after the bookfair

- What if artists cannot attend in person? - offer a service whereby a volunteer would set up, supervise and then pack up the books ready to be posted back to the artist

I then discussed who we have collaborated with



and how we consider the climate in which we are operating in



The second half of my presentation was focused on my approach to market research when making my own work





Who do I want to view the work?

How do they encounter the work?



GALLERIES - look at which artists they represent, whose work they exhibit, what are the aims of the gallery?, does your work suit the gallery?

FUNDING - read the guidelines, is the opportunity suitable for you? Who has received funding in the past?





The presentation went down well, and some great questions were asked. It was also really good to meet Janine Matheson again. Janine co curates Sierra Metro gallery in Edniburgh, works at the Cultural Enterprise and is also working on a new project soon to be launched.