Exciting news - Baltic Artists Development Programme

 I'm ultra happy to announce that my application for the BALTIC Artists Development programme was successful. I will have two studio visits from Katherine Welsh, curator at the BALTIC.

Katie Watson Studio Visit

Entering somebody's studio can be like getting a glimpse into their brain. One's studio can be a place for making, experimenting, playing, producing and testing but it can also be a place to contemplate, think and reflect.





When I visited Katie Watson's studio she said that it had been a really good exercise for her to treat my visit as an opportunity to organise her work and form a display of the things she had been working on.





There was an exciting vibe - not an exhibition, but a working process. Some work in progress, some work finished, some research giving an insight into ideas behind the work.



I am drawn to such shapes, patterns, the repetition and the colours within Katie's work. I enjoy the sculptural nature of the paintings as she works on wooden boards rather than canvas. 



Katie is interested in the language of instructions and building. Signage, flat pack instructions, warning and safety notices. She uses the shapes and colours from such things.

 

I couldn't help notice (perhaps because I also am guilty of this) that Katie's use of colour within her work is mirrored in the things around her. Her blue desk lamp alongside the orange mug with blue lid is surprisingly similar in colour to the work on her wall directly above. Art and life really do blur!

Work swap with Meg Held

It is always interesting to meet someone who makes work of a similar nature to yourself, but who approaches it from a completely different angle.

Like me, Textile Designer Meg Held has an interest in colour, texture and patterns. After doing the fabric printing workshop with her a few weeks ago, we reminded each other that we had agreed to do a work swap, and so today I visited her studio to choose the piece of her work I would like, and she came to my studio to choose the piece of my work that she would like. Work swaps are a great way to build up a collection of artwork without the exchange of any money!

This hand-coloured drawing is the piece of Meg's work that I chose as a swap:

 

Meg and I have agreed to do a skills share whereby we teach each other a skill for free. Meg would like me to show her how to cast, and I am going to be shown how to print on fabric by Meg. 

Meg was telling me about a group she has just joined to promote and sell her work. Check out www.roommagazine.co.uk for more information

Studio visit

This afternoon I had a studio visit from Anne-Louise Kieran, the Visual Arts Development Officer for North Lanarkshire Council. Anne-Louise had visited my studio at the recent Open Studio weekend, and got in touch shortly after to offer me an exhibition at one of the spaces that she programmes. 

It was really good to talk to her about her background, her role, my work and my forthcoming exhibition. The exhibition will take place at Motherwell Concert Hall and Theatre from Sept 4th 2013 - October 30th 2013. It seems like I have a lot of time, but I know how quickly time flies, and I am already thinking about making work for the space.

Given the nature of the building, the exhibition will consist of wall based work. I am conscious that  the work will predominantly be seen by a non-art audience and I will be mindful of this when producing the work. By this I do not mean to "dumb down" the work, but I need to ensure that the work can be appreciated on a number of levels and is not dependent on having an art background in order to get something from it.

 In light of the WAGE RAGE discussion that I attended yesterday, it was pleasing to hear that a small fee will be offered and that they are willing to help with things such as hiring a van to collect the work, assistance with hanging the work, and offering to loan some frames for the duration of the exhibition. Anne-Louise was supportive of the need for some guidelines or legislation around the payments given to artists for exhibiting their work.