Two Case Studies
This assignment Comprises two case studies to
demonstrate how I have been sustaining my practice and experiencing work in the
professional art world. Firstly I have taken
part in work with Arts Meridian, led by international artist and curator Linda
Ingham and secondly, along with my wife,
sculptor and textile artist, I have been involved in North Lincolnshire’s open
studio event, Insight, organised by
owner and managing director of the prestigious Ropewalk gallery in Barton-upon-Humber, Liz
Bennet.
Professional
Development with Arts Meridian
Arts Meridian was an organisation set
up by artist and curator Linda Ingham with the intention of attracting high
quality art to North East Lincolnshire in the form of exhibitions and artists
talks and also to encourage local artists through a programme of workshops with
artists and peer group development.
Although I began my networking with Arts Meridian over recent years
through visiting their exhibitions, my direct involvement began earlier this
year with an invitation to the preview of an exhibition promoted by them: Neverends:
art, music, text – memory in, through and around land.
It was at this exhibition that I
formally met both Linda Ingham and Lee Gilby and they agreed to give me
feedback on my body of work. The subject
of the exhibition resonated with me in that it was about our response to the
land and walking in it and it related to
my own work with footpaths. I was
particularly inspired by the work of painter Judith Tucker and poet Harriet
Tarlo. Much of this work was about
memory which also interests me as I feel strongly that the land and, especially,
footpaths must hold memories of those that have gone before. The exhibition held work by Martin Parr,
Hamis Fulton, Richard Long and Andy Goldsworthy, all artists that I had
referred to in my work. Consequently I enrolled
onto a follow up seminar to this exhibition: Seminar:
Neverends; art, music, text in place.
The seminar comprised illustrated talks by the artists featured in the
exhibition as well as talks by visiting artists, curators and academics
including:-
·
Avril
Maddrell, associate professor in Human Geography at the University of Reading;
·
Francis
Presley
·
Dr
Rosemary Shirley, Art Historian at Manchester Metropolitan University who
collaborates with
·
Verity
Elson, curator at Compton Verney Art Gallery.
Again I was interested in the work of Harriet Tarlo and Judith Tucker. I find their approach interesting, but what really attracts me is their reference to the fact that the industrial past of the Louth Canal becomes absorbed into semi-wilderness: rewilding, which links with the development of my own work on walking and wilderness. They referenced The Edgelands of Paul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts who I referred to in my extended essay.
The talk by Rosemary Shirley and
Verity Elson was entitled Creating the
Countryside: the rural idyll past and present. It is the title of both an exhibition at
Compton Verney and a book about the exhibition.
Shirley and Elson have gathered together a range of art works to tell
the story of the creation of today’s romantic notions of the rural idyll which
is our landscape. Contributors to the
exhibition include: Claude Lorrain (drawing and a Claude Glass), Paul Reas,
Thomas Gainsborough, William Collins, John Constable, Peter Kennard’s take on The Haywain, Anna Fox and Frank
Newbould.
After this exhibition and follow up
seminar with the associated successful networking, I signed up for more artist
talks, workshops and peer group work critiques organised by Arts Meridian. Artist, local historian and writer, Alf
Ludlum joined the group to launch the first Arts Underlined Peer Group
Session. The morning began with an
introduction by Alf where he told us of his practice and concerns about his
work. Then each group member introduced
themselves and showed their work. This
was in the form of a critique and members of the group discussed relevant
practical and conceptual issues which informed and guided us, perhaps enabling
future developments of our work.
The second of these days was a guided exhibition visit and workshop based on the touring exhibition, Living Landscape, featuring work by landscape painters Richard Moore (also curator), Jake Attree, Jean Davey Winter, David Fulford, Richard Hatfield and Patti Lean. All of the work was abstract; for some time I have been experimenting with making my work less figurative and so found this useful. In the afternoon artist Richard Hatfield, Artistic Director of The Ropewalk Gallery, introduced his work and led another peer review session as well as introducing us to some of his landscape painting techniques.
A third day was an artist talk by painter and
photographer Steve Ingman, a peer review session and a Professional Development
workshop. Ingman was informative and I feel
drawn to his work which has many parallels with my own. I was also interested in his use of
photography to inform his work; although primarily a painter, his photography
is also to be recommended. The day
continued with a peer review session and a professional development led by
Linda Ingham. The peer review session
was yet again valuable. I shared my body
of work images and comments and suggestions were made regarding the mounting and
framing of the work for exhibition in March 2018. Linda’s workshop on professional development
included sections on creating opportunities through networking and
collaborative working, making approaches and useful web links. Whilst talking about making approaches to
galleries and organisations she emphasised the importance of thorough research
and the need to be confident and ambitious.
Openings and making contacts was
important.
important.
Unfortunately, Linda informed us that
in order to continue with Arts Meridian as she would wish, Arts Council funding
would be necessary and sadly her latest bid had been unsuccessful. This meant that, although she would be there
to help, we would have to fall back on our own resources. In view of this the group decided to continue
and we have already had two meetings supported by both Linda and Alf
Ludlam. After some discussion it has
been decided to work together on a common theme with the aim of supporting each
other in our work and with a future exhibition for September/October 2018 in
mind. The theme for this is A Day in the Life. It has been deliberately left open for people
to work in their preferred way. The
suggestion is, that being Cleethorpes based, to produce work around the
Lincolnshire Coastal strip. Another
meeting is planned for January 2018 to discuss progress and share initial work with
the group.
Alongside this initiative Linda is
working with another group and we have had one landscape workshop day on 6th
October, 2017. The day began with Linda
discussing her method of working, which was cross media, and her
inspirations. These resonated with me as
we have similar influences: footpaths, walking, Robert MacFarlane and Rebecca
Solnit. Following this initial input we visited the beach and saltmarsh for
some initial observation and work. We
have future meetings for both groups in January 2018.
Insight
Open Studios
For several years I have visited Open
Studio events in Lincolnshire and Cumbria.
My wife became involved with North Lincolnshire’s Insight event whilst still studying for her degree in Fine and
Applied Art at Hull University Centre.
Last year, along with two other local artists, she opted to become
involved again and we opened our garden studio for two weekends in September
2016. As this proved successful and I
had embarked on Sustaining Your Practice
the decision was made to take part again, this time jointly.
We registered our interest with The
Ropewalk after which we had to provide images of our work as part of the
application process and for use in the advertising material, formally make a
commitment to open our studio during the required hours on the weekends of 16th/17th
and 23rd/24th September and pay an entrance fee. The fee went towards advertising both in
brochures that we were given for handing out, the local media and on the
internet. We were provided with banners
to be used for advertising locally and outside the studio. We also ensured that we advertised by word of
mouth and through Facebook. As part of
advertising in the media we were very fortunate that the managing director of
the Ropewalk, Liz Bennet chose to write an article about us in the county
magazine The Journal. The article covered our artistic backgrounds
before discussing our work and our impressions of each other’s work and how we
inspired each other and hoped eventually to work on a collaborative project
and, finally, how it would benefit our professional development. The article also mentioned a very important
facet of Insight, the fact that we
would gain experience in preparing our work to be viewed by others.
Next came the daunting task of what
work to prepare. I was keen to display
and talk about my body of work, but I was also conscious that this was an opportunity
to sell work in order to offset the costs of mounting my exhibition for
Assignment 5 in March 2018. I opted for
a mix of my body of work and my more commercial work. As a wildlife and landscape photographer I
give talks to groups ranging from as small as 20 up to 100+; church groups,
wildlife organisations and camera clubs during which I sell cards made using my
images. I therefore had a ready supply
of cards to sell as well as Body of Work Images, prints from my OCA landscape
module and wildlife prints.
 |
One exciting consequence of the
experience was an invitation to join a local portfolio group, The Lincolnshire
Portfolio Group, coordinated by street and travel photographer Ian Wright.
The group was set up as an alternative to the camera club scene which
tends to be single image, competition driven.
Rather than single images, series of images with a theme are encouraged which
fits with my practice. I have given a presentation about my body of work,
another exciting opportunity to obtain feedback about my work. It is also rewarding and useful to look at and discuss the work of other
people. The aims of the group are to share
and critique each other’s work, look at and discuss the work of photographic
‘masters’ and possibly produce a group book/exhibition.
A very useful spin-off from working
with Arts Meridian and my contact with The Steel Rooms in Brigg meant that I
was invited to exhibit in the Christmas Gifted
and Present Exhibition at the Steel Rooms Gallery where one of my images
(one from my Level 2 Landscape module) won the public choice award. This is a prime example of my involvement in
these initiatives enabling promotion of my work in the professional art world.
Reflections
In conclusion, my involvement with
Arts Meridian has been extremely successful and beneficial. Networking has gone exceptionally well and
two of my contacts working professionally in the art world agreed to give me
feedback on my work for Assignment 1 of this module. Many other contacts have been made who have
been inspirations and whose thoughts and suggestions on my work have aided its
development. I have had the opportunity
to visit exhibitions and seminars and listen to artist talks, which have
affirmed my own work and given me ideas for its development. Sadly, Arts Council funding was not
forthcoming but the group had become well enough established to feel confident
in continuing on our own with support from Linda Ingham and Alf Ludlam.
During workshops I was enthused when
talking about my body of work, its development and conceptual background. I was reminded of something John Umney, one of my OCA peers said in our
group hangout: “By talking about our work
we get to know what it is about!” I
found it useful to receive comments about my work which have helped me to
further develop it. I also benefit a
great deal from looking at and commenting on other people’s work. It was interesting to look at and learn from
work other than photography. This was a recurring
theme in all workshops. There were often
useful links to my own work, both Contextual Studies and Body of Work.
I found both the exhibitions and the
artist talks to be inspirational. Robert Moore’s emphasis on walking and immersion in the
world around us, as well as a huge concern for our planet, was a common theme
exactly in tune with my own thoughts and feelings. Many of the works in the Living Landscape exhibition reminded me of what I am trying to do
with making more abstract imagery by concentrating on microlandscapes or
micro-wilderness. I was also reminded of
my own work on rewilding and the book,
Feral, by environmental activist George Monbiot. Through Robert Moore’s talk I also garnered
some more ideas for reading: Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney.
Insight has proved to be a valuable and
rewarding experience providing the opportunity to work as a professional in the
art world as well as selling work. On
the negative side I had to juggle commercial and academic work, but perhaps
this is what working as a practicing artist is.
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