from SHIT to not so shit

WELL.... what a week! we LOST the hairdressers venue! i got in a bit of a tizz over it all and got really stressed and didnt really need to! anyway i had a dozen and more artists all emailing me, phoning me, sending me things from Cyprus!! and we didnt even have a venue sorted!

we now have a new venue that i will reveal soon! i have to do an actual video diary now as i havent done one at all this week!, we filmed ourselves on friday though!

NOISE update

well, not blogged for a while, been sleeping over the weekend as i was worn out after a weeks filming! our cameraman has gone now and we have been instructed to keep our own video diaries now until the camera's turn up again in the final week! our proposal for the exhibition is done and we are now just (trying) to make it happen! this week is less manic as we have all split up with a list of jobs we need to do, i have been dubbed 'Artist Co-ordinator' and am in the middle of ringing round artists, trying to find out what work is available, and how we can make a coherent and high standard exhibition in the space with the time we have. rite more later, of to make some phone calls! heres some pics of last friday!

end of day 4!

WELL...

today alot has happened, although as im finding, there is alot of waiting around! When your filming, at times u have to wait for permission to film! Also today we spent alot of time arranging meetings and then reschedualing meetings and then being at a venue and nobody turning up at the venue to show us round... HOWEVER all that said, me and Judy met with Lewis Biggs, a very nice man, who was happy to chat to us about our task, and give us some insight into the Biennial as a whole, and we have seen the building that WE WANT, and i think were going to get it! its an abandoned hairdressers on Lime St, all glass fronts, street level plus two floors up and a basement, and i think it will b brilliant, the hairdressers space especially, has a nice feel to it and would b perfect for a Mickey Mouse performance planed!!

tommorro is the day we 'pitch' our plans to Denise, the director at NOISE, and i feel fine that we are confident that this can all happen, also tommorro is the last day we have with Rich, our camera guy, which will b sad to see him go, in a strange big brother way i feel we'v all bonded and got on great and it'l b like one of the team leaving!

rite here are some pics of my mad day, our proposed space, and our fun and games. more tommorro of course...

Biennial Noise Update!!

its early on Thursday morning, day 4!

its now sunk in i think, the fact we have just been thrown into the deep end means i havent had too much time to think about it all as we just have to get on with the task in hand!

already we have had meetings with Building owners, John Brady-Creative Facillitator for Independents Biennial Liverpool, and have been contacting artists, leaving MANY voicemails and artists ringing me back early morning! its quite surreal but its all good...

we went to View the upstairs of Renshaw Hall, a Massive space, but it turns out we could not have the space, other ideas have come and gone but now we have a meeting TODAY at 12 to view an empty retail space on Lime St, with 3 floors and fingers crossed we'l get it!

rite gota scoot, meeting with Lewis Biggs at 2pm, then we have to plan our 'pitch' for the NOISE director tomorro! here are some photo's of yesterdays fun!

NOISE Biennial Challenge (with BBC film crew) !

WELL, before i had chance to breathe after the Oriel Davies show, here i was yesterday sat in a cafe in Manchester taking part in a NOISE project! www.noisefestival.com will tell u more about the festival specifically, but basically me and 4 other young creatives under 25 have been selected by NOISE and set a challenge by them and their fine art curator Stella Vine!

in 4 weeks we will host a Biennial exhibition of selected NOISE submissions, we have to find a venue, promote and do everything needed to make it happen all on a tight budget of £500 and whilst this happens the whole thing is being filmed to air on BBC2 later this yr! Stella has helped pre-select some works, and we are in the middle of doing the same and contacting artists etc.

and YES its all being filmed, we have our own camera man following us round, filming the ups and downs and even have been doing 'diary room / loo' sessions!

i am knackared, i will update this as and wen i get chance, tommorro we are ringing artists, looking at possible venues, planning, etc etc, more planning! its all crazily mad that this has happened and will take over my life for the next Month, but im up for the challenge!

Saturday

And now for yesterday!

Yesterday saw the opening of Surface, Young Curators 2006 at Oriel Davies Gallery in Newtown, im knackered now so il update this later but for now here are a few images of the show, i had a really great day!!

Friday

on Friday i was hungover and after a day of nothing much i was then taken on a minibus with some other studio members at The Royal to see the preview of Rebecca Key's (another studio member at the Royal) exhibition opening at Bankley's Gallery Studio, or was that the title of her show? im a bit confussed and i was on Friday too as the show was a 'recreation' if u like of a set of artists studio spaces. it was just like walking into any untidied studio spaces, except this was all not real, but a intricatly fabricated myth, il get some pictures of the show on here soon and then wen iv got my writing head on il write a bit more about what i thought, it was very good though.

Thursday

on Thursday the second show opened at the Royal Standard, <> featuring 9 graduates from Liverpool Jmu, one year on from graduation, a big night out ensured (not suprisingly) i will post some propper pictures on here soon of all the shows at the Royal Standard, hopefully in their own little section if i can figure it out...

here are some pics of Zoe with her Toro go round and Hamish with some of his little paintings including 'Umbongo'

Tuesday

on tuesday the new piece of Garden Furniture was picked up by the art handlers and taken down to the Oriel Davies. We had to screw it to a piece of plywood to secure it on its journey, which i was stressing over, however 2 1/2 hours later it arrived at the gallery alive and safe and sound with its makeshift greenhouse (plan B) and the pressure misting spray to water it! Emma said there were catapillers living on it when they got it inside, more and more creatures wanting to live in the work it seems! here are some images before the work went...

well...

what a mad busy week, let me try and recap...

day 10!

so today the work was ten days old, its looking really well, quite soft and fluffy which i didnt quite expect but that goes hand in hand with the nature of the work. on the inside of the structure were some loose seeds had collected (were no clay slip was smeared) they have begun to germinate i have noticed, all the surfaces are now covered in germinated seed and the piece is really taking off... here are some pictures from today, im off to bed, its late, im mad busy but its all good fun

ladybirds...

yesterday i discovered that some ladybirds had been living in the new piece of garden furniture, i kept taking them outside so i didnt squash them but they just kept reappearing, also yesterday i conceded that the fantastic 'collapsable makeshift greenhouse structure' complete with pin hinges was not to be... really! a far less complicated route (plan B) was taken, involving metal poles and Duct tape!

one week old

The new piece of Garden Furniture as it was today, one week old. Already parts have begun to fall off and parts are struggling to germinate, whilst at the same time other parts have taken off, more tomorro...

PLASTIC RHINO Magazine

this nicely wrapped package came for me today at the Royal Standard and inside was the new issue of Plastic Rhino magazine, which i had contributed an image of the Garden Funriture project to. This issue was different to most though and inside the package was a little box filled with bits and pieces including booklets, postcards and a CD, il post some images of the contents soon.... all very exciting....

day six

so the work has now germinated (in parts) and today it is verdant and looking good. its really, late, iv been cleaning and tidyin and sorting my life out so im off to bed, in early tomorro, let the 'Collapsible Makeshift Greenhouse Structure' Building begin!!

Loose Pin Hinge

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Post it

We all went on a little trip to Southport last night to see the POST IT show at the Atkinson Art Gallery, which was quite intriguing little show, it was nice how there was no discrimination between obvious professional entrants work and children and obvious non-professional artists work, i also really liked how people wer taking the pieces off the wall to read the back, although i think this is was not the plan!

here is a picture of Laurence at the show!