doors...

Also here is an image of two old doors i acquired that are now under wraps and slowly germinating ready for the NOISE 'physical' exhibition, i have also bought a new mini Hozelock premier plus pressure spray especially for the new pieces!

erm....

so here i sit in my Studio, what a randomly mad week, everyone i know is busy, rushing round,knackered, everyone has loads of things to do. Here at the Royal Standard they are doing a mini-refurb ready for the Biennial show 'Sinking Towards Wishy Mountain' opening on Thursday night (the same day as the NOISE launch!)

iv been thinking alot about my residency, went to see Tabitha at the church on Thursday, she is knoting thread around things in the church and things she has brought with her, really interesting little objects, she has finished now, and i move in a week today!!! i feel alot more prepared now for the residency, a few weeks ago i felt panicky about the whole thing, like i had to do mountains of preperation, but iv realised their is only a limited amount of prep u can do, the main work, the main ideas, the fun happens there, once the residency begins, cant wait!!

NOISE is also going well, iv recieved lots of little packages (and big ones) and am really excited with all the work thats coming in, it all really great and some beautiful little drawings and things have come in, here is a package Nick White sent me, i love it!

first NOISE article

http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/nwh_gfx_en/ART40022.html

have a look!

Young Curators exhibition...

just recieved some pics from Oriel Davies Gallery of the piece of Garden Furniture as it looks now? the exhibition opened 3 weeks ago and in that time its changed quite alot, i think it is still alive in parts, just about, but if it is then im sure it wont be long until it dies completly... all good!

hmmm...

today i have been thinking alot, thinking about my work, thinking about how it will evolve, thinking about the residency, thinking about what i will make, thinking in general...

combined with general NOISE panic at times as well as aquiring a nice large cabinet type thing for a fiver from my fave shop on Smithdown Road. i was then called by a guy who interviewed me over the phone for a story in Metro newspaper next week, this was really good, almost like a long distance tutorial, talking about my work to a complete stranger, what i am thinking in the run up to the residency, what i am thinking about my work, basically what i am thinking...

good to get some of it off my chest and to confirm some of my ideas to myself-i am looking forward to two weeks in the church after the Biennial Party madness, in peace and general quietness to think even more...

enough NOISE for now iv got a residency to prepare for!

i am on top of things for the NOISE exhibition, so i am this week really concentrating my time on my own work, a whole week (almost) starting today (Sunday) in the studio doing (mostly) my own work for a change! (i do still have to keep in touch with the artists, arrange the delivery of the works etc etc) ...

The thing that interests me the most about St Nick's is that the church has been rebuilt several times since its foundation in medieval times. The 'old church' was never replaced with a wholy new building, just added to, in sections after falling down, or being bombed or watever, so it is this constantly changing building it seems. This is the thing i feel i will be able to respond to (if i am meant to respond to something?) during the residency most naturally... here is a picture of the church inside, notice plenty of chairs!! a crazy ammount and something i feel i will steer clear of during my stay, too much of a tedious link to use i think.

NOISE update

long time no blog...
well NOISE is going suprisingly well, our new venue is View Two Gallery http://www.viewtwogallery.co.uk/ and we are basically 'highjacking' the main part of the gallery on the first floor. the space is usually a commercial space, selling framed paintings and photos etc, our task now is to use the advantages the space brings but to transform it into a bloody good show, using it unconventionally perhaps?

many things are planned, paintings directly onto the gallery wall, 'clean' graffiti, a 'street team' (more on this soon), models wearing sculptures, etc etc

here is a teaser of one of the artists work, Sam Kemp, from his 'light years' series, anyway more soon, i will be blogging alot more daily now so watch this space!

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!