| In fact I learned a few things from the exhibition, as always it doesn’t matter how organised you are something under the conditions of stress involved in installations will create at least one thing to go wrong, so you need a contingency ie installing at a time when the local hardware shop is open just in case I forget to pack the right screws (that’s happened) and make sure I have some loose change or a bank card to pay for anything required. | ||
|
| ||
| I have driven to the Number 8 Gallery a few times to do a reconnaissance on the space so I felt very confident that I knew the way with my eyes closed so I didn’t bother switching on the satnav, and while I was talking to my friend we went straight past the M6 Motorway junction, I noticed the Pershore sign on the road that we should be on, but the only solution is to carry on down the motorway to do a u-turn. That was the only problem that we experienced during the installation, and perhaps one that can’t be covered by a contingency. | ||
| When installing big artwork its ideal to have one small person (me at 5ft 2) and another person who’s at least a foot taller. | ||
|
| ||
| Libor is a friend of mine from the Czech Republic who has helped me many times before he’s great with all kinds of DIY and I found this out a few years ago when he helped me do an installation in a To Let unit at the Manders Shopping Centre in Wolverhampton. I think I would be there to this day without his strength and expertise. Unfortunately for me Libor is forging a successful career for himself in IT and only comes to Birmingham for a holiday so I need to be very successful before I can persuade him to work for me full time. So something else I have learnt is make sure I do all my exhibitions when he’s on holiday. | ||
| ||
| We made quite a team, me measuring and marking the wall, Libor drilling (without standing on ladders). We were so good that I thought it would a good idea to produce a video so that my customers can see the best way to mount the artwork on the wall; there is a knack that makes it a whole lot easier. I commandeered someone who was I believe waiting for a friend who was involved in rehearsals for the Christmas show to hold the video camera but video lots of storage space and my compact flash card which was only intended for the still photography didn’t have enough capacity to record the full process. I will produce a video in the future and if I do the installation on my own everyone can see how easy it is, mmmmm. |
Thursday, 29 September 2011
Somethings I have learned from my exhibition at No: 8 Community Arts Centre Pershore
Friday, 19 August 2011
Social Media Helps Track Down The Birmingham Riots Produced Artwork
| When the news programmes show wars and riots around the world I wish half heartedly I admit, that I could be there dodging the bullets to capture the surfaces of burning cars and military vehicles, can you imagine the cross fire is in full flow, the heat and noise is intolerable as I crawl from the barricades to the burning mangled upturned mess of metal in my bullet proof combat jacket and helmet. |
 |
| Of course while I do have to keep an eye on my surroundings when photographing and I have been in situations were I have felt at risk and I keep one eye on my escape route there is no need as romantic as it sounds to jetting into flash points around the world to get my stock of images. |
 |
| On closer evaluation the images that I would get from those vehicles isn’t worth getting my head shot off for. To produce the conditions for a good surface to photograph I need the fireman to attend and soak the hot metal with their hose pipes, don’t think that will happen in the Lybian desert or downtown Kabul. It would also stand to reason that in dry climates there will not be the reaction from the damp in the atmosphere. This week I had the perfect scenario the trouble spots came to me in Birmingham but I also had perfect events and elements not only did the fireman attend but we had a night of rain. |
 |
| I had no interest in photographing the mindless idiots who rioted in Birmingham I felt embarrassed the way my great city and the country in general was being projected on the television screens around the world. I was tempted to drive into the effected areas and try to find a burnt out car but with a very busy schedule I realised to get up early in the morning before the debris from the night before is cleared would mean I wasn’t going to get any sleep, so I left it. One of my Facebook friends posted a photo of this car with a message that it was wasn’t far from where I live and it was still there. As this arson attack occurred outside of the riot areas I don’t think it was related but, because the clean up had stretched the recovery yards to the limit it meant that this burn out for once was here for a few days |
 |
| While Facebook provided me with a car on Friday morning I discovered this beauty via the excellent community blog Digbeth Is Good overnight they reported on the clean up campaign and itemized outstanding damage to the area, Ah Ha, |
 |
| Interestingly, both this van and yesterdays cars produced very poor specimens of scorch marks so in both cases it wasn’t worth photographing them but the story is great to add to my now resurrected blog. I wonder if its karma as I have started blogging again and the burn outs have suddenly appeared |
Saturday, 6 August 2011
A Return To Blogging
| About 12 months ago I had this wild idea to reorganise my existence on the web, to stop blogging on my various sites and spend time planning the future strategy. The main problem and reason for this drastic pruning and remodelling was because I realised that my websites and blogs have evolved over a period of time, there is no planed framework and this led to duplication. | ||||||||||||
| At that stage my plan was to change my website to a portal of all my online activities linking to separate websites for each of my projects and further more linking to my social media Facebook and Twitter activity. This Blogger blog would be no more because I was going to produce a Wordpress blog attached to my website, indeed the blog illustrates the reasons for change, the title of the blog “You will never look at them in the same way again” refers to one project a very important large project that no longer needs research and developing. It runs. But, I have now moved forward with so much more work and in the last 12 months I have: | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| So why am I posting now, why the change of heart. Well I never did get round to delving into code and creating new sites, or clear the kitchen table and produce artistic Mind Maps and Mandellas, the project manager software remains in the box and I thought at least with the old setup at least I’m produced something to tell the world about my art. So I’ll keep it going until I defeat this procrastination thing. |
