I had my reservations about becoming part of this for a couple of reasons. Firstly it clashed with my submission at the end of Year 2, then I wasn't sure if it was a compromise for the type of work I have been creating. Who was going to be interested in my strange ideas and outputs when they were potentially more interested in a more safer type of 'art'.
Well, I was wrong on the type of people coming to look round and also on the type of work that is being created in Norwich and North Norfolk. There are some wonderfully creative and talented people out there and some very interested members of the public who were more than happy to discuss the ideas behind my work and my thinking as much as they were anyone else putting out their work to show or sale.
Because of the dreaded 'C' word the whole of the event had been shifted to September and October this year instead of early summer, which meant I could participate alongside my daughter as it was before I went back to start my final year. In our village there are several creators and five of us decided to come together and use the local church as a base. This meant it was more of a 'pull' to see five artists in one place but also stopped any of us having people wandering around our own gardens, houses and studios. The church wardens were more than happy for it to be used as it was a perfect opportunity for people to see it and being used other than the traditional events. It is also a wonderful building with so many amazing details and history.
I treated it more of a curation exercise than anything else. I wasn't there to sell anything, unless I was offered silly money for anything I was happy to let go, which didn't happen... I was also there to support my daughter who was using it as an exercise in exposure for her work. There were five of us in the church all with quite varied work but all of a similar mindset and it made it almost a little community within a community.
When it came to deciding what work to put up in the church I was conscious I din't have just a complete random selection but made sure there were connections and links. I also looked back at some of the work that I had created at the end of Year 0 and Year 1 which had never been exhibited or seen by anyone other than the tutors. I also wanted to include some of my most recent work that had been part of the Alta Ego collaboration (https://carldurban.wixsite.com/website/post/alta-ego-or-2-faulty-shh-it-s-a-secret) as I felt it was not only some of my most recent but also challenging work. I wondered if this might just go over the heads of most visitors and it was great to hear some of the responses and be able to engage with many who wanted to know more about my thinking and processes. It also meant I had to make two plinths to display the bronze piece and the orange strimmer wire piece.
Although I didn't sell anything, which I didn't really set out to do, it did make me question the idea of pricing and making work to sell. I even thought about doing it again in the future but under a pseudonym and just making things to sell, almost as an exercise in seeing how that would make me feel about the work and the whole process.
The other artists
Obviously it was wonderful to see my daughter's work on show and hear all the comments about it. Again, this was an exercise for her in seeing what people thought and challenging her relationship with her work and where she takes it and how she has to balance between her job, creating the work she wants to and creating work that can be sold or commissioned work...
The other artists were all pretty much full time at their easels, creating images from extremely tight and detailed botanical paintings to expressive landscapes and still life studies as well as some excellent oil paintings of a variety of subjects that captured the light perfectly.
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