Summer holiday blues

It's the summer holidays, which means I have less time to consider funding applications, or applying for residencies that aren't successful, and failing to achieve most of my career aims.

I've been told that I'm a good artist by several people recently. Even though I have failed to achieve anything meaningful, have not been able to produce any work that I would consider particularly good, and have barely survived the last few months at all, never mind create anything.

I am starting to look forwards, and with support from friends and colleagues, I'm starting to think about new LAN projects again, with a house exhibition planned for Hallowe'en.

Teendays

You'd think, to look at these drawings, that it'd be easy enough to get on with some form of creativity with a 15 year old mostly playing computer games, so why is it that the minute I go to do something, he's there in my face? 

This is my youngest son. Credit where credit's due, he does help out quite a lot with things from time to time, but no, he won't go to exhibitions, and he won't go out with any friends to do sports, and has somehow broken his bike. He wants everything, and of course, doesn't have a clue how lucky he is to have anything at all.

Teendays

So, about that holiday.

Tax credits renewal finances don't seem to have factored in the concept at all. Apparently there's a £500 "overpayment" that is stressing me out. 

I have to pay for a holiday cottage in Wales for us all for next year, as my brother is getting married. What would be great, would be to stay in Wales for a bit longer, and spend some time around Swansea and Cardiff (where Doctor Who is filmed - the boys are both into Doctor Who, so it would be great to catch that.

What would be perfect, would be that, considering no one seems to want to pay me for my work, to not have to pay for things like holidays. Or maybe, if I were paid properly, I'd be able to afford to pay for a week in Wales for myself and 2 teenagers.

Why is it that when you bring up the subject of getting paid as an artist, or not working for free any more, there are always those that say "that isn't the reason I create work" - as if that's an excuse for impoverishment?
A doctor doesn't go to medical school or treat patients purely for money alone, but a doctor still gets paid, and doesn't have to pay NHS managers to use their surgery as far as I'm aware of. I could be wrong, it isn't the kind of thing I think to ask during a consultation, and I consider myself lucky enough not to have needed to go to the doctor's lately, but I'm fairly certain that people that work in offices don't pay to use their office the way artists seem to be expected to pay for studio space whilst not being paid. 

Here are Gingerbread's latest facts

"Gingerbread is not able to help with the cost of holidays"

This blog post was written at 7.00a.m. before the teenagers get up. I may not be seen again before September!

Le Tour Sheffield 2014

Le Tour de Sheffield

t' bike jaune / le velo yellow

Sheffield ready for Le Tour de France

 Cassandra Kilbride's Woolly Bike Trail on display at Sheffield Cathedral

knitted Viking bike for the win!

knitted Viking bike

Artist Cassandra Kilbride and her Woolly Bike Trail @ Sheffield Cathedral

artist Cassandra Kilbride and her Woolly Bike Trail at Sheffield Cathedral

http://www.yorkshireswoollybikes.co.uk/

Steampunk countdown clock

examples of Le Tour themed creations at Millenium Gallery,  Sheffield

Yorkshire in Yellow @ Museums Sheffield

"t' fromage"

Grant

Recently, I have been unable to do any work without funding, and as my last ACE grant application wasn't successful, I was forced into deep poverty from approx October 2013 until March 2014.
During this period, I didn't pay the gas bill or the electricity bill. The gas bill and the electricity bill were still there. I simply had no money to pay them with. The money had been stolen by a woman represented in a Venn diagram in the intersection between Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, and Annie Wilkes from Stephen King's Misery.
I applied for a grant to cover the bill.
It has taken several months for this grant application to be successful, and it covers the cost of the entire gas and electricity bill for the past quarter.

I'm considering its possibility as "match funding".

Today I renewed tax credits, and in the box at the end "how can we improve this service?" wrote "Paying Artists".

I had a sort of summer clean. I shredded the entire contents of a box containing all of the bills, false "debt collection" letters and court details for the old Orange fiasco that wasted so much of my time back in 2010-2012.
The bags of shredded paper were stored in the outside shed temporarily, as I missed the recycling collection, and the recycle bin was still full, waiting for this weeks' collection.

A while ago, whilst tidying out my son's room, I gathered some old clothes and newspapers with the intention of making my own guy. As in "A Penny For The Guy".
I think the idea came about around the time of The Art Party Conference, and it was possibly to make a guy out of Michael Gove, or someone equally obnoxious, that would then be taken around the city to raise some funds and later burnt on a bonfire somewhere.

Whilst clearing stuff out, I decided not to get rid of the shredded financial abuse, but to use it specifically to stuff this body, filling a pair of old tights with the shreddings, to make a pair of legs, using the broken hoover tube to make some flexible arms, some old socks (odd) and an old pair of jeans.
The torso is a toddler-scale body that Kurt once made with the intention of making a Dementor from Harry Potter for Hallowe'en, with its respective mod roc head.

I now have a sort of guy, although I have yet to decide on its identity. The head will need adapting and finishing - it currently has an old Cyberman helmet on, and is sitting in the shed guarding the bikes.

None of this was what I intended to do this morning at all.

UoL Alumni weekend

photo by Kurt Ingamells

I was invited to the University of Lincoln Alumni weekend, so I went along to find out what that was about. 
My son, Brett, had been fortunate enough to have been to visit the University with his school, Lincoln Castle Academy, to have a go with the Oculus Rift virtual reality device, and I wanted to test it out.
This was unceremoniously demonstrated in the new library extension, and as I wear spectacles anyway, I had to remove mine to put on the Oculus Rift goggles, and I must point out that they're not configured to your prescription, so the images weren't as clear for me as they perhaps were for other alumni. 
The programme shown was a rollercoaster simulation, in which the carriage in which you were virtually travelling at one point goes completely off the rails and soars through the air. 
For those that could see clearly, this was disorientating, but as it was all a bit of a blur for me, it didn't quite work. 
I was shown a virtual gallery programme as well, however, this isn't how I would use the technology as an artist at all.
I was thinking of its potential to create virtual immersive environments as a simulacrum of reality - for instance, for the inevitable A-ha Museet in Oslo, if I had this technology when I did my degree, I'd have rotoscoped images or footage of Morten Harket and A-ha, and created the comic book world of A-ha in the software programme Unity, so that visitors could go into the installation space and literally go into the comic as in the video. If the Norwegians want an artist to work on this for the A-ha Museet, I'd be happy to collaborate with Steve Barron and Michael Patterson for an immersive visitor experience.

I'm also thinking of its possibility for Apparatjik, and a proposed installation at The Engine Shed next year.
We also had the opportunity to meet the School Of Computer Science emotional robot "Erwin" and the 3D printed robot, known as "Marc".
These are being designed by students with Dr. John Murray, along with the psychology department, as friendly robots for companionship for people with autism, adult social care, and the elderly.

"Marc" the UoL 3D printed robot

"Marc" likes to shake hands

 Meeting "Marc" - I asked if it was programmed with Isaac Asimov's Three Laws, and Dr. Murray said no! Next year it's expected that "Marc" will have 3D printed legs.

Jason Bradbury meeting "Marc"

 We were joined by Jason Bradbury from The Gadget Show, who was immediately as impressed as we were by "Marc", especially how appealing and non-threatening the face is, and its appearance.

checking out the mechanics with Dr. Murray

"Marc" with Jason Bradbury's specs on!

Never saw the owners of this van! Hmmmm....

Jason Bradbury lecture

Jason Bradbury gave a lecture, in which he showed his first Sinclair ZX80 Spectrum, and described how he built a hoverboard inspired by the film Back To The Future, in a house up the hill, along with sharing various world records he holds from Gadget Show exploits, including the rocket powered luge.
He said he was always this guy with loads of ideas that he constantly pitched enthusiastically to various people, but never had any luck until someone he knew recommended him for a new show coming to Channel 5, and now he has a budget to test out all kinds of technology. 
If BBCFour want to make a TV show about contemporary art, I have some experience with SkyArts...

Jason also showed his collection of 1980s synthesizers, one of which belonged to Vince Clarke of Erasure, and how he can replicate the synth riff from a Depeche Mode song, although all that was going through my head was "MOOG","I want a go with them", and "he should come and do something with us Apparatjiks". 

The above image is of Jason describing how the Gadget Show made a prosthetic head that was taken to Cannes Film Festival and caused quite a stir!

I SEE GADGET PEOPLE

Elliott Morris live  at Tower Bars

Live music was scheduled after Jason's lecture at Tower Bars, however, this was somewhat spoilt by the world cup being shown in the same venue - I hope next year that the screen in Tower Bars will be used for something far more worthwhile than mere football, as there are plenty of pubs in the city centre that show football, and no one in our group had any interest whatsoever in it.

I was disturbed by a fireworks display distressing nesting swans along the Brayford Pool, as if anyone has money to burn, and with absolutely no regard for the wildlife - I could've put that money to better use.

Although discounts were included in the wristband for world cup events at Tower Bars, we went somewhere else to socialise, where there were no screens, and no misappropriated mass worship of mere ball shepherding.
This was the first year for the faculty of AAD exhibiting Degree Shows in the new building, and the shows were running to coincide with a small festival that now replaces the Waterfront Festival. This means that more people are likely to come and see the shows, and it was refreshing that students from other faculties came to appreciate the work. I also took the opportunity to show alumni from other courses around after a lecture with Mike Poole about 3D printing.

I imagine the Oculus Rift in a white gallery space, with a Matrix - style chair (of which I have one currently riddled with woodworm!) to create more of an impact, make it more of an experience.

Add caption

In other news, a copy of an unsolicited and unwanted "news" paper dropped through my letterbox last week. So I decided to make it into something for an art activism and to support a-n's paying artists campaign, between writing various proposals. 

Wales trip

Avian anarchy

Bob And Roberta Smith LOCWS 2014

 Last weekend I went to Wales, as my brother and his fiance are getting married next year at a castle not far from Swansea, so we went to have a look at the wedding venue. 

I had hoped to use the opportunity to visit Swansea and go and see the art for LOCWS, but we only had a long weekend (plus travelling) and only passed Swansea on the way to Rhossili and the Gower. The only piece I saw was BobAndRobertaSmith's piece quickly papped from the car window!

Blue Banana shop window, Birmingham

Minecrafting

Minecraft Carreg Cennen Castle

I did spot some Jon Burgerman work in Birmingham on the way

Jon Burgerman Birmingham

An electric sheep pen somewhere in Shropshire

Hoping that next year to stay for longer to explore some of the Dylan Thomas haunts once the centenary has passed and there are less visitors ;-)

I'm very pleased to have signed up to a-n and AIR's Paying Artists campaign, and hoping that next year I will be able to afford to travel and stay for longer. 

The Angel Of The North / Paying Artists

#paying artists

Emily Speed posted a link regarding a well known supermarket chain whose name does not need promoting on my blog, because I'm currently boycotting them, that have mistakenly projected a baguette onto Antony Gormley's much loved Angel Of The North.

I tried to ignore the whole propaganda-esque hideousness of it, and decided it was a photoshopped fake, it'll go away.

However, many a time I've been buying food in supermarkets and not been paid, most recently I could've been one of those making use of foodbanks. I haven't yet needed to use a foodbank, because I'm not currently paying the gas or electricity bill, so the choice between heating and eating is currently set at "eat". 

So I therefore believe that the supermarket involved (or maybe even a rival supermarket) should GIVE us artists our daily bread.

Bill Drummond used a tin of his International Grey paint to paint over a billboard he found morally objectionable in Birmingham.
I do not have a tin of International Grey paint, so I therefore have instead photoshopped a billboard that I find morally objectionable.
I also decided, as a-n and AIR's Paying Artists campaign was being launched, to use this for a new Facebook avatar. I can't change my twitter picture, because my browser is so out of date that it no longer supports Flash.

A while ago I was invited to take part in Lincoln Inspired festival, which is currently on. I don't think Lincoln Inspired supports the careers of the University of Lincoln graduates, as none of the artists involved are University graduates as far as I can tell from picking up a brochure. I haven't been to have a look, as I don't know many of the artists involved. I know two of the artists, neither of them are graduates. Having just been to see the AA2A scheme exhibition at the University ProjectSpacePlus, none of the AA2A scheme artists are participating in this either, so they obviously haven't been invited, even though the standard of work by Tom and Nathan is obviously very good. And inspiring!

In Which Nothing Creative Happens At All

Pinchbeck stocks - Knight Street, Pinchbeck

I never made it to Jeremy Deller's talk at Nottingham Contemporary. 
Another funeral down in Spalding during the Easter holidays, caring for a depressed son with very little support, and a complaint to the gallery manager that resulted in a false promise that something would be done, but in fact, they couldn't identify the member of staff that must've been on CCTV that day, so nothing has actually been done about it.

Pinchbeck - where I grew up

My aim lately has been to meet with the curators of Ayscoughfee Hall to concoct some kind of new work in response to the taxidermied bird collection they have there. I went for a funeral at Spalding Parish Church next door, but obviously it was the last thing I had time to do. 

Lincolnshire fields near Pinchbeck

The trip to Spalding involved a very rickety long replacement bus journey via the B roads of Lincolnshire. And news that my baby nephew had arrived. 

The trains had all been cancelled for signalling updates, and there were, understandably, very few 

passengers.

My son and I were the only people on the bus from Sleaford to Spalding, which passed through my old home village of Pinchbeck on the way. 

Since Easter, I was invited to the private view for the AA2A Scheme exhibition at the University of Lincoln, where everyone was ridiculously pleased to see me,  and it was nice to see Thomas Cuthbertson's animation, along with Nathan Baxter's space helmet video installation.

I do think that the AA2A scheme would be better if artists were paid to participate. When I took part in it, I was University staff, but I didn't have the salary or pension to go with that.

I've also been strangely invited to attend the exhibition for Opem at The Collection as an "entrant". I never entered this year, as I had far too much going on to waste my time paying the £10 admin fees, for my work to be rejected, and when no one is paying MY admin fees.

At the time, I was barely even in Single Parent Survival Mode at the time, although in hindsight, if I'd have known I didn't need to pay admin fees again, I could've entered the LAN LSM.

There is an upcoming trip to Wales, so I'm hoping to get the chance to see Art Across The City