Yesterday. 8.30 am: I entered the morning feeling vaguely out of sorts. The sensation was, perhaps, the cumulative effect of several minor unsettlements over the weekend, combined with the impact of too many subcutaneous realisations, befuddlements, regrets, longings, and envisioning that couldn’t be, presently, either acted upon, or resolved, or made amends for, or fulfilled. Sometimes these moods are no more than a sea squall that dissipates during the day. At other times, they’re the harbinger of a deepening dissatisfaction that’ll require a considered and dramatic response.
This week, a number of the MA Fine Art students will begin installing their second and final exhibition. They’ll receive my undivided attention tomorrow. 9.00 am: I responded to emails, and prepared to jettison one son into the deep space of higher education and professional preparedness, once again.
11.00 am: Studiology. I switched on the my main’s-power conditioner (which feeds and regulates half of my studio space) and … ‘Phut!’ The system shut down, along with the one of the circuits governing the entire top floor of the house. (Perhaps my sense of dis-ease was symptomatic of a general disruption of reality this morning.) This was a power surge. I’m astonished that I’ve not experienced more of them, given the NASA-like array of mains-powered equipment that’s packed into my studio. ‘Reset’ buttons pressed, I was back in business.
12.00 pm: For the remainder of the day, I returned to sample processing, arranging, and equalising necklaces of extracts in readiness for incorporation in the sampler launcher.
Today: A late-night session and a growing ‘sleep-debt’ frustrated my resolve to wake early. 8.00 am: Breakfast (which is always a rudimentary affair) was dispatched unceremoniously, so that I could be at my desk within half an hour. Before departing space dock for the School, there were letters to write.
9.30 am: My other study:
Postgraduate examination required my immediate attention. 10.00 am: This was followed by a discussion with the Head of School about my working hours (which are astronomical). Higher Education is, everywhere, partially funded by goodwill on the part of its staff. The MA exhibiters arose, like the morning dew, to consider their spaces. From now on, its about the technicalities of presenting: preparing walls, framing, ordering, hanging, and labelling. Each aspect of the process involves making decisions of greater or lesser consequence. The decisions must be considered in the light of the artworks’ needs and internal logic, pre-eminently. The process of consideration, in turn, ought to be undertaken in consultation with one’s peers and tutors. Often, we think less effectively and independently under stress. An exhibiting is a very stressful experience:
2.00 pm: An MA fine art tutorial. ‘In the process of painting, I realised that something had changed in myself’, the student reflected. This was an elegant articulation of a truth that’s so woven into the fabric of creative experience that we rarely acknowledge it. That being: before there can be any significant realisations about the work at hand there must first be an awakening of our self-awareness. Which is why it’s incumbent upon the artist to attend to the affairs of the heart, mind, and soul, as well as to the craft, conceptualisation, and art of manufacture.
The objective correlative:
2.30 pm: I advised students on the arrangement of the work in relation to their allocated space. What I offer are principles rather than prescriptions. One must honour the student’s right to self-determination at this level. For the remainder of the afternoon, I dropped in and out of the gallery in between spurts of postgraduate administration. ‘I can no more live without art than I can live without love’, I exclaimed to a late MA applicant at the close of an afternoon’s consultation.
7.15 pm: The ‘Memory’ collaboration came around again. A dementia care training session needs to be arranged before we can engage with the projects.