I asked to be in the fishbowl this year as I felt it would be important to have other people around. Last year I worked late into the evenings, when it was dark, with few people in the studios and I thought it would be more helpful to my practice to be in a busier environment. I was very pleased to be in a space with people I know and will have discussions with.
The space was a bit daunting at first, two great empty walls to fill with ideas, but it is very handy to be so close to the workshops and the library. In the last few weeks I have found the library such a good resource for learning more about artists. Instead of using the internet I use books, which has given me a more detailed and critical scope on their work, and has provoked some new directions to consider for my project.
The first few weeks of being in the fishbowl have been a really productive, exciting time with many discussions of work and approaches. This has been particularly useful in the initial stages of the new projects, running ideas past one another and having feedback continuously available. We often end up having hour-long discussions on many different topics, sometimes about our own work or particular problems we encounter, or our opinions on the role of art, and how we approach our practice. Sharing artists, ideas and points of view has been such a benefit, and a wonderful addition to my studio experience.
We are also thinking of setting up an online collective (Ed, Tab, Chris, me) where we can post ideas and works, record our conversations from the studio and begin to collaborate on projects. I am really excited by this, I know that there are many areas where our practices overlap and I think it could be very fruitful to intertwine them in some instances.
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