A 2023 Review (Madeleine memories)

Memories Are Made Of This

The year 2023 had a quite gloomy start for the art scene. The coldest Winter for several years, combined with a 'cost of living crisis', and ACE funding slashed for many UK arts organisations, left the arts community feeling quite bruised.

Promotional image for the madeleine zine, with a list of contributors (including myself)

My initial sense of artistic salvation came via Mastodon, the Fediverse micro blogging service that I joined last year (see previous post). On this site, I discovered a lively arts and writing community. The latter led me to re-start reading a book that had been lying idle on my shelves, called The Artists Way. Whilst this book isn't really about contemporary art, it is all about turning on the creativity tap and restarting the flow of creative output. When I found a few writers talking about it online, I decided to give the process another go. This led me to try out the 'morning pages' exercises, to get my creativity restarted. 

My aim was to create more artwork but I soon spotted a writing opportunity that was just up my street. It was to write a short piece for a one-off zine on the topic of memories and comics, which was also fundraising for dementia support. I loved my experience of comics fandom many years ago, when I was actively part of it, and the fundraising aspect tied in with my experience of having become a carer for a parent with dementia.

There's more I could write about that but, to keep my piece simple, I started at the point where two UK fandom subcultures first overlapped in my life. That ended up being about 900 words about the way the science fiction and comics communities were interlinked and how that was important to my memories of the comics boom of the 90's. As a bonus, I found myself listed with several comics creators I admire, including Paul B. Rainey - a Milton Keynes comics artist who took a trajectory to fame in 2023, after his dystopian domestic drama proved a hit with reviewers. 

The zine project, called 'madeleine' (a reference to Proust's madeleine memory), was a project led and designed by Simon Russell, an artist/designer posting on Mastodon and Instagram. As well as rounding up 28 writers*, Simon created a successful funding campaign on Kickstarter, which found 108 backers. With Simon in charge of the editing and design, eventually the zine project turned into a small, smart-looking book. After deducting printing and postage costs, Simon was able to donate £411.19 to Alzheimer's Research UK. 

My personal 2023 domestic drama was an experience of recovering from burnout. More about that in the next post. 

Click here for more about the Kickstarter madeleine zine project.

* Madeleine was made by Brad Brooks: Nick Bryan: Dan Butcher: Dan Charnley: Lee Christien: Ben Clark; Eamonn Clarke; David Cranna; Oliver East; Hannah Eaton; Shari Emerson; Tony Esmond; Martin Feekins; Sam Hardacre; Alan Henderson; Nic Ho Chee; Paul Hudson; ILYA; Guy Lawley; Iestyn Pettigrew; Alan Purdie; Paul B. Rainey; Suzanna Raymond; Simon Russell; Jon Sapsed; Dez Skinn; Giovanni Spinella; Myfanwy Tristram.
* The book has been edited, designed and illustrated by Simon Russell

The Woolly Elephant in the Room

Migration

Mastodon 2022 logo design 
By Eugen Rochko & other Mastodon contributors
 https://blog.joinmastodon.org/, AGPL,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=120470930

November 2022 is turning out to be period of rapid change and a questioning of power structures. Whilst a lot of the US was focused on political campaigns, there was also a test of boundaries on social media as the Twitter platform reacted to the new owner's radical and mercurial attempts to reshape it. What he couldn't control was whether the users approved and continued to use the site. 

Like many, I felt that Twitter was nearing a point where it may collapse, after many important staff were laid off or resigned. That led to many questioning whether it was worth hanging on what started to be dubbed 'the hellsite'. As a result, many looked to other alternatives and one new option started to get a lot of traction - the Mastodon federated server site, or 'fediverse', of networked online communities. 

What Next?

With so much up in the air, what does this mean for artists, museums and galleries, online collaborations and so on, that used Twitter as a key publicity and campaign tool?

Ultimately, I suggest that it means a period of upheaval and uncertainty but I see a new, positive community spirit emerging on Mastodon. Questions remain on how artists and galleries will network on that platform, as it has no clear focal point yet, whilst still keeping their other accounts alive.

Even as and when Twitter burns down, many useful links have been formed on that site and no-one should leave it until too late to note their key contacts, just in case their favourite faces aren't on Instagram or the like. If you're unsure how to make the transition, there are lots of guides about by now and tools like Debirdify, Fedifinder or Twitodon produce a spreadsheet for you, which you upload to Mastodon to follow everyone on it automatically.

We adapted to the rise of Meta (Facebook/Instagram), YouTube and TikTok without too much complaint since 2004/2010, so I think that where there's a will there's a way and I hope for great things.

You can find me with my new woolly friend at ohai.social/@srfirehorseart

The srfirehorseart profile on Mastodon.

March 2021

 A Brave New World

Installation view of the 'Garfield Weston' gallery,
 MK Calling 2020, with the vitrine my art was displayed in (right)
Picture credit: MK Gallery. 

Contemporary Drama

MK Calling 2020 is the longest-running exhibition I've been in so far. This group exhibition, at MK Gallery, opened in February 2020, temporarily closed for lockdown late in March and finally re-opened with an extension until November 2020. In all that time, I managed just two visits in person, as I've being at home every since the first lockdown. 

Of course, like many other people, I was hoping the COVID-19 pandemic would be over quickly and wondering when, or if, we would get back to 'normal' life. Initially I was optimistic that I'd catch up with my reading, make art, maybe start designing an online arts course. The reality was that my productivity ground to a halt. Instead of breaking new ground online, my broadband struggled as everyone around me logged on at home. Eventually my creative outlook re-emerged to focus on drawing nearer to home, as I've done in the past.

Installation view during MK Calling 2020,
including the vitrine with my art display
Picture credit: MK Gallery. 

Creating New Pathways

However, I was heartened to see lots of other people launch online art clubs and events, making the most of people's extra spare time as they worked from home and spent less time travelling. The availability of events, using Zoom and other online resources, has hopefully squashed a lot of arguments against flexible access, where travelling distance, time and costs have meant that some events have been inaccessible to many. The ability to screen and record events for sharing online, engage with communities via social media, run live interactive events on various platforms and even set up 'stalls' and promote work in international online events, mean that a lot of invisible access barriers have been flattened in the last year. If the arts want to support diversity, then this is one step closer to equal access for all.

In 2021, the availability of vaccinations and the natural optimism of Spring, is bringing hope to everyone. Whilst there is a temptation to simply return fixed locations to share art from, I'm hoping that some of the more distance-learning methods of sharing the arts will be here to stay. Here's to a more fluid and flexible access path to arts and crafts in the future.

Artists are always innovating and a more accessible approach to participatory arts and associated funding could be the start of a more connected era in the arts. If our brave new world has learnt some useful tricks from this pandemic, maybe some long-lasting benefit will have come out of it after all.

Installation view of my artwork 
 in the vitrine display of MK Calling 2020.
Picture credit: MK Galley / S. Raymond

MK Calling 2017

Celebrating the urban landscape of Milton Keynes.

The next MK Calling exhibition at Milton Keynes gallery previews on April 20th. This show was an open call for artists interested in architecture, construction and links to Milton Keynes. I'll be showing my urban sketches as part of this event, which fits in well with my current work. You can read more about my urban sketching in MK on my new page: https://srfirehorseart.blogspot.co.uk/p/gallery.html

MK is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and the gallery is opening the space again for this show before the site is re-developed over the next two years. When the refurbished gallery re-opens it should have more space and facilities like a cafe.

This spring, MK Gallery showcases new and exciting work by over 70 emerging and established artists in MK Calling 2017. This exhibition is designed to celebrate the breadth of creativity around Milton Keynes and will include a wide range of art forms alongside a dynamic programme of events and participatory sessions.

- from the MK Gallery website http://www.mkgallery.org/exhibitions/mk_calling_2017/

It's great to be showing at the gallery again, with a theme that I'm currently exploring. Everyone is invited and MK Gallery are promising music, food and drink (as well as the art of course) at the preview.

The exhibition runs until 27 May 2017.

Tarting About

A post shared by Suzanna Raymond | (@srfirehorseart) on Oct 13, 2016 at 9:49am PDT

T'Art Zine

The T'Art show for International Women's Day 2017 has opened at Bones & Pearl Studios, in London. It's a group exhibition celebrating International Women’s Day with participatory zine making!

Following the Sweet 'Art group on Instagram led to me spotting an opportunity to contribute to the T'Art zine that forms part of this year's event. The page I submitted is the same one that has appeared in Girl Frenzy to Crone Frenzy but it will hopefully get a new audience at this event.

The T'Art show runs 7th - 9th March, with an opening event in the evening on the 8th March. See more about what they do at http://www.wearesweetart.com/

The CAS PostIt Exchange

Following up a link I saw on Facebook, I'm pleased to say I have been selected up to take part in the Chapel Arts Studios Post It Exchange. The CAS project, based in Andover, is about putting together artists to collaborate on items they post to each other. The results will be shared on Instagram with the #CASpostitexchange tag. My Instagram name is @srfirehorseart.

The project has just launched in pilot and they're still open to including more artists. More info on the project is on their website:  http://www.chapelartsstudios.co.uk/events/event/pilot-cas-postit/

Seventy Percent Admin

As has been observed elsewhere, an artist's life is only somewhat about creating wonderful things, the bulk of it is everything else. That means working to pay the bills, filing, submitting your tax return, DBS updates, insurance, networking and so on. After all that you may be able to squeeze the creativity into the last 30% of your time.

Likewise with my own life. So I've just updated my CV and artist's statement and have applied to another MK Calling exhibition at MK Gallery, this time with some of my urban sketches. Wish me luck!