You may have noticed that I have been rather quiet here on my blog. Well, it is for good reason – I have been working away on a gallery project with friend and fellow artist Moira Robinson. It was a voluntary project and we were lucky enough to be loaned an amazing space for 6 months byLeicester Adult Education College. Soon we had another 46 artists who have faith in us and came on board, and we were assisted by 4 hardworking group coordinators who helped us in ways too innumerable to mention…..
I won’t ramble on here, as there is far too much to say in one blog post – we had 5 stunning shows: one group one to start the project featuring all 48 artists, then 4 themed shows featuring 12 of the 48 artists, the exhibitions to be based on various themes which were chosen by the artists – Strong/Fragile, Light/Dark, Urban/Rural and finally Inside/Outside.
My show was the last in the series and I exhibited alongside 11 extremely talented artists from a range of disciplines, from millinery to felt-making to ceramics. It was a really diverse show, with something to suit everyone’s taste and inclinations.
I chose the group with the theme Inside/Outside as I wanted to explore nests and burrows as a starting point. But, as time progressed, the work became far more embroiled in storytelling and personal narratives. Each piece involved a link to the inner world of our daydreams or inner lives, some from our childhood and others are secret dreams that we drift off to as adults.
Sadly the show is now over – it passed so quickly as I was so busy with the publicity and showing visitors around the show! Five weeks seemed like a long time when we were planning it, but with the Launch to organise, and Meet the Artist events and daily publicity on social media I barely blinked as it whooshed past. I feel twinges of sadness now that the whole project is over, but shall look back with great fondness on this project and all the wonderful things that have happened during that time.
I loved seeing each and every show, seeing how each one took on it’s own voice, presenting a very different show each time it changed. It was a full on project, and there is no way it would have worked without everyone involved working so hard. I have found it a truly inspiring experience – and have learnt so much and been inspired by so many talented artists. It was very humbling that so many Leicester and Leicestershire artists wanted to take part. And now I have many of these artists as friends, confidants and mentors – which was a truly wonderful bonus to the project. Especially, as for me, I wanted this project to be more than artwork on walls – I wanted it to enrich the artistic community in Leicester and to bring new connections and future collaborations.
Jane Sunbeam 