As part of the funding bid for The Seagrass Walk, we proposed a series of satellite exhibitions and events. What exactly we meant by that has often remained frustratingly nebulous. However, on Thursday last week the first of these events became a reality when I went to Plymouth to install a sculpture, created as an extension of The Seagrass Walk, at the Climate Hub.
The Climate Hub, or Community Climate Centre, is a pop-up space in central Plymouth, housed in a now empty Waterstones bookshop. It includes a refill shop, a library of climate related books and magazine, space for events, and an increasing amount of art. It is about the only thing that could stop an empty bookshop being a sad and depressing place.
I was there with artist Camilla Brendon, who was installing her work Kelp Forest, and hosting a discussion panel that evening that I was taking part in. I pushed for the Climate Hub to be one of the satellite events. I love the idea of a community run organisation aimed at promoting conversations and local solutions to the climate crisis. I think it’s something that every town and city needs. I place to share our anxieties, hopes and information on the threats faced by the planet. I want the one in Plymouth, which only has this space until September, to become a permanent fixture.
Still in its early stages, the Climate Hub is finding its feet. Sadly, the evening evert wasn’t well promoted, and so was badly attended. The conversation was one I wish more people could have heard, as it was genuinely fascinating. Camilla had put together a great panel and the range of the discussion was at once broad and deep.
Installing my work, I was reminded of so many previous exhibitions or events in my life, in which excitement gives way to the reality of knowing that no matter how good the thing you’ve created is, the space isn’t right. The Climate Hub has the feel of something in transition, the empty shop on its way to finding new life. My best efforts, dismantling bookshelves, closing curtains, putting up signage, could do little to hide the bad carpet or the terrible lighting. After having the chance to curate everything about the exhibition space at the aquarium, from floor to ceiling, the reality of the Climate Hub was disappointing.
I still believe wholeheartedly in the concept, and I want it to succeed. I am glad my art is there, and I hope people enjoy seeing it. But I am ready for more.
I want galleries and museums. I want to work with curators. I want something bigger. I am proud and excited beyond measure by what I have created for The Seagrass Walk. Seeing my sculpture in person for the first-time last week was thrilling (like the other plastic art pieces it was fabricated by Ocean Plastic Technologies). I am amazed by how far this project has pushed and changed my art. I am ready to build on this, to take the next professional step in my career.
With that in mind I spent much of last week compiling an extensive spreadsheet filled with funding calls, residencies, and competitions. My summer is going to be spent filling out application forms. An activity that is the most boring and one of the most important parts of an artist’s career.
However, it won’t be the only thing I do this summer. I am also going to spend my summer in my van. I have barely stepped foot inside it since the van party at the start of June. There simply wasn’t time. This weekend I reintroduced myself, covered the floor in dust sheets and set to work insulating and cladding the doors. It was the perfect weekend- fun, exciting, and a lovely reminder of the joy I find in building my own home. Standing inside the vans comforting and wonderful smell I set myself an aim: I would like to complete the van by December 31st. I think it’s a workable deadline, it is certainly one I am going to aim for. I might not succeed but trying will get me somewhere. The first step, more screws.
I will show you what I did with them next week.
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