Who do you know?

Emily Speed Flatland 2021, photography by Emma Dalesman

One of the things I realised while I was writing the Arts Council application for my current year-long development project Grow Your Own Artist, was that I am happy enough with the writing part of applications, as writing is something that I feel confident about. My personal sticking point is asking for help, and the point at which this piece of information dawned on me was when I realised that if I didn’t ask the people who I wanted to work with if they would be part of my project right now, it would be too late, and I wouldn’t meet the application deadline!

I sent the emails and messages last November, inviting people to be part of my project, and the results were almost universally lovely (there was one company who didn’t get back to me, but they were in the midst of a big event at the time). Every artist and curator who I approached responded to say that they’d be happy to talk to me and be part of my project and I realised that; 1) a lot of people in the arts are very nice and helpful, and 2) the people I have come across over the years, however briefly, are a huge resource that I have access to. The positive responses made me feel validated and I considered how there is often a fear that exists behind any procrastination, sometimes linked to what is called ‘imposter syndrome’.

I have already been to visit two artists as part of my project. I travelled first to Cardiff, to meet artist Freya Dooley. Her studio is at Spit & Sawdust, an interesting venue that hosts an indoor skate park, with artists’ studios upstairs. I came across Freya’s sound and video installation work a few years ago, when I heard about a piece she made for Eastside Projects in Birmingham (where I am an associate member in the EOP programme) and then I encountered it again at Chapter in Cardiff, where there were two immersive pieces that used sound in a very intense way, alongside video imagery, for solo exhibition Freya Dooley: The song settles inside of the body it borrows. I experienced the works in a very visceral way, and they intensified a call that had been tugging at me for a while, to use sound as part of my installation work.

Freya Dooley's studio is at Spit & Sawdust in Cardiff

I contacted Freya by email in April 2022 and she kindly agreed to meet me to talk about the way she approaches her work and to show me how to use a piece of sound editing software, called Ableton. She’s a very warm and kind person and I came away from an afternoon in Cardiff with a good sense of how the software works and what is achievable. Especially exciting are the possibilities for layering up different sounds and altering each channel individually, including effects that achieve a sense of space. 

 

Freya is a patient teacher, and she gave me confidence to test out some audio layering myself back in my studio. I have Adobe Creative Cloud already, so I have been using Audition for this. From research I've done online, Ableton has some additional capabilities, but I will wait to see what I need before I buy new software, having learnt a lesson from expensive past purchases that were ultimately unnecessary. For the moment, I can play around with Audition and test ideas, as the controls are very similar. I understand what the different actions in the software can achieve, thanks to Freya’s clear explanations, and also how to export the files in a format that will be compatible with my video editing software (not always as easy as it sounds, as I learned in several struggles with Garageband when I was making Object Love during the pandemic). My next steps are to continue to experiment with sounds and to create tracks for the test animations I have been making.

Freya Dooley, Somewhere in the crowd there's you. Soundscape on vinyl.

The second artist I visited was Emily Speed, who I have known for a few years, mainly through Twitter and with a couple of in-person conversations when we’ve attended the same events. Emily is an artist I admire, and I was delighted when she agreed to be put into my Grow Your Own Artist application as someone that I could talk to about my work and hers. She also generously gave some time to feedback on the application itself (I would always recommend getting a couple of ‘critical friends’ to read your applications and give objective feedback).

 

The first time I saw Emily talk about her work was at The Rodd in Presteigne, which is a venue set in beautiful Welsh countryside, run by the Sidney Nolan Trust. The symposium was about art and landscape, and Emily spoke about her practice, which is rooted in architecture and the human body, also talking about a residency in Rome at the British School and commissions for Yorkshire Sculpture Park. 

 

In May, I travelled to Liverpool to see Emily's exhibition, Flatland, an Art North West commission for Tate Liverpool. ‘Inspired by Edwin Abbott’s 1884 novella Flatland, a satire of Victorian society, where all existence is limited to two dimensions and women are restricted to thin, straight lines’ Flatland is an installation that filled Tate's ground floor gallery with video, sound and sculptural pieces, creating an immersive environment that enveloped the visitor. 

Flatland: the costumes from the film were part of Emily Speed's installation

Emily used music, set design, visuals, language (including British Sign Language), choreography and costume within the installation, and I found its many layers of form, narrative and meaning to be fascinating, demonstrating how a well thought out and executed installation work can be enjoyed on multiple levels (including by a small boy who was refusing to leave the space, despite his mother’s pleas). It’s a piece of work that keeps drawing me back to the feelings I experienced within it, giving me a sense that I stepped into an alternative ‘looking glass’ world for a short time.

Flatland, a publication to accompany the exhibition

Speaking to Emily after viewing the work, we talked about where I am at the moment within my practice, and where I hope to be heading. She has offered to help me to be more strategic about what I apply for, which I feel will be very useful. I find it a little tricky to select the right opportunities to apply to and need to plan ahead more cohesively so that I don’t miss things.

 

We also touched on the challenges of making a living as an artist and the importance of sharing information between ourselves. It is easy to look at a peer who is exhibiting in big galleries and assume that they are doing well financially, but that is unfortunately often not the case. It can be expensive to make art, particularly when you are paying other people to help make it (performers, film production, music, fabricators), as so much of the budget can be swallowed up by this. I have heard from several artists, including one who is very well known, that making ends meet is a challenge. Many artists take other work to supplement their income as an artist, including University teaching, which is often precarious as it involves temporary contracts and many additional hours of work required over the paid ones. My own solution is to pay my bills through my freelance arts marketing work, and part of the research I am doing this year is to establish whether that is the best approach for me.

It has been a busy couple of months starting Grow Your Own Artist, but I have learned a lot already, both in practical terms and in understanding how I think. I will be making a list of the people I know within the arts, as recommended in Beth Pickens’ excellent book, Make Your Art No Matter What. Our contacts are an amazing resource, so don’t be afraid to ask the people you know (or even those you don't know yet) for help or advice.