September
The last partnership to start, Teruyoshi Yoshida and Claire
Barber, has now concluded the time spent working together,
as has the very first partnership, Maxine Bristow and Kyoko
Nitta, who have worked together over two separate periods.
Phase One of the project has ended. As I write this, I can
hardly believe it. Over the last two years, so much time and
energy has been spent in the organisation of the partnerships;
choosing the participants, creating the pairings, raising
the funding, putting the website in place, documenting the
pairings. It all seems so natural and logical once it has
happened, but it has taken a huge amount of work and from
all involved.
And what of the partnerships themselves?
Well, we only need to look at the Journal entries to realise
the commitment of the artists to making their partnership
work. It has taken courage and imagination from each to allow
the creative exchange to begin and to grow, and all will have
had to negotiate difficult situations along the way. As I
have visited each partnership I have been surprised, moved
and excited by the responses of the partners to each other,
each other’s work and to each other’s culture.
The artists have taken real risks with their own processes
as they have reached out to find those meeting points and
differences which will be reflected in the final outcomes.
The final outcomes! Yes, we are now in
Phase Two of the project – the exhibition.
The artists have now decided on, and
are making, their final works.
At the end of October I will go to Japan
for the photography of the work made there and in November
the work made in the UK will be photographed here. The catalogue
and support materials are being assembled and the exhibition
design is being finalised. I will be featuring each of these
elements in my Journal over the next few months.
The Education programme supporting the
exhibition has also begun in earnest. The outreach Artists
in Schools began in the middle of September for five weeks
(see Education page). The four artists, in two partnerships,
are working in specially allocated studio space at two schools
in Farnham – Heath End and All Hallows. The theme is
‘Difference’ and the first examples of work from
the artists and from the pupils are very thought provoking.
This month sees the final Journal entries
from the artists involved in the exchanges but it also sees
the first of two Journal entries from the four Artists in
Schools mentioned above and my own Journal will also continue.
All the new information about the project will be published
on the Exhibition and Education pages of the website and here
in my Journal. I hope that you have found the Artists Journals
as stimulating and perceptive as I have, and that you will
follow the progress of the project as we approach what promises
to be an extremely exciting exhibition.
Lesley
Millar
Project Director THROUGH THE SURFACE
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