A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate to take part in a workshop organised by the Design Factory providing advice on writing about your art. The session was run by Jane Adams from the Royal Literary Fund.
We began by talking about our work. We had about five minutes each, during which the other members of the group made notes on what we had said. It is extraordinary how your attitude changes when you are talking to real people. Suddenly we each began to say the things that the rest of the group seemed interested to hear. Our description of our work practice changed significantly, well mine did for certain. Instead of spilling out some ‘arty-speak’ notion of what I do I actually began to talk like a proper human being and to try and make what I said informative and interesting instead of merely talking through the top of my head.
Step two was to feed back to the speaker about what they had said and to try and distil what they had talked about into just the key points. Next we split into pairs and, using the notes that we and the others had made, we wrote 4 sentences about our partners work.
Here I was exceptionally fortunate to be paired with Liz Cooper. It turns out that she is a bit of a wordsmith! Given the fact that she is a freelance curator this is no bad thing but, for me, it proved to be a very good thing indeed! This is what she wrote about me: I love it and will use it almost unadulterated as my Artist’s Profile from henceforth!
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Geology is at the core of Bridget Macklin’s ceramics: she mixes in other materials, then scrapes back to reveal fantastic and colourful strata.Bridget loves porcelain and says, “When my hands are contact with it, I just can’t stop working with it.”She delights in repeated refining of her pieces, revelling in the challenge of taking risks with her materials.Bridget strives to make lustrous, delicious pieces that only reveal their full natures and hidden treats on close inspection.
Now I ask you, What is not to like?
Everybody needs good neighbours! To look out for you when you need a bite to eat or drink, to boost your energy levels and with whom to have a bit of a laugh and to hold the fort for you when the public transport system lets you down. Thanks guys!
Bridget Macklin 