Open Studios November 2022

Over 1400 visitors came to see what was happening in the two Yorkshire Artspace studio spaces this last weekend. There was a real buzz, and it was a real pleasure to invite people in to my studio. This year, it seemed that people felt more at home engaging with the work and I am sure I have found a way to communicate more easily. I had some great conversations — some so clearly on the same wavelength.

There were conversations about water, reflections, seeing. Calligraphy, script and language. About rivers and living entities. About the development of Castlegate. One woman told me about a project seeking to gain personhood status for the River Don! I had heard of this happening in other, rather more wild and exotic parts of the world….!

We displayed one of the pieces from the collaboration between me and Roanna for the Festival of the Mind — “A Mirror It does Seem” in Roanna’s studio space (next to mine).

Displaying this combination of video and words gave me great satisfaction. This expresses the original experience over ten years ago of seeing/feeling the water patterns better than anything. Full circle.

I met friends, made new connections and discovered artists in the building I hadn’t met before, including two who I know from Instagram but had no idea were in the same building!