So many loose ends, I have just updated the exhibition page and created one for credits which has been niggling me for some time; do you try to include everyone who helped or keep it generic? So many lists were begun that never ended, I have now settled for the latter.
On a trawl back through photos I realise there are too few of the many people who got involved over the course of the residency. But I love this one.
The blogging process has ‘taken time’; both time ‘consumed’ – on technical issues – and time ‘created’ for thinking, reflecting and sharing. On balance it’s been a good, enriching process, and it is coming to an end.
There are a few more images to share, plus another video perhaps – preferably with a sound snippet from the Fish Tales – but this must wait till Aidan has time to help.
In the meantime the ‘project evaluation’ calls. If you have followed the blog, I would really appreciate hearing your thoughts on it.
You can’t have everything. I had wanted the ‘missing fish’ – the void in the [K]not net – to be clearly visible. But in getting the lighting right for other parts of the show this became the casualty. So late on the last night Aidan and I shifted spot-lights in an attempt to reinstate it, we didn’t have much success, though other effects were fascinating.
106 images accompanied the Fish Tales, all created by workshop participants. They were projected onto the sail canvas we had used to make the sand drawings – an apt solution that didn’t require us to paint the wall. Only drawings that would work in a simple square format were selected.
I made no attempt to sync’ the images with tales, but loved how often ‘the right one’ would appear in the unfolding story – or so it seemed.
Of the three elements to the exhibition the ‘shells’ were the most interactive. 
Thinking ahead our aim is to create a publication – or series of postcards – documenting the residency and exhibition; but should the ‘pack’ also contain a CD? One visitor said to me, if the ‘Fish Tales’ were available she’d certainly buy it. 
Another trawl through images reminded me of some of the issues and novel solutions to publicising the exhibition. Gairloch High School’s visit on the Friday included help to liven up the entrance to Wester Ross Woodwork as unfortunately the sign on the front of the building still read ‘Seafood Processors’ and visitors from further afield were getting lost.
There’s physical distance, sitting at the computer some 350 miles from Gairloch, and then another kind of ‘distance’, the clarity of perspective needed to fix on which images to share.
There were aspects of the installation that a photograph has difficulty capturing; the way the wind sent ropes whirling, with the shadows echoing the choreography and doubling the depth. Having a video setting on the camera I thought to try my hand at capturing the dance.
The joys and dangers of digital – I have nigh on 350 photos to sort through… and 10 shaky video clips. Here’s a taste, but be aware I am no movie-maker, for starters a professional would shoot in landscape format.
‘It’s not the product, but the process that is important’ how often does that sound like an apology? Four days hauling, sewing, drilling and tweaking for two days exhibition seems out of proportion. I’ve called us ‘the workers’ because at times it felt like hard graft, but what endures are memories of ah-ha moments, how to use the space to best represent the work: an elegant tower of fish crates for the projector, a recycled rope cradle for the scallop listening station. The process was important; thank you (again) Sandy and thank you too Aidan.
It looks really good, the response has been great and it’s well worth the effort if you can make it here for the last day (tomorrow).
Hello, back again! People were dropping in throughout the day, felt like Continue reading
The exhibition opens next week, posters are going up, but I realise I Continue reading
