Teaching and philosophising - all in a day's work!

What a day yesterday was: taught my first after school art club in Mylor and then went out to the fabulously fabulous La Scala in Truro for the first meeting of the new philosophy group.

The art club was an hour of excited 7 year olds learning to draw penguins by copying them using the old grid system; their sense of achievement at their results was palpable... I was glad to have a teacher and TA helping out - I wouldn't have got round the whole group of 14 children to give much individual attention if they hadn't been there. Must note that things that need a lot of individual help and encouragement should be attempted only when you have plenty of time to see every person during the session...

The next few hours were a blur - until I got to put my feet up and relax at La Scala, so I thought. Well, we were talking philosophy so I anticipated some 'cultured' debate about the chosen subject of Seneca's thoughts. Well...heated debated and discussion was more like it; it was great. The ambiance at La Scala was perfect for our purpose - the old leather sofas, operatic arias in the background, the high ceilings and beautiful proportions of the rooms engendered the perfect 'intellectual' atmosphere!!! A bit pretentious? Nooooo - just a small group of people discussing how to make the most of time we have here on earth by not wasting it on unimportant things! There was a consensus that being with good company, drinking good wine (well, okay, any wine) and having an enjoyable discussion was one of the most important things available to us, so arranged to go back in two weeks time... On the agenda next time will be a few wise words from Simone De Beauvoire - purely by chance the group last night was all women, so it seemed the perfect choice.

When I finally got home I picked up Mythologies by Roland Barthes for a bit of a bed-time read and couldn't help giggling at the signs and symbols of La Scala - the plaster casts of 'Greek Gods', the exclusive music, the richly textured furnishings, the variety of expensive wines - all the symbols of good taste, culture and intellect! And maybe all a bit of artifice, but who cares - we had a great time!

Philosophy group

My friend and I've arranged a philosophy reading group and we're meeting for the first time next week in a wonderful sounding place in Truro that I've never been to before. Our first discussion will be about Seneca, who's some old Greek I'd never come across before either! Should I say that? Should I hide my ignorance and feel ashamed or embarrassed that I know nothing about this person from centuries ago? I don't know; I'm never very good at hiding my ignorance (of which I have much) because I can never manage to keep my mouth shout anyway! But it promises to be a lively and stimulating evening whether I manage to sit quietly or not! I can't wait - I could do with some new ideas...

Keap those ideas coming!

I attended my final Keap seminar today, for running after school art clubs, and still can't get over how generous people are with their ideas and experience. Some of the artists I've come across recently are much more likely to keep their ideas under wraps for fear of you stealing them and having more success with them than they did. The sharing of ideas seems a more mature approach to me; it engenders trust and support between a group of professionals and can even have the wonderful advantage of inspiring new and better ideas than you had in the first place!

I do wonder though, if this particular group of people are sharing ideas in this case because they are being educators, rather than solely artists, and perhaps it's the educators in them that want to share, rather than the artists.

Maybe artists don't appear to share ideas because their ideas are in some way intangible and nebulous, until they exist as more than something in the mind. Maybe an artist just has to make something in order to communicate that idea, rather than vocalise the idea first and develop it that way. Of course there's also the delicate matter of an artist's self-esteem (mine is exceptionally delicate!) and trying to articulate something can seem a cumbersome and painful experience when 'a picture can say a thousand words'. Who wants to look a fool when trying to describe the thoughts in your head when you can actually look quite good if you just go ahead and make them into something! Until, of course, you go ahead and make it and realise it was actually complete rubbish and you've got to remake it and develop the 'idea'. Which makes me wonder (again): what exactly is the idea? When do those nebulous thoughts become something 'concrete' called an idea? Talking to other artists it would seem the 'idea' often doesn't become clear until it's made; so is the thing that you've made the idea - does an artist in that sense literally make an idea? I'm questioning myself into a corner here, or 'round in bloody circles at any rate, I'm totally confused - what was I on about?!!!

Oh yes, Keap! We had some good ideas today! Next week I get to put them into practice at my first art club, but they'll probably be rubbish and I'll have to rework them - again, and again. And probably again.

Too much?

Back to school and back to work. Enough said about that...

On Thursday I'm off to a seminar for training to run art clubs in schools, but first of all I need to make contact with the school I'm supposed to be working with... Already I'm beginning to wonder if I'll have enough energy to organise a group of 8 - 11 year olds! Two days back at work after three months off sick has completely worn me out and I'm already stressing about how I'm going to fit everything in I've got planned for the next couple of months. All of a sudden there seems to be so much:

primary school art clubs
curating and organising an exhibition
making work for it
developing new work
being on the steering committee of More - more about that later!
preparing proposals for a couple of residencies and exhibitions that have caught my eye
organising a trip to sunny climes
continuing with learning the guitar
helping to set up a philosophy group
doing the usual regular paid work
getting into a regular exercise routine
doing the usual looking after child and home...


Do you think maybe that's too much? The trouble is I don't want to cut anything out: it's all too important! I wonder if this is the start of my next downfall... and of course I'm still thinking about the PHD!!!

What's the point of life? Discuss.

I went for my weekly counselling session yesterday and was floored at the end of it when my counsellor said "this is not counselling this, is it? You come here for philosophical argument!" Oh dear, methinks maybe I should give up reading the Camus...