Its confirmed! My placement has a start date.

This week I heard back from the PMAG to confirm that they will facilitate my placement which was very welcome news and a bit of a relief!   I had a really positive phone conversation today with the curator going through some details and confirming a start date.

My workspace has all been approved, so I'll be able to work in a mini studio space in the gallery, using a flat table, chair and easel which will be provided.  I can use blue tac or pins to secure work to the wall and they're keen for me to use the space to exhibit work that I create whilst in residence alongside digitised prints of work from the gallery that I'm responding to. This is getting exciting -and a bit terrifying -but I'm feeling really positive. 

I spoke to someone yesterday, who had completed their fine art degree, to ask how their placement went. I asked if they were a bit overwhelmed by the space that they'd been offered, where they were doing a series of creative workshops with children.  It was reassuring that they had similar feelings to me now - but they assure me that they settled into the space really quickly and their documentation shows how they used it. They even took a "packing up" photo which felt almost like a farewell to a space that they'd very quickly grown into and were sad to leave.  With this in mind, I'm going to just embrace it - and try to make the most of every moment before I take my own "packing up" photo. 

I've popped a reminder into my calendar to let the curator know which work I'm particularly interested in so that it can be made available when I arrive.  

The PMAG is keen to create a strong digital focus using Twitter as the platform so I've been introduced by email to their social media content creator (I'm sure he has a different title to this but I've yet to meet him and confirm).  I'll send content to this person and he'll create and post to Twitter.   Twitter isn't actually a social media platform I'm familiar with - at all - so I've set up an account ahead of the placement as I feel the content will be useful for my records for assessment. I've used the same images on here as my blog so that everything feels consistent and recognisable.

The digital angle continues with a request for a digital blog reflecting on the experience and showing images.  I'm glad I got familiar with Blogger ahead of this request as it feels much more achievable now and I quite like the idea of a dedicated PMAG placement experience blog 

I will essentially have free reign over what to include in the zine which is really great - and also gives me a decision to reach.  Stay tuned...  The PMAG has offered to fund the amount that I quoted to produce the zine which is really positive and it'll be really interesting to see how this side of things works too.

 So I'm looking forward to starting on 28 Feb.  We have 2 confirmed dates that week and will arrange others as we go.  I am going to apply for an extension due to a slow start getting things moving whist the PMAG was closed.  I'm hoping not to need it but feel I need a safety buffer as this may run further into March than anticipated.

I've just ordered some business cards so that I have something that I can leave with visitors to the gallery -  in case they want to remove permissions for photos or see more of my work. Oh, and my tripod landed so I'm busy playing with that too.  

I am still making an effort to paint ..and have found a new medium in lino printing. 

This weeks practice development.