Circle

So I’d like to tell you about the TEA sketchbook circle that I set up in January 2013 and explain a bit about it works… We will be starting a new circle in January 2014 and if you are interested you will need to apply to be part of it soon.

I wasn’t involved too much in the first summer projects in 2012 but took a great interest in the exchanges and really appreciated the new community that had developed.  I went along to the TEA event at the Baltic and really enjoyed meeting people who were involved in TEA. I had established a sketchbook circle for artist educators four years ago with a friend, Tanya Paget who works in further education and who was also keen to find ways to reenergise her own artistic practice. We brought together friends into a circle of artists from different disciplines all working in education. I found it such a brilliant way to keep making and had thoroughly enjoyed collaborations with a range of artists from writers to painters, from conceptual artists to graphic designers. Susan Coles encouraged me to offer the project to the TEA group, which by the end of 2012 was very well established and using Facebook to share their work and ideas. It has been an enormous success.

The basic idea:
– A circle of artists is arranged so that everyone has an artist either side of them who have a different artistic discipline.
– Everyone starts with a book of their choice to work into. They make a piece of work (or a few pieces) in the book and then they post it to the person next to them in the circle. (So everyone posts the book in the same direction.)
– There is a month for everyone to make a piece of work (or pieces) in response to the work received in any way you choose. Then you post it back to where it came from.
– Your sketchbook is just a place to document the making. You do not only have to work directly into it. My work is often sculptural and I send images of what I have worked on.
– So effectively you are having two in-depth conversations with those two artists either side of you.
– We ask everyone involved to sign up to the conditions of the circle, which is that you must send your sketchbook back at the end of the month. Some months there will be the time to make a large amount, other months is might be just a few marks.
– We use a Facebook group as a place to share our work so we can get a glimpse of what is happening at the other side of the circle, we can comment and encourage. It is the chance to ask questions, share thoughts and opportunities.

As an artist:
– I find the regular deadlines keep up the momentum of ideas and making and I am very motivated.
– I always find time to do some making keeping me connected to my own practice.
– Sharing work and ideas is very powerful. I like the challenge of having to react to something I have received.
– I believe it helps to get out of working only in my domestic domain into a communal space where I have interactions with fellow artists. Reflectivity is stimulated, not through isolated meditation or uncomplicated try-outs, but through an exchange of ideas.
– To exchange you have to raise your game. Try new things. Push your ideas. Ask some tough questions of yourself. Deal with work that you really don’t like. Deal with work that you don’t know how to react to.

As an educator:
– As a teacher I think it is incredibly valuable to remind yourself what it is like to be a learner.
– The students benefit from you being engaged with your own practice. You are enthusiastic about your making. You can show them what you are working on. You can devise projects using your own work as evidence.

Possibilities:
– You could set up a circle within a class.
– You could set up a circle across age groups.
– You could set up a circle across different subjects.
– You could set up a circle for the staff.
– You could set up a circle between schools.
– You could set up a circle between staff and pupils.