Onwards and upwards
Three words that reveal so much
‘Onwards and upwards’ - I saw this expression in three different (ostensibly upbeat) social media posts by York artists in the immediate aftermath of this year’s York Open Studios, and I had said it myself in private messages. This is not a phrase people tend to use when things have gone brilliantly well and its repeated appearance was a contrast to the traditional “Wow what a great time we had!” posts which usually fill Instagram, that place where everyone’s life is perfect and things have to get really bad before the cracks start to show.
As with other large and established Open Studios events around the country, many of the regular participants in York Open Studios will tell you they expect it to account for up to half of their total yearly sales, so if something goes badly wrong we are not just talking about wasting a couple of weekends that we could have spent gardening. It hits hard and I was told privately (away from the smiles of social media) of tears and sleepless nights. For me personally the shock and disappointment of investing so much time, planning, emotional energy and indeed money into something that then fell so flat caused my mojo to slink off without leaving a forwarding address. One result of this was that I have posted little about my work on social media and I have not written to you for more than a month. More worryingly, I haven’t done any printmaking at all throughout all of May. I haven’t even, until today, bothered to show anyone the print I finished during Open Studios.
Some of those reading this will know that for ten years I was the administrator for York Open Studios, a voluntary and time-consuming role from which I stepped down/retired/fled in 2024. I have Opinions, with a capital O, on changes that have been made and on how this year’s event was run and publicised, which I set out in a long email to the current committee (making sure of course to start the email with a recognition of how hard they had worked and ending with best wishes, sandwiching the less palatable stuff in the middle - that old management training kicking in). I then found out the former Chair who stepped down the year before me had also sent an email, and when we compared notes we found we had raised exactly the same specific concerns - which either means we are both right or both wrong in an uncannily similar way. Well, we have done what we can and must now move on.
Finally though light is returning; two weeks of getting away from everything in the peace of a French campsite and also some good news (see below) have started to buck me up, and I can now channel my inner Scarlett O’Hara and say “After all, tomorrow is another day”. (In this production the part of Atlanta in flames is played by York Open Studios). I might even pick up a piece of lino within the next week or so.
If you’ve persisted this far then thank you for bearing with me. I thought hard about whether to write this but having puffed the event so much and invited you all to it I had to say something, and I definitely couldn’t write a dishonest post pretending it had all been wonderful.
The good news
I have just found out I have again had a piece selected for the prestigious Ironbridge Fine Arts Printmaking Competition so I am looking forward to travelling down to that lovely part of Shropshire to hand it in next month, and returning two weeks later for the Private View and opening which I couldn’t attend when I last entered in 2024. This has really cheered me up and made me think that maybe I won’t sell my press, burn all my prints and go and live on a small island after all. Well not this year anyway.
And a new print
This image of snowdrops alongside the path to Fountains Abbey was finished during York Open Studios. It was on my drying rack with not one but TWO signs warning that the ink was wet and PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH. That didn’t stop one visitor though… deep sigh. Anyway, what with that and a few other issues I have ended up with an even smaller edition than usual. But hey ho, it is now on my website and as we were saying earlier, ‘onwards and upwards’.
Thanks again for being here and reading this, and if you were one of the lovely people who came in person to visit my Open Studio then an extra special big thank you - after all you were one of a very select few!
See you again soon and maybe by then I will have started some new work to show you.
Jane
Sorry all that work wasn't as appreciated as it should have been x
I started reading this on email, last week, whilst making lunch. I got the vibe a third in that I wanted to give it my full attention, so came back to it properly today.
Just want to say... I know three things to be true:
1) You are an insanely talented printmaker and artist.
2) It's okay for things not to work out sometimes (what I mean is, it doesn't reflect on the artist, it's more often than not, things beyond our control, even the most complex marketing strategy doesn't alway give return if the wind isn't blowing in the right direction). And sorry they haven't this time.
3) It's how you move on that matters (and it's different for everyone, be it slowly, over time, or quickly into the next thing, as long motion is there in some capacity). And how fabulous to have such exciting opportunities ahead with Ironbridge - what a way to move on!
Please keep going*, we need your art** xxx
.
* But only when and if the time and energy levels feel right xxx
** Printmaking and substacks :)