Talking about our work

One of the things I've been mulling over within my own practice is how to talk about what I do in a way that people understand, which sets the right expectation, quickly, and draws people in. It's an issue that I have also discussed with many of the artists who exhibit their work with me here. It takes a lot to give your peculiar take on art a name, to put it in a compartment that in your mind's eye is already populated with work that deserves to be there; it can feel daunting, presumptions. But in reality it is necessary in order for people to know what to expect, what to get out of the house and come visit, all of which is necessary, for visual artists in particular, before your work can be appreciated as it deserves to be.
It's an issue that has been pertinent this year, opening up again after some time off, with two highly different but equally amazing exhibitions so far this year from mixed media artists, with a third about to take place, in which the artists have produced free-standing work using a wide number of different materials, many of them delicate, all of them requiring dexterity and nimble fingers to piece together. Putting them up at an exhibition isn't just part of the job, it's essential, and knowing how textiles and ceramics and natural fibres and threads are going to withstand interested parties looking at them, walking round them, learning from them up close, is a skill that so many artists seem to have, and which I really take my hat off too, because it's part engineering, part framing, part prayer. 
Summing up what pigeonhole to put all this incredibly rich and inspiring work in isn't easy. Mixed media artist, textiles artist, artist, sculptor? Do any of them really do justice to what these artists have achieved? It's hard to say. But I think there needs to be a new noun to describe the kind of people we have here exhibiting their work, themselves, with their own hands and imaginations. It's such a pleasure to see it go up and such a sad feeling when it comes down. So do come and see them before they move on.
.