When Katja says she’s going to organise an exhibition, you know it’s going to be good. As an artist and art curator with an absolute passion for creativity, she throws her body and soul into her work – literally!
Misbehaviour was an exhibition of 2D and 3D works, installations and film by 60 artists from Britain, Europe, and further afield, that played with a wide range of forms of mischief and non-conformity. Hence I didn’t promote my submission on Facebook… it was a bit too mischievous!!
I nearly didn’t exhibit in this exhibition at the Mile End Art Pavilion at all – but I sure am glad I did. Not simply because it was an honour for my poetry to be shown alongside some absolutely amazing artworks, but because I met such fab people.
My favourite piece was a series of three huge etchings by an artist named Dawes – she and I spent most of the afternoon gassing instead of invigilating the crowds and she seemed pleased that I recognised a lyric she’d woven into her piece; apparently many people don’t. (No prizes for guessing how I’ll be signing off this blog….)
I often remark on what a small 
world we live in, and that nothing happens by chance – it really doesn’t. I was chatting to an MA student called Louise who, it turns out, lives in the house where Violet Kray lived. My next door neighbour’s aunt was a dressmaker who made clothes for all the Kray women; my neighbour inherited the tall walnut-framed mirror in which Violet Kray would have admired herself while being pinned at the hem. Is there a commandment that says something like ‘thou must not covet thy neighbour’s mirror’? Well, I covet it!
Co-incidentally I was telling this story only last week to a friend as we browsed fake antique mirrors before our cream tea. And that’s not the only co-incidence Louise invoked. I recently ran a social media training session for an organisation called Eat Work Art that develops amazing spaces for designers and creative businesses from dilapidated buildings. With over 600 creatives working within a small ‘village’ in Hackney born out of a disused factory, I introduced my accountants, Nordens. They have a specialist stream for helping design and creative businesses and I could see the potential for a mutually beneficial collaboration. So they met, they talked, they ate cake and they collaborated!
Then it emerged yesterday that one of the art installations I loved was created by an Eat Work Art-housed business. Probably someone who will now be sharing my accountant with me. How’s that for fast work?!
As Dawes etched and Paul Weller penned, ‘Some people might say my life is in a rut; but I’m quite happy with what I’ve got. People might say that I should strive for more but I’m so happy I can’t see the point.’ If it’s time for you to strive for more and you’d like help moving forward, get in touch for a chat about social media marketing. You can call me on 020 8551 7077, or talk to me here: @WeekendWitch.
PS: For Gill and Sue… You know social media’s reached the masses when a character on Coronation Street (Sean) proclaims to have ‘tweeted, instagrammed and snap-chatted’ his dinner! And as if that wasn’t modern enough for the Corrie Crew, Kevin met up with a woman from an on-line dating site. Of course it’s real life…
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