Creative Change video

I detest seeing myself on video but talented film maker El Porter-McCullough made this short film about the lost & found exhibition at PS2 project space so I thought I would share it with you. For some reason I'm rocking back and forth throughout the video like a complete loon, so please ignore that and appreciate the way El has filmed through the viewfinder of my old Hasselblad camera and added a split-screen effect.

See more films by El and a wealth of information about arts events and exhibitions in Northern Ireland on the creative change NI website

Lost & Found workshop

The lost and found exhibition at PS2 will be finished this Saturday and after then I promise to blog about something, ANYTHING else, but for now, here is a post about the free papercraft workshop we had there on Saturday.

About 10 people squeezed into the space to learn how to make newspaper pompoms and some origami designs. It was great to actually get people using the space. Afterwards a few of us hung out for a drink and a natter. How I wish this were my permanent home in the city.

Thanks to all the lovely people who came down - to the old friends and the new friends I made.

Read all about it.

Here is some shameless self-promotion! On the morning of the opening of the lost & found show, a photographer from local newspaper 'The Irish News' called round to take a picture of the exhibition. So here I am pretending to look through some records.

This is what the blurb says:

LOST AND FOUND:

Photographer Maeve Henry relaxes in the PS2 gallery space which she has
 turned into an overcrowded living room full of things she collects from

charity shops, skips, derelict houses and other places where

people might not think to look. Her project entitled ‘Lost and

Found’ will be on display until April 28. Members of the public

are invited to bring their own collectables to be part of the

exhibition. Visit www.lostandfoundbymaeve.blogspot.co.uk or

www.pssquared.org for more information

Lost & found exhibition opening.

And straight on to the opening! It was such a great night and really busy with lots of friends and family there as well as both of the late night art tours visiting the show. The room certainly felt cosy then!

There was even spontaneous dancing to Otis on the record player.

Thanks to everyone who came down. It's open all month and I'm planning a craft workshop and a couple of intimate get togethers down there. Stay tuned for details.

A home from home.

All done! I finished the last few bits and bobs down in the space and generally enjoyed it all day. Here are pictures for your perusal.

On the home stretch

It's been quite a day. We made great progress in the space today though there are still a couple of little bits and pieces to do before the clamouring hoards arrive tomorrow evening. It feels nice and cosy though.

BUT this morning I moved a ladder, forgetting that there was a hammer on top if it and it fell, pointy end down onto my head. And THEN I closed my finger in a car door and I now have a half blue nail. I'd show you photographic evidence but I'm concerned you may be eating at the moment.

One has to suffer for one's Art, doesn't one?

Name in lights

I mentioned in a post yesterday about the uber-cool writing made from fairy lights that I came across so today I had a go at doing it. It's still held in place with electrical tape and any normal person would wait until it was finished before posting pictures of it but oh no, not me. I know patience is a virtue but it's a virtue which I've always lacked.

The writing is a little wonky and I'll have to find a more attractive way of holding the lights in place but I rather like it! I'm already planning what I want to write on the walls of my living room. Here are a couple more pictures of the space as it is evolving:

Also, on a completely unrelated note, WHAT is the deal with the weather?! I got burnt sunbathing last week and today it snowed! Madness.

Stencilling

Here's yet another update on the exhibition progress. I wanted to make the space feel homely but wallpapering seemed a tall order in the time I have so I decided to stencil a design on the walls instead.

I found a free downloadable design online, printed it out, enlarged it to A3 with a photocopier, and traced it onto card. In the end I had to simplify the design in places and change it so that it would be a little sturdier. Here is the finished article:

I probably should have used slightly thicker card as the stencil was falling to pieces by the time I finished but it just about held it together for the last stencil. The end results are a little fuzzy round the edges but the overall effect will look fine I think once all my pictures are hung on top of them.

I found a perfectly lovely table outside a derelict house on my street the other day and I brought it down to the space and painted it the same colour blue as the stencil. (not pictured) I love finding abandoned furniture and this one really fits in with the 'lost and found' theme of the exhibition. There will be many, many more pictures of the table and all other parts of the show to come. Lucky you.

Exhibition progress

Things are moving along down at PS2. I arrived down there on Friday to find my name and the exhibition details on the window - famous at last!

Danny and I set about masking off the walls and painting them, clothed in fetching overalls.

On Sunday I led a paper party deco class at the Crescent Arts Centre and then loaded up lots of furniture into a hire van to bring down to the space. It's all happening!

 

Painting PS2

Here's Dan painting the project space for the Lost & Found show, and we managed to get it done in one go. Go us!

 And I have a new rug. As the dude says, it really ties the room together.

Lost & Found - the exhibition!

There's some very exciting news here at Lost & Found. I'm having an exhibition next week! It all happened very quickly. A few months back a man called Peter who runs the fantastic PS2 project space on Donegall Street in Belfast emailed me after coming across this very blog. He asked if I'd like to have a lost and found exhibition all about collecting, recycling and how we all have different ideas about the beauty and value of the objects we have around us.

Skip forward to last week when I was told that there was a spot open for my show in April - two weeks later! Luckily I work at the University so I have two weeks holidays for Easter. Isn't life wonderful. So it's all go and very busy and exciting but I wouldn't have it any other way. The next few days will be spent packing up most of the contents of my home to bring down to the space, then I'll spend a few days putting the collections all together.

I'd love people to add items to the project (you can have them back afterwards) - they might be old photographs you find in a second-hand book, a shopping list found on the street or your favourite vintage find or beach combing treasure.

There really is treasure everywhere!

There will be an opening night on Thursday 5th April which coincides with the fabulous late Night Art when all the galleries in Belfast open late and there's free wine to be had! It's always a good night, so please call by if you're free. The exhibition will be there until the 28th april. 

Click here for more information on the PS2 website.