I’m feeling immensely relieved this evening because my exhibition at the South Square Centre is now in place. I need to go in tomorrow to do a little tweaking, but to all intents and purposes it is ready to go. The process had its ups and downs. One of my pictures is absurdly large (done in the very early days of my full-time involvement in art, before I knew better.) Getting it into our very small car was nothing short of miraculous, and I had to drive up to the Centre with my knees almost touching my chest. Thank God I wasn’t spotted by the police!
The thing that made such a difference was the fact that my friend Nancy took over the task of directing the hanging. She is immensely experienced in these things, and all I had to do was follow her lead. Had I been compelled to take responsibility for the organisation of the display I would never have managed it in one day. I’m immensely grateful. Tomorrow I need to do some superficial finishing touches, such as cleaning the glass, but to all intents and purposes we are ready to go.
The hanging has been an interesting process. The title of the exhibition is Almscliff Crag: an enduring obsession. Almscliff is a well-known landmark a few miles from Bradford, and a major centre for rock-climbing. I’ve been involved with it in one way or another since 1979, and my first attempt to paint it (of many) was in 2002. The display documents the moods of my long-term engagement with the place. The “salon-style” hanging in a single room conveys quite well, I think, the rather obsessional character of that relationship. It will be interesting to see how my colleagues and the wider public respond to it.