This is a reframe between proposing a useful project for Grizedale Arts artist re-orientation awards and the volunteering I did there from the 15th-19th April 2013. It’simportant that these two link together for the short time frame I was volunteering. Fromvolunteering to launching into useful art and craft Grizedale me re-think what I could dowith my use of publications, design and energy and culture filtered in from writing andpainting. Designing a cook-book sounds ideal ‒ from talking to Adam Sutherland abouttheConiston YouthClub. I hope this could be a good project to focus on at Grizedale Artswith my interest in publications and book design at large in the art world and also help tobuild a relationshipwithGrizedales focuson ‘usevalue.’ Asapracticingartist, I havebeenre-thinking what craft means and what it could mean in Coniston village in the forms ofcollage, publications, drawings? What is the use value of the library? What could thisbring to the new craft of publications: bookmaking, artists zines and the general feel anddesign of libraries online?

I don’t think pageantry has anything to do with my experience at Grizedale Arts as avolunteer from the 15th April ‒ 19th April 2013, or does it? Infact the only reference topageantry was seeing a jigsaw puzzle box named ‘Rooftops and Pageantry’ stopping ofwith Alistar Hudson, Adam Sutherland and Intern Rebecca Page coming back fromBlackwell HouseArts &Crafts whilst semi-stalking and catching upwith the Tate Patronstrip that visited Grizedale the night before where we all chipped in to serve them a firstclass meal. I say semi stalking because this could go on a record somewhere in thepresent and also because it was also a non-stalker-but-really educational trip about thelinks between John Ruskin, glamorous (that’s right I said glamorous!) Grizedalearchitecture and the use value in 20th and 21st century craft at the farmhouse. The onlypageantry I can think of that would be going on at Grizedale would be at night behind thedoors… or to do with a discussion we all had about German Bauhaus and their fancydress parties?Or it could just be someone in the stunning communal living roomupstairswatching the father ted episode where it features a spoof of ‘the lovely girls contest.’ Orthe lovely girls fromConiston?Or it could all swing both ways…apparently swinging wasalso a big thing in Coniston.

PAGEANTRY IS A QUICK AND USEFUL PUBLICATION WITH HAIREXTENSIONS

Rooftops and pageantry:Grizedale Arts volunteering and ideasfor artist re-orientation awards 2013

MEALZ TIME at Grizedale Arts (not for us) living room come dining boudoir or something to dowith public transport patterns for London underground? (2013)

Themain work was gardening and cooking and could be anything on a day-to-day basisof weeding, planting and some other continental gardening names that I can’t rememberand probably won’t ever remember. I thought gardening was pretty gross personally butvery essential to the projects at Grizedale Arts in a non-gross way and maintenance ofLawson Park Farm. I had numerous discussions with Adam Sutherland and AlistarHudson in car journeys during my volunteering that spanned across introductions to thedaily living at the farm, the growing evolution of the Coniston institute, stopping to picksome fresh Basil Leaves to produce some fresh pesto (somehow I managed not to pickpotentially dangerous poisonous leaves thanks to Adams knowledge on plants…andgarlic death?) and me being shit at silver service and shit at arranging flowers (that aregrown in the paddy fields in the farming land) This was all refreshing to do as an averageworking day.

ROOFTOPS: USEFUL ARCHITECTURE AS COMMUNES?

In a non-pushy way if you are not use to communal and out of your comfort zone er, canI say ‘hippiedom?’ way of thinking and doing? At Grizedale this seemed important to thevoluntary basis where a full working day would run. It mademe think how important a fullworkingprojectwould beuseful in the long run towards thinkingasanartist andacceptingsome basics in the daily living of employment, volunteering and use value of thecommunal?

What somepeoplemight dread inaWickerMan (1973) waybut secretly hope for aYoungOnes (1982) revival is the place of communeatGrizedaleArts.What struckmemostwastheexciting farmhouse that is nowGrizedaleArtsheadquarters. Itwas renovated in2008,designed by Sutherland Hussey. So I’ll probably start to draw out the commune from aromantic perspective, or what Grizedale Arts seemed to have re-thought in their livingspace.

Everything you do as daily living at Grizedale Arts makes me think why have there beenlittle or no architectural projects happening like this in theNorthWest? This remindedmeof a filmbyRebeccaMillerThePrivate LivesOfPippa Lee (2009)where a young teenagegirl in the 1960’s decides she has had enough of her mothers use of amphetamines tokeep up a routine for a working Catholic family so she moves to New York. Pippa Lee,then split between her life married to a famous publisher and art collector, first meet ata modern beach house in long island, New York . This beach house is usually wherewritersandartistsget togetherandparty.Pippa recalls her life changing fromacommunallifestyle to married life. This idea of useful communal reminded me of projects thatarchitects such as Le Corbusier (1887-1965) started out as re-thinking housing in aexciting way have now become privatized or museums and how the use value of cheapcraft i.e weird spiritual concrete shit turned global as a means to an end.

There are probably many reasons for someone to choose to volunteer at Grizedale Artsand this is not exactly my story but I was re-thinking ‘the commune,' The Private Livesof Pippa Lee focuses on the modern commune, modern art, modern relationships,modern ‘Beach Houses’ and glamorous living in the 1960’s. However Grizedale’scommunal living, the architecture, design, collections of quirky modern furniture (mostlyfound on ebay?) was the reason why long-term relationships with young artists andhopefully outside of an ‘arts background’ will excite you and make you want to stay.

*My weekend beach house designed by dressmakers from Toxteth on Crosby Beach forLiverpool John Moores Art Students (2013)

Long Beach House, Architect: Resolution 4 architecture, Long Beach Cottage, Long Beach,*New York http://www.e-architect.co.uk/new_york/long_beach_cottage.htm (but designedby dressmakers somewhere in the world?)

LAWSON PARK COLLECTION: INSPIRATION FROM THE USES OFCRAFT

An early 20th and 21st century look at collage - a collaborative project, could be called thecraft of collage? This could be applying the use of collage to something useful in LawsonPark farm i.e a collage installation: (this comes from thinking about the lights in the diningroom designed by Adam Sutherland and artist Matt Do) Or how it could be useful in thevillage of Coniston?

In the day-to-day hard graft of volunteering is the use of craft. However at Grizedale oneof the flourishingandasAlistair described it ‘slowprocesses’ isbuildinga relationshipwithConistion – this was impressive by the projects that Grizedale have encouraged andproven useful to Coniston by the artists they work with. This is why I was weary about theuse of residencies in todays art world and how effective this can be to thinking andproducingwork – or asAdamSutherlanddescribed their interjection andproject at Friezeart fair last year in October 2012 where they invited the Youth Club from Coniston to setup shop and produce homemade juice in a bag with a straw and made a little useful,entrepreneurial mark. This is sometimes the problem with what sometimes seems to bethe shut-in approach to talking about capital and artists, but the shut-in can be unhealthy.

Volunteering can come from messy states of employment and unemployment and Iwonder if craft can become useful in thesemessy states for volunteers? The uses of craftat Grizedale Arts spans from using cups, mugs, plates, glasses, vases and seating fromthe 20th and 21st century. My trip to theManjushri KMCBuddhist centre in Ulverston notso far down the road from Coniston after Grizedale, selected one extreme volunteeringcondition to another. The Buddhist centre is relied on constant volunteering anddedication to keeping up with paying festivals. Some people I met were working towardsthe festival in summer 2013 bymeans of the art studios by themain house - so using craftto produce objects i.e idols of buddha and larger sculptures to use and ship to Portugalfor part of the festival in summer 2013. There was a mix of people from Spain, UK andpeople fromFinland. I alsomet people using the centre for a hardcore six-month trainingprogramme for Buddhists. The similarities between Grizedale Arts and the Buddhistcentrewas that theyboth offer freeaccomodationand threemealsaday for volunteering.These basics are a security needed to help secure present and future volunteering work.

With the ever increasing dangers of volunteering in organizations frowned upon inunemployed situations such as jobseekers (JSA) and the ever decreasing supportnetworks such as Citizens Advice Bureau being cut to get you into jobs faster I guessmyquestion is how volunteering and craft can be useful together in the longrun for artists?Or can volunteering be a new craft?