Sallying Forth

by Ruth Barker, 28 Jan 2011

Hello,

I’ve often wondered if people called Sally dislike the above phrase as much as I dislike the word ‘ruthless’. I suppose this came to mind because artist Peter McCaughey once told me that he cannot abide the phrase ‘to peter out’ meaning to dwindle to nothing, and I met with Peter yesterday, so his idiosyncrasies were on my mind.

By the time I left this meeting I found that I’d agreed to collaborate on a series of four books that Peter is producing, which will be filled with ‘hints and tips’ on how to approach the dangerous field of public art. I’m not totally sure how this agreement came about, as surely no-one in their right mind would take on something so crazy… All I can say is that Mr McCaughey has clearly missed his calling as a Middle East peace negotiator. It seems he can get people to agree to anything. Hmmm.

Still, swallowing back my rising hysteria as it dawns on me exactly what I may have let myself in for, I can say that I think the books will be great – but only with YOUR help, readers. Next week I’ll be posting a new article in the Reflections area, explaining what exactly we need from you and why you should help. I’m serious, as this will be a literary endeavour collectively authored by the PAR+RS readership. And I’m sure you’re up to the task as we’ve been having some truly brilliant comments lately, which continually remind me how rich your collective expertise really is.

So take this as a teaser, and check back next week (I’m aiming to get the article up on Wednesday) for the details. There’ll be a link to the piece on the homepage as well as from the Blog, so it should be easy to find.

Oh, and another small update: the redevelopment work on the Blogs is almost complete! Hooray! So fingers crossed we’ll be able to relaunch them in the next few weeks. Thanks for your patience everyone.

Thanks also go to Chris Fremantle for sending me this picture:

sometimes we wrestle with big ideas.

More later,
R