The 12th of February was a special day for us at ASP 9 as we had artist Jeremy Deller visit our studio. Many of us are big fans and so a mix of excitement and nerves filled the room as we awaited his arrival. Upon entering, his approachable and candid presence dissipated all tension. We began the evening by gathering around Jeremy on the sofa, firing questions about his life and practice. Jeremy was very open and generous with his responses, giving us insight into how he came to find art, advice on working with the public, his feelings on the state of art schools and much more. It was very useful for us to hear perspectives from such a successful practitioner, enabling us to understand his journey from emerging to established artist.
We then moved on to presentations from Maya Patel, Synshar Pde and Issey Kang. Jeremy engaged enthusiastically with the works shown and helped the participants question their reasoning for making and encouraged us all to be bolder and braver with our impact, messaging and reach. The conversation throughout the visit ran two ways and Jeremy seemed just as interested to learn from us as we did from him which I found to be an inspiring ethic to come from someone as experienced as himself. Jen Jones
