Week 6 – Meeting with Harlesden High Street & Paul Vanstone

Today me and Damien headed out to meet 2 individuals. Johnny Tannah who runs Harlesden High Street and also Paul Vanstone. Firstly Johnny, he is an individual I’m highly interested in as his gallery model runs from the rents relief programme a scheme I’ve been looking into for opening my own space. In addition to that his space focuses on emerging BAME artists , again a highly valuable individual to build a bridge with.

We arrived at Johnny’s space and initially got an insight into his background. I told him about my idea of opening my own space, to which he replied I could use one of his spaces to try my model on before investing in my own space. His proposition has since been on my mind 24/7 and has become what you could call my new art project. To which I offered all of my help with his current spaces, offering technician work, great experience for myself and something that would be brilliant for my CV as his space is a highly regarded space.

Secondly I met with Paul Vanstone at his studio space. It was extremely feeding to see a studio and a workflow that was completely different to mine. Paul is a stone carver producing large scale figurative works from his studio in NW London. We discussed his practice and workflow in depth which was extremely insightful. In addition to this we traded contacts so we could keep track of each others work as he liked the sound and origins or my own practice.