Roaming gently on

We have been continuing to meet regularly during the autumn. A number of our regular members have relocated elsewhere and our attendees have been fewer in number for a while although the last couple of weeks have marked a change in this pattern with several new people venturing through the door and finding a place to be safe, warm and in empathetic company. Yesterday we were revisited by 2 of our group who now have work that means they don’t have time to join us for long but who are still very much a part of Roaming. 

One of the questions we continually ask ourselves is how to document who we are and what we do in a way that doesn’t impinge on our individual privacy. We change our minds about these boundaries from time to time as a group and individual people have different needs in terms of confidentiality. One of the ways we have overcome this difference of opinion is by having pages in our ‘Gallery’ section for individual people who can then decide for themselves how they wish to be represented. 

Another matter of concern in the group has been that of exhibiting and/or selling our work. The problems with selling are complicated in many ways not least because it signifies an acceptance of some mainstream art world standards, which don’t fit us very comfortably and contradict some of our core values. The directors discussed this problem of irresolvable disagreement during the summer months and made a decision on behalf of the group, since the equilibrium of Roaming seemed to be suffering as a result (usually the whole group is involved in decision making). For the time being we will not be holding exhibitions but members of Roaming can pay the group for the cost of materials and take their work away to sell elsewhere if they wish to. We will instead be holding an Open Day in the room in which we meet (a date early next year will be announced soon). Visitors will have the opportunity to see our work, talk with us, eat with us and take part in one of our activities, thereby experiencing Roaming rather than just witnessing the results.