MY LIST Mandy Keating
MANDY Keating is an arts educator, graphic designer and visual artist. Mandy, 56, specialises in creating paper-based and digital art which tells its own story, and which asks her audience to immerse themselves in it, and to create their own interpretation. Mandy lives near Finningley, in South Yorkshire, and has had exhibitions in key spaces across the county. She is also a skilled bookbinder. Mandy’s partner is Richard, and the couple have eightyears-old twins, a boy and a girl.
I’m currently reading: On the one hand, it’s not so much reading for pleasure, as reading for research. We discovered that, a few generations back, part of a family – who all come from very ordinary mining stock in the Maltby area – decided to do something a bit different and, believe it or not, transformed themselves into an acrobatic troupe with the wonderful name of The Sensational Alzanas. It’s believed that they were so good that they were head-hunted by the amazing Ringling Brothers Circus, and they moved to the United States. I’m now trying to tell their story through puppet-based animated characters. Delving into social history, and doing some detective work always fascinates me, and for one exhibition (which was on at the Danum Art Gallery in Doncaster) I spent a lot of time investigating the story of Pilkington Glass, which at one time had a huge workforce in the (then) town. They produced glass which changed the architectural face of the world, they were that important and ground-breaking. The twins, while always on the go, are also excited about reading and they have loads of books. I’m a voracious reader myself of books in the fantasy and sci-fi genre, but anything can grab me. I can devour a book in one sitting – if the opportunity arises. Currently, it’s The Last Passenger, by Will Dean, where a woman goes on a cruise as the holiday of a lifetime, but where… well, nothing is really quite as it seems! I also believe in passing books on – I’m a great supporter of the Re-Read scheme, and I loved Dolly Parton’s reading initiative, which fired up young imaginations with the joy of books. Thank you, Dolly!
I’ve been listening to: Sometimes it’s a case of listening while I’m doing something that is, well, mindless, repetitive, but there are far more occasions when I truly must concentrate, and when working in silence is imperative. Music, for me, is a true mix, from classic to rock and back to folk. It’s what connects at the time. And it’s also a voyage of discovery – Richard and I went to Nottingham to catch a band we like, and they were supported by Queens of the Stone Age, who were completely new to us. We loved them, they were terrific. So now they get a lot of airtime!
On TV, I’ve been watching: Richard works away for some of the month, so when I’ve got the twins off to bed, I watch what I like, and it’s really across the board. However, I do tend to stick with the BBC, because I find the
adverts on other channels so boring, intrusive and repetitive. I’ve recently loved The Catch, with Jason Watkins, who is a terrific actor. It’s all about the triumphs and tragedies of the fishing community – murder, mystery, love and adventure.
The live performance I’d recommend is:
We had a wonderful family holiday earlier in the year, and we all thoroughly enjoyed a Punk Festival, great fun! And we also made it to Blackpool’s Tower Circus, which was amazing, the performers were so skilled. What made it for me was the beauty of the building itself, a lovely Victorian space (it seemed a miracle that it could have survived!) with such imaginative plasterwork and artistic details.
My last box set was: Wednesday, which is the gothic, slightly eerie and supernatural story of the character from The Addams Family .I love all of Tim Burton’s work – what an imagination that man has.
The App I couldn’t be without is: I wish I could be done with all of them, I really do – we all waste far too much of our time on phones and apps. However, I hold my hand up to using Instagram a lot, to showcase my work, of course, but also to keep up and informed on and about others, what the creatives are doing. And I also use Photomyne, on which I can scan images, and use digital manipulation. So, my apps are there for practical, rather than (you could say) frivolous reasons.
At the top of my ‘to do’ bucket list:
We all know people who say “Oooooh, I could write a book…”, and then never ever do anything about it, don’t we? But I really want to, and I feel that there’s a novel in me somewhere. I’m also cracking on with another project on Pilkington Glass, and this time, it’s about the many people who worked there. I’ve got access to an archive of hundreds of pictures taken over the years, and I want to talk to the folk who were employees of such a big part of local industry.