Date: 22 February 2007 16:42:06
This coming weekend (ie from tomorrow, hooray!) I'm going to be down south with HD, we'll be at his folks' tomorrow night then on to London for one of my best friend's 40th birthday party. It will be the first time he's met any of my London non-SoF friends, so hopefully it won't be too much of an ordeal for him (I can't wait personally, but then I won't be in a house full of strangers). Preparations for this party though have been a bit stressful - K is a former art teacher, and generally very arty and creative and talented (as well as being fabulous), and the party is themed "come as a work of art". Now I've come up with a bit of a cop-out solution to this for my own contribution to the theme, but have been wracking my brains for ages trying to figure out what we could do with HD. In the end I decided that although it might be a bit lame, we should just get a T-shirt with a work of art on it as that wouldn't take up too much effort and expense and wouldn't make either of us feel too silly.
Some of you may remember my trials a year ago when I was trying to get hold of a hat so that I could Mystery Worship a Scary Hat Church, and unbelievably I've had exactly the same problem with an art T-shirt. I have been into the shop of every major museum in Glasgow I could think of and get to over the last couple of weeks, and there's not an art T-shirt in sight. I got so desperate I even asked in one museum shop (which is attached to one of the major Charles Rennie Mackintosh attractions) if they happened to sell any T-shirts with Mackintosh designs on them, and the assistant told me that actually T-shirts with works of art on them are considered rather tacky these days. Amazingly she said this with no hint of irony whatsoever, despite standing right by a stand full of Charles Rennie Mackintosh teatowels (obviously the height of good taste and class) (at least she had the good grace to look slightly embarrassed when I pointed that out).
So, thanks for nothing Glasgow Museums, I have been forced to take matters into my own hands. Thanks to a plain white T-shirt (hooray for Primark!) and some fabric paint, HD will be sporting an original (well, possibly somewhat plagiarised) work of art. I really should be reading about civil society theoretical perspectives, but instead will be doing my best Rolf Harris impersonation and trying not to get paint on the kitchen table.