This research over the last few months has been really exciting and incredibly liberating. I’m not one for sentiment but getting to know Tanya through the archives of her practice and communications between her friends and family has been a very personal and moving experience and has allowed me to look at my own genesis as a maker in a new light. Coupled with the practical experience and skill gathering through the short course at Saint Martins, I feel I’ve been provided with a language and visual archive that will allow me more fluidity and dexterity in my thinking and future practice.
This final blog comes from Newcastle where I’ve recently moved full time from my home of 10 years in London to take on a three year post as the Norma Lipman Fellow in Ceramics at Newcastle University. The images here are from the Tyne Opera House which has a Grade 1 listed pully system for their staging. It used to be manned by out of work sailors in the 1800s as they were used to the complicated ‘rigging’. I’m continuing to delve into the histories and visual languages of theatre in terms of participation, education and the possibilities of staging when applied to body in space.
This bursary has not only been an pivotal moment of reflection and growth but has also subsequently been an important tool in establishing a new studio, a new opportunity and a new network, up in Newcastle. Being given a moment and support to research my family member and with that find a whole new method of working has been so grounding; it has allowed focus at a moment when both my practice and my life has undergone significant change.
So this began with a restructuring of my family with the death of grandparents and ends with a restructuring of geographies and methodologies. I am extremely thankful to AN for providing me with this opportunity and am positive that this experience will go on to frame and underpin my work for a long time coming.
