Another thing that struck me in conversation yesterday with Joanna about the collective pieces made for The Voyagers was that it allowed me to deal with emotional content in a way that is ok for me to handle. Making something together with other people is also a lovely way of being with others and I find I can be as quiet or as chatty as I like in that situation.
The Boat quilt I made for The Voyagers was the first textile piece I’ve ever really done and the folded boats, though, in my head, more easily doable came out much better than I thought. Through the whole project I was worried that the idea would be more beautiful than the installation. My other worry was whether anyone would actually take part; in the end about 90 people did.
I wanted to try and explore the idea of shared making, to some extent relinquishing control so that the making process was meaningful for participants and their individuality was present in the final piece.
I did learn too that I need a good team around me to help install and that lots of hand sewing is excruciating so if I do a hand stitched piece again I must give myself more time.
I went to the last talk in a series of lectures on the bronze age boat find and one thing struck me in particular in relation to my piece and the linking of personal histories to the historical objects in the museum. It is possible that something like a tsunami event divided Britain from the continent and this would have created refugees, some going to France and some staying in Britain. Families would inevitably have been split. The suggestion is that what drove boat travel to the continent would not just have been trade but a wish to see members of one’s family, now on the other side of the water.
So now I am back in the studio drawing but also thinking of the next collaborative project I might do.
Philippe sent me some lovely photos of the installation of his video piece http://www.dadonline.eu/node/429.
And I’ve posted a few images here that I like from the set up. There’s a collection of images on my website too under images which for some reason is underlined. Have to go back and change that. http://www.studio308ltd.co.uk/Clare_Smith.html
Probably happened when I decided to call that section images rather than works.
And I’m chuffed that The Voyagers is featured on the MA Fine Art site of the University for the Creative Arts. http://ucama.co.uk/news/alumins-work-launched-in-d…
I feel like bits of me are scattered all over the web.
I am moving into a new studio soon – should be in there in a couple of weeks time. I’m really excited as it is beautiful and spacious and light. I need to move fairly quickly as I have a show coming up in November, Nerve racking but exciting.
A real flurry of comments on Ruth Geldard’s blog! I actually like that quote from Balzac as in some ways it is very close to one I use on my website from Richard Serra:
From the manner in which a woman draws her thread at every stitch of her needlework, any other woman can surmise her thoughts.(Honore de Balzac)
…the vulnerability that’s exposed in an abstract drawing is as readable as one that’s made into a figurative drawing … drawing is the most credible indicator in a very direct way of who people are in relation with what they make.” (Richard Serra)
The relationship of stitch to drawing is very close and that notion of individuality being readable is very evident from the Boat Cloth made as part of The Voyagers project.
I have a couple of images of the installation now though it is hard to see the full impact of it which follows the axis of the Bronze Age Boat in its case, on top of which is a screen showing Philippe Bazin’s film “Un bateau albanais”. Am waiting for more pics.
Clare Smith's mixed English/Chinese heritage informs her perspective on issues of identity and categorisation. Her nomadic childhood and early adulthood have meant a somewhat ambivalent relationship to place, reinforced by the sense of ambiguity that comes from her mixed identity. Smith works with drawing, print media, collage and moving image to investigate this ambivalence, with references to craft, the importance of labour and the handmade. Through her choice of materials and approaches, she creates work which attempts to create a sense of unity, an interpretation of Homi Bhabha's "Third Space" - seen as a space in which different parts can come together to challenge dominant ideas of wholeness. Collaboration is part of Smith’s practice and she is also co-founder of Dover Arts Development (DAD) together with painter, Joanna Jones. This involves working with many different artists, curation, organisation, event management, creating networks across East Kent and influencing the public realm in Dover. Clare works from a studio in Dover. She has an MA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins and has exhibited nationally and internationally.
