For some reason I am using a lot more colour! I am continuing to explore printed mark-making and taking some of those experiments into collage work, bringing together various materials, much of it recuperated from discarded pieces of work, ghost prints and tracings, cut up or torn and re-ordered.
Ugh, the weather is so horrible that I wish I had a big studio in the house. My studio is actually very close and within walkable distance but sometimes inertia gets the better of me. However, I made it there yesterday – admittedly in the car as I had stuff to transport – and did a load of tidying up. A kind of ritualistic activity to kick off the new year, and something I always do when I have been away from the studio for a while.
I even managed to do a small charcoal drawing, about A4 in size.
The plan is to go back and do another drawing later today. I would say my New Year resolution is to be in the studio every day, but that isn’t doable so maybe I will just resolve to get there more often this year.
ps. can’t upload the image but take a look here.
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.
