The only thing to do between the Christmas and New Year festivities and to keep sane is to start some new work that can be developed once they are all over. So with that in mind I put together some of my video footage taken at the start of the Woods to Where Else project in Kings Wood (Challock).
Very pleased to have sold a piece of work via Artfinder but very challenged by the issue of packaging it to despatch by post/courier. The packaging seemed to expand at every stage and I was also convinced I had some suitable cardboard at the ready for the final wrap but ended up with a box for a flat print! In the hope that there is a next time, I shall be much better prepared.
On another completely different note, it was very exciting to be in Coventry when the announcement came through that the city had won UK City of Culture. According to some of the feedback my talk went well though I remember very little of what I said. All good practice for January when I am doing another presentation as part of the Woods to Where Else project.
Had a wonderful day in The Kings Wood last week with fellow Woods to Where Else artists. It was such a luxury to participate in a workshop rather than organise, deliver or run one! So we were out in the woods thinking about the body in a space, moving into the woods, meeting, touching, feeling the tree trunks, twigs, leaves, moss, metal structures, roots, and looking up, down, behind. It was cold and wet and muddy but just as we finished the sun came out and almost blinded me, making little dots of blue and pink dance all over the page of my sketchbook (which I actually used).
Then it was back to the Forest Studio for lunch and some experimentation and a one-to-one to discuss ideas for the one-day residency we all get in the Studio.
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.
