Chelsea College of Art and Design

N.B. I thought I had published this before Christmas….but evidently not. (Written 19th Dec 2011)
Today was my last day in the studio before Christmas. I’ve been trying various things out this term so I don’t yet have a new and cohesive body of work… which is probably how it should be at this stage, but it still makes me slightly nervous. On one hand I am aware of the final MA show and I want to make the best work I can, but simultaneously I want to experiment. The phrase ‘you can’t make an omelet without cracking an eggs’ springs to mind. I think that some MA courses are finishing schools, but Chelsea is more concerned with developing a sustainable way of making work; in terms of establishing a process that includes both making and re-evaluating.

Just before the end of term I co curated an MAFA group show with Katriona Beales and Lene Shepherd. There was no over-riding theme and no exclusive selection process, we just invited our peers to drop off work in progress. It’s great to be able to do impromptu exhibitions like that in project spaces as it’s good practice for organising shows outside. Showing work in progress is also helpful in testing out new ideas. And it’s also interesting to be on the curatorial side for a change. As an artist I really value working with curators who try to understand the artists perspective, so we tried to do the same. Still, trying to display works (that are randomly selected) so that they compliment one another is much harder than it sounds.

A bit more about me and my work.

I’m two months into my MA at Chelsea and all too aware of how quickly this one year is going. Before this I had been on their PGDiploma course which started in Jan 2011, so that has given me a bit of a head start (its quite common for people to do the two courses together effectively making it a two year MA).

Being at Chelsea has been a challenging experience, it feels like I’ve begun to take my practice a part and start again! I finished my degree at Newcastle in 2007 and between then and Jan 2010 I produced a lot of work, but it was an instinctive process. At Chelsea I have become much more aware of my own practice. I’ve also become braver in throwing caution to the wind and testing new things. The thematic content of my work hasn’t changed, I am still fascinated by the darker side of the human psyche; but how it manifests is more varied.

I’ve just done a submission for the ‘Whitechapel Open’ Competition and whilst actually getting in is a very long shot, re-writing my artists statement for the submission was helpful anyway. People sometimes ask me why I don’t submit the same statement over and over again. The reason I don’t do that is because, I’m not standing still as an artist, I always think I can explain myself better and more clearly – but it doesn’t make for an efficient way to do submissions! Nevertheless, I think this last is the most accurate yet, so here it is:

I am fascinated by why some people fall by the wayside and others do not. I am particularly drawn to stories about outsiders who are cut off from society and how individual tragedies relate to politics and dysfunctional support structures in society. I find the tragic stories and imagery that I encounter through mass media, seared on my imagination, so I attempt to explore them by making work. Through painting, ceramics and installation, I reflect on violence and vulnerability.

In 2009 I contacted men on death row in America asking them to participate in a series of portraits. As part of this process I asked them to write a letter (to accompany the painting) and send a photograph for me to use. I asked them to write about anything and the responses were all quite different; they are all interesting, and many of them I find moving and poignant. My work challenges the practice of execution in a civilised country in a simple and direct way by showing the complex, sad yet compelling humanity of the inmates. My motivation was not to question the guilt or innocence of the prisoners. I simply wanted to present these lives as they are. One man called James Hitchcock, has lived in solitary confinement on death row for 34 years. Three of the thirteen men that were involved in the series have since been executed.

Recently my work has taken a different track, whilst exploring the same themes I have altered the approach. I wanted to take on a more classically decorative visual language, to provide a greater juxtaposing with the content of my work. For me this reflects the way in which violent acts are eruptions in the fabric of society. These eruptions are so visceral and distressing that they can blind us to the systemic underlying problems that are all too often the ultimate causes of such behaviour.

Executions in America are often witnessed by two opposing parties, those there on behalf of the person being executed and those there on the behalf of the original murder victim. They may be only metres apart but the subjective experiences of the phenomenon of violence are completely different, to one justice, to another loss. This shows a deeper unresolved tension in the human psyche; depending on its context violence can be the most complete rejection of our social norms or their ultimate enforcer.

Upcoming exhibition: The National Open Art Competition 2011

I have got a collaborative piece of work that I made with Izzy McEyov in this show, which runs from 10^th – 29^th December, in Chichester. This sculpture is made from woven letters and takes the form of an American prison suit.

Dust Magazine have kindly published my work in their blog this month. Thanks very much to Francesca Maraccio for inviting me into the fold of their brillliant magazine.

Degree’s unedited asked me to write a blog, so here I am! Thanks for the invite because I was thinking about writing one and it’s nice to be involved on an. I’m doing an MAFA at Chelsea at the moment.

A few years ago I could barely e-mail and vowed I would never need my own computer….in the last few weeks I have joined twitter (@jessicapiddock) and as of today started a new blog, welome to the 21stCentury me!

I’ve had a busy month as I had a piece in the Discerning Eye which has just finished, made an installation at the British Museum Late Night

http://tinyurl.com/clktzee

and ‘Metamorphose’ at Islington Arts Factory closes this Friday. (I’m one of ten recent graduates exhibiting) So rush down to see it if you can because there are some brilliant artists in it this year including Jennifer Price, David Shields, Kristian Evju and more…

‘METAMORPHOSE’ Islington Arts Factory 4/10/11 to 25/11/11

Here’s a link to an interview with Iwona Blazwick (director of Whitechapel Gal) that I heard on R4’s ‘Start the Week’ Last night on ‘Arts & Politics’

http://t.co/CWlsA4kU

As mentioned above, the Wilhelm Sasnal exhibtion should be interesting too http://tinyurl.com/6dr97po