Diary of an Art Historian

CRITICAL WRITING: My most recent review of ‘Dance With Camera’, an exhibition at the Philadelphia ICA concerned with the past forty years of dance and film/video collaborations is up on my portfolio and can also be read on the beautiful, soft paper of the brilliant contemporary art publication MAP Magazine.

ART HISTORY: My MA and future PhD plans are pretty demanding on my time at present. Have written my first draft PhD research statement on classical and materialist interpretations of Agnes Martin’s grids. Today I’m writing a coursework essay critiquing Briony Fer’s recent lecture at the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, on Eva Hesse’s test-pieces or Studioworks.

ART PRACTICE: Have taken up drawing and making almost nothings again and am committed to working a little each day. My work is now included on the Centre For Recent Drawing’s online community page, perhaps something interesting will come of this. Will try to update once a week with progress on art activities.

A full time MA in History of Art is exhausting! I’m feeling frustrated that there’s no time to make art, or to rest properly. I’ve been out walking this morning at St Nicholas Fields conservation site near where I live, partly to have space to think about what to do… I want to use this blog to keep engaging with some kind of art practice while I’m studying.

Keeping an art practice going while studying full time must be possible. It has to be, if I’m to begin a PhD in History of Art next September but don’t want to lose my creative core. I’m going to make a commitment to blogging once a week (but trying to keep off the internet otherwise!) and to try to give one day per week to making art. I’m going to set a goal of exhibiting something in June 2010 so that there’s an end point in sight, to focus on.

Right… going to find some inspirational images and get drawing.