Will post some drawing soon. This time management this is getting difficult! I’d be interested to know how other people/artists sort out how much time to spend on different activities.
I interviewed an articulate artist on Monday morning who is putting a lot of energy into having a successful and high-profile career at the moment – he has a sculpture on show at the Royal Festival Hall at the moment. We were talking about the romantic idea of a studio artist and how fun, energising, excellent it is to actually have time in the studio to make things, but that often there just isn’t time. With researching and applying for funding, making professional contacts and doing the administration and educational work that often surrounds exhibition-making (or in my case working, studying/researching and interviewing/writing), we both found there’s just not the time for much art-making. While this proportion of admin/working might lead to a more productive/successful career than mere studio work it does make me wonder whether we’ve got our priorities wrong. Shouldn’t there be more time spent actually making things?
On another note, while I’m thinking about how to organise my life and my way of writing about my artistic life, I really like the way Emily Speed’s a-n blog is layed out. Writing about different elements of life/art under different headings really seems to work as a way of differentiating/integrating activites and thoughts in this blog format.
Anyway, will post some drawing when I have time.
Thinking of drawing, I thought I’d post some drawings that I made from photographs I found on the internet… I did these in January and February of 2009 and though they are a decent start I feel they’re pretty wooden, with just a few interesting marks or passages. That’s not to knock them though, as if you’re a beginner in something you have to begin at the beginning right?
The drawings were exhibited in a small show of women’s art at the Reading International Solidarity Centre – a sort of activist centre and cafe. The subject, apart from my desire to improve my drawing skills, is a victorian-era American feminist journalist named Nellie Bly. I wasn’t that happy with the final results but I was still quite proud of myself for actually having done something!
I’m going to begin some drawing experiments today and will post up the results soon. I might also spend some time thinking/writing about the drawings by other artists that I love.
Trying to think of a focus for my visual art efforts this year. I think I’d like to fulfil my childhood/art student/current ambition to learn to draw – to be visually aware and literate… so I may use this blog over the next year to remind myself of this and to document my efforts… might be a bit embarrassing to begin with.
Drawing might be a way to keep in touch with being visual without it having to take up my whole life, as at the moment I’m way too busy with exams, essays, writing/interview assignments and actual paying rent work. I’m wondering if I could fit in 30 minutes a day of drawing, and whether that would lead to a noticeable improvement over the course of the year… that immediately raises questions in my mind about the function and value of drawing in the current art climate, but maybe that can wait for another post, another day.
I have at least two books on drawing at home: John Ruskin’s step by step book from a long time ago and Betty Edwards’ more recent Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. I’ll try and use those to educate myself/provide a structure and see where it leads.
Will post efforts soon!
Some things I’ve made which are very small nothingy beginnings.
Always seem to post when I’m busy at work… good to have licquorice tea breaks to type I guess.
Have been working on some line drawings that I’ll post up here at the weekend. Got my essay in – that’s what’s prevented me from writing on here for the past week. I’m now onto my final project on gender-inscription in Agnes Martin: will let you know how the research for that progresses over the next couple of months. It’s been a busy time…
Went to one day of an Art History conference at York University on Friday – on 20th century Anglo-American exchange. Was pretty interesting, lots of debate and strong ideas, in-depth research. Spending so much time learning about artists, writers and collectors – like Gertrude Stein – and looking at photos of her collections, reminds me again of the desire to make things, to hang out more with likeminded artists, to write more, all those good things. Hope that over time that will become a reality.
