ART HISTORY: Really great trip to the Harvard archive/storage facility in Somerville, near Boston. My meeting with Christina Rosenberger was excellent. Our research interests on Martin are so different, but we had a lot of questions in common and some similar perspectives on the work. She’s also a much more experienced scholar than me, and she was happy to give me lots of advice on things like taking good photographs and how to approach big commercial galleries with odd questions on pieces of art (like my current obsession with Martin’s aluminium frames).
I also got to view some really excellent Martins. The phrase “Kid in a candy store” springs to mind! Of particular interest to me was a pencil on watercolour grid from 1960, which seemed to be deliberately intended to soak, wrinkle (almost destroy) the thin paper on which it was made. I made approx 6 pages of sketchbook and written notes on this drawing as I think its unusual texture, set off by pencil lines which almost seem to score the paper (they don’t, it’s just a clever trick of perspective) will feature in my dissertation. It was an inspiring day – and also made me appreciate my boyfriend who not only found us a place to stay with an old friend, but also partied all night with said friend, and still drove me to the archives before 9am the next morning! True love if ever I saw it.
I’m a little worried about the writing up phase of my dissertation, which should have started already. However, I plan to begin that on Wednesday now that a lot of my archival visits are complete… well, complete is totally the wrong word here. It’s more like, my archival work for the next few years (if I choose to continue) has just begun. The archives and stored paintings of Martin’s are so rich, and so understudied, that there is a real opportunity here to say something worthwhile and hopefully original.
DRAWING: Drawing month is going well. I’m finding the interest and response quite overwhelming, especially from other artists and illustrators. I’m making some new friends and viewing lots of interesting art work too. I’m having to work hard to fit my own drawing practice into my schedule. It seems corny, but having to present my ‘Saturday Sketchbook’ online each weekend is really forcing me to keep pushing forward with it, for fear of looking like a fake blogger who can’t keep her own project going.
That said, I’m certainly learning a lot about drawing, looking more closely at other artist’s drawings and have started finding myself getting all fidgety and frustrated if I miss a day or two of my drawing time. Which is exactly what I wanted… I’d love to form a drawing habit so that I can go on improving and looking and touching and critiquing and observing long after July’s Drawing Month project is over.
ART HISTORY: Very excited, and also rather nervous, as tomorrow morning I will be attending Harvard University’s Fogg Museum store in Somerville, MA, in order to view some paintings and drawings by Agnes Martin. I’ll also be meeting with Christina Bryan Rosenberger, a conservator at the museum, and an IFA New York doctoral candidate looking at material processes in Martin’s work. I’m not sure exactly what I will find helpful in either the viewing or the meeting but I’m looking forward to moving into unknown territory. I’ve noticed that whenever I get stuck on an Agnes Martin problem, or if I’m just tired and need some inspiration/motivation, viewing some of Martin’s works “in the flesh” revives my interest and reminds me why I care so much about researching and interpreting her work.
DRAWING: My 30 Days of Drawing project is going really well and I’m attracting more readers each day. Thrilled about this. I’m glad there is an interest or a curiosity out there about such a traditional, but rich, art form. Although I’ve been busy, running the blog challenge is focusing my mind and my actions towards drawing in a way that I don’t often manage to sustain. I hope that my daily drawing practice will continue long after July is over. I feel that this might provide a way for me to really start practicing as an artist again and not merely as a critic or historian.
INTERVIEW: I’m a huge fan of New York based artist, illustrator and entrepreneur Molly Crabapple and was absolutely thrilled when she agreed to do an interview for my Drawing Month project on her use of and attitudes towards drawing as a medium. I just put the article up today and I hope you’ll enjoy it. I’ll be publishing interviews with artists every few days during July – I’m really happy with the responses I’ve received so far.
BLOGGING: 30 Days of Drawing has begun. I’m nervous and excited and I really hope lots of people are inspired to take part and to practice drawing.
USA: I’m still pretty exhausted from my travels so far, but had a briliant time in the Philadelphia ICA (University of Pennsylvania) archives. The modern art archivist Donna Brandolisio is very keen to share her knowledge and interests, and is a specialist on the history of the ICA itself. The curator at the time of Agnes Martin’s 1973 survey show there, Suzanne Delahanty, was apparently an enthusiastic, compassionate and formidable woman, holding a museum directorship at a time when the women’s movement was just gaining new momentum.
DRAWING: I’m really enjoying drawing grids each day at the moment, experimenting with texture, materials and colour. I hope to get the courage up to do some observational drawing tomorrow morning and will post my efforts up on my site.
HEALTH: I had a blood test just before leaving for the USA. Turns out I have anaemia, which might explain the constant dizziness and problems in concentration I’ve been having. Getting a diagnosis is a good thing though, isn’t it, as now I can stock up on iron supplements and broccoli and hopefully soon I’ll be back to full strength. One of my tutors from the Prince’s Drawing School said, ‘If you want to work, you need to eat.’ Will have to feed myself up!
INTERVIEW: I recently interviewed award-winning a-n blogger, artist and gallery manager Rosalind Davis regarding her experience setting up Core Gallery, Deptford, London.
You can view the interview now on my website. I’m really grateful to Rosalind for the time she put in to answer my questions in depth. The interview has really helped me to think more about setting up my own gallery here in Philadelphia (oh yes, I’m here now!) and is full of practical advice.
CRITICISM: I’m heading to the Philadelphia ICA’s Queer Voice exhibition soon. It looks fascinating. I’ll be reviewing it for White Hot Magazine.
DRAWING: I’ve been drawing still, which is great… My blog’s “30 Days of Drawing Challenge” begins this Thursday, 1st July. a-n blogger Emma Cameron is writing a guest post on her use of drawing for the month, and I have some wonderful artist, musician and illustrator interviews lined up too. I do hope some a-n readers will pop along and join in our exploration of drawing.
GUEST BLOGGING: For the drawing month, I also still have some guest blogger spots open for any a-n bloggers who are interested in writing a piece up to 500 words long on any aspect of drawing. I’m also open to drawn posts or artist statements that relate to drawing. Email me at becky @ beckyhunter.co.uk if you’re interested.
ART HISTORY: Ok, back to reading about the wonderful Agnes Martin for my MA dissertation. I’m going to be reading her work through the lens of Yayoi Kusama and Mona Hatoum, as well as looking into attitudes towards psychoanalysis in 1960s USA. Fun times.
I guess now that I’m back at school full time I will be posting here a little less frequently. Still I have lots of gallery research bubbling away behind the scenes…
I can’t wait to read this blog in 2 years time after I’ve set up my space and trace how it all developed from this tiny seed.
That’s all.
