Thursday's critical framework sessions have ended until next year now so no more trips up to London on Thursdays. It would be so easy to let the time get eaten up by 'life' but Thursdays will be studio days now for a while.
I must make some work! I have a presentation to do at college, assessment deadlines coming up, DAD stuff to do, dog to train, ….. Somehow it should be possible to find some time.
It was my turn to present my thoughts about my research paper yesterday and I have to say it was very beneficial. Apart from listening to other people's presentations, just the fact of having to present my thinking in public results in changes to how I will structure it in writing. Questions from fellow students and tutor alike act as a brake on becoming over-theoretical, over-simplistic, chasing straw targets etc.
It seems pretty basic, but I had very few references to any artists in there!
One thing I have to finalise by July is my study proposal. I'm continuing to focus on female subjectivities and female ontology as well as memory and personal narratives. I want to do more sustained drawings and also experiment with colour and paint. I tried out some tempera – from a tube. If I continue with it as a medium I'll make my own. I chose it partly because I want to work in a way that is not gestural in the Abstract Expressionist sense, in other words deliberately not subjective in that way, and tempera seems to work in a way that will not allow that.
I'm now more than half-way through the first year of the MA. It's amazing – I clearly haven't done as much work as I feel I should have, though I like to tell myself it is because my practice has been gradually changing and I need time for my practice and my thoughts to come together.
The travelling has not been bad at all – cancelled trains have been rare and mostly I've managed to get some reading done on the way in though I have to admit to nodding off occasionally.
Sometimes it's hard to organise life round the MA and getting to London to see stuff but I'm glad I saw The Russian Linesman and the Annette Messager show last week. It was really interesting to see the way Sandback used yarn, compared to Messager. I got pretty excited about the Messager show and and have done lots of work since.
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.
