Oops – ‘Exeter show’ is rather cryptic I realise. In response to Susan’s comment the show is called Polytek and I’ve posted it on Interface. It is at Water Lane, Exeter EX2 8BZ and the opening is on 29 August 5.30 to 9.30pm.
Getting quite excited now about the Exeter show. It will be interesting to see how that huge warehouse is transformed.
I think, at last, I may have some time, despite ongoing meetings and other stuff including domestic details. Only 15 more boxes to unpack. I have too much stuff – all collected over the years and forgotten about. I seem to have been living with packed boxes for the last five years – moving house, then moving out of the new one because of the fire that gutted next door and damaged ours, then moving back in. Would be nice to have an uneventful year on the house front.
Despite having no time and no space, I’ve done a couple of small paintings in tempera in a deliberately non-gestural, non-heroic way.
Passed through to the next stage of the MA. Got a bit of a ticking off for the minimal amount of work done this year. They are right; I really mustn’t waste next year as it won’t come round again and I do have a chance to make it a really good year. Let’s hope the house doesn’t catch fire again.
Went down to Exeter last weekend with my intern , who is great, to help clear and prepare the space for the group show with fellow St Martins students.
Mental space as someone said. Take that any way one wants I think. It’s a huge warehouse currently being used by graffiti artists and Book Cycle.
I ended up in agony with a bad shoulder, so must plan in assistants in future.
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.
