Yesterday I visited Andre Stitt’s studio in Cardiff with MA and MFA candidates from CSAD. We talked about the role of the studio in art practice.
During the tour, we discussed rituals associated with studio work. Sifting, sorting, prioritizing and making ready (tidying, cleaning, sharpening pencils etc.) seemed entrenched in method regardless of an individual’s medium of choice.
It was agreed that these habits were a form of ‘working while seemingly not working’ – in the case of the painters in the group, a form of mental preparation for their ultimate confrontation with the canvas.
I currently have work spaces in three locations and regularly move between Bristol and Cardiff. On the tour, someone suggested that my studio is in actual fact, the suitcase, itself.
I have been thinking a lot about my method. Exposed materials and processes in art practice interests me. I have been watching the sifting, sorting, prioritizing, piling and decision-making.
The necessity of packing and the move itself play a role here. In some ways the suitcase and the need to pack it, makes even more transparent the seeming attrition and subsequent resurfacing of ideas, themes and imagery in my work.
All I need now is a canvas to confront. What will be the viewers’ share in all of this?
