I am currently on residency at Hospitalfield, Arbroath, for four week period. The residency is housed in a beautiful arts and crafts building close to the sea. There are seven artists taking part, including myself. We eat together at set times and cross paths during the day, but work fairly separately. The combination of time alone in the studio and being able to discuss what we have been doing has been very useful.
I have been using the time and space here to reflect on the progress I’ve made already on the new, experimental works funded by the bursary.
Some thoughts:
I’ve been thinking about how to combine something that appears handmade with something that appears manufactured, rather like when something is owned by someone for a long time and the thing takes on an impression of how it is used.
I’ve been researching techniques found in jewellery as starting points for thinking about hanging methods – clasps, rings, bolts and strings. My work recently has been concerned with abstract body-forms, so I guess this interest has something to do with thinking about an exhibition space as a body and the works as something this ‘body’ can wear.
Making objects does not come as ‘naturally’ to me as making images, hence my desire to develop this side of my work. If image making is the ‘main’ strand of my practice, are objects simply props or supports for images? Is this because I see images as more descriptive and the objects I make as more abstract? This could be an oversimplification on my part. While I am here, I will continue to think about whether I want this to change, or whether this is non-issue, after all.
JB
