Now we’re nearing the end of the degree, the issue of “ticking all the boxes” seems to be arising more and more. I’m not going to go into detail about how our course goes about marking, but there seem to be countless different opinions on the importance of the degree show, how our support work should be presented, and how much weight we should place on different aspects of our practice.
It makes you wonder how Fine Art courses ever came about- how do you impose a system of grading on something so subjective? As I’m sure you already know, this is the question that always gets asked by people who have no experience of art education. It is a hard one to answer though, especially given the diversity of approaches to making work that there are within my course alone.
Number 1 on the list of ‘How to be Miserable as an Artist’ (I don’t know who wrote this originally so can’t credit them!) is ‘Constantly compare yourself to other artists’. I agree that this can make you miserable, especially when you feel you have to alter the way you naturally work in order to fit in in some way. But I also think it’s an interesting thing to think about, as well as being something we are required to do for contextual studies.
For instance, my course- and housemate Laura has recently been feeling a bit lost with her work, and asked for my advice. Last night I sat and looked through all her recent sketchbooks, journals, and artist research, and presented her with a page of notes and sketches on what I would do if it were my work. She seems to have approved, though it’s too early to draw any conclusions yet!
However, it was an interesting exercise to do. Stepping into someone else’s shoes in terms of art practice is something I haven’t done before- obviously I’ve researched and written about other artists’ work a lot, but to do it with someone you know well is very different. I found myself thinking of what her strengths were, and how I could encourage her to play to them. It makes me wonder what would happen if the process were reversed and the spotlight turned on me!
I suppose the conclusion of this slightly rambling post is that sometimes it IS a good thing to compare yourself to other artists, to step outside your own practice and experience what it might be like to do things outside the limitations we all tend to impose on ourselves. While it’s inevitable that the end of the degree is going to involve a lot of box-ticking, it doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s no room for us to approach this in our own unique ways.
So, we’ve reached the last week of term (though I will still be in the studio next week so a bit longer to go for me) and I’m trying to resist the instinct to wind down a bit. I’m getting along fine but it’s easy to slip into thinking too far ahead- to the holidays, degree show, post-uni- and forget that the work is still the most important thing.
I’m still working on the paintings from the last post, with not much to report on there. I was part of a group crit last week, and the feedback was positive, with everyone seeing different (weird and wonderful) things in my work, which I like to hear about!
I’ve also started making new drawings and collages from a book about snowflakes. One of the things I explore in my work are the underlying structures and patterns that reveal themselves in nature, like the incredible intricacy of these snowflakes. If you think about it too much it’s a bit mindblowing, but I’m interested in hinting at this feeling of disbelief and bringing the sciency aspect of my source material through into my images.
I have a few ideas in the pipeline relating to this as well as incorporating mirrors and symmetry. Watch this space to see them appear!
I’m back into the swing of things now, after being a bit thrown by last week’s tutorial. To generate some new ideas I cut up a photo of one of my paintings from October, and created lots of collages, taking into account my tutor’s advice about simplicity and awkwardness in the paintings.
Several new pieces have sprung from this, including a series of 6 small paintings on mirrored tiles. So far I think these are quite effective, the only downside is having to look at myself constantly while I paint them!
I feel good about this new direction in my work, especially now I’ve finally braved the tech workshop and cut into the board I’m working on. These paintings have only just been started, but I like the introduction of physical negative space into the paintings. Will gauge the reaction of my peers properly in my group crit tomorrow morning…
It’s been a bit of a strange week so far- tutorial with unexpected outcome, spring clean of studio space, and last-minute dash to apply for a residency!
My tutorial was on Monday, with my tutor Virginia who hasn’t seen my work properly since October as she was injured in an accident. Thankfully she’s recovered now, and was able to cast a fresh eye on my studio work. Unexpectedly for me, she was most impressed with the painting I thought was the weakest, saying that it has an “inventive and characterful” quality the others don’t possess, and that she thinks I should use this as the basis for my next line of inquiry. Personally I’d felt that the two other paintings I’ve near enough finished this week (blue and white one, red and pink one) were more successful.
Her advice was to clear my studio space and leave just this painting and two other pieces up on the wall, then to just sit and think about them for a while. I did this, and I think I see what she’s getting at… though her opinion does conflict quite a bit with what my previous temporary tutor said! I’ve had a couple of ideas since then and will start putting them into practice today. Hopefully I’ll be able to strike a balance between the two viewpoints.
I’ve been keeping an eye out for postgraduate opportunities too. There’s one residency I’ve been interested in for a while, but was very confused by the website. I finally discovered the link to the application form at 10 o’clock last night, also discovering that the deadline is Friday and they want applications by post! Cue typing out artist statement and CVs into the early hours, then pre-uni mad dash to the IT room, battling with uncooperative printers and tracking down big enough envelopes. *Breathes sigh of relief* after all that it had better reach them in time!
I’m feeling in quite a productive mood this week, partly helped by having made a timetable outlining what I want to have done by the end of each week… it’s forced me to do those tasks I keep putting off! Buying a shedload of MDF- check. Buying a thank you gift for the second year who transported said shedload in her car- yet to do.
On the list for the end of this week is to have the 4 paintings I’ve been working on finished. I’m not sure I’ll achieve this, mainly due to drying time, but I think one of them is there (see top image), and the others aren’t too far off. I’m pleased with how these are going, though I am having a bit of a battle with a large painting from last term I’ve gone back to try and improve. But then, where’s the fun without the battle?
I’ve also started a collage on an old mirror we had in our garage. I got the idea from Isa Genzken’s “Kinder Filmen I”. Not sure how I feel about this yet, but the mirrored surface adds another dimension of disorientation, which is quite interesting.
Finally, after doing a bit more research on last week’s website enquiry, I’ve created an online portfolio. Have a look if you have time, any feedback would be welcome:
http://suzywaldron.carbonmade.com/
