My progress has been phenominal since I had the opportunity to use this large unit through ‘Point Blank’ an organisation who have access to empty spaces, when businesses have left or stopped trading and the landlords, (bless their souls) support creatives like myself and makers or theatre groups by allowing temporary use of the premises until such times that they can be let.
I am fortunate because without it I would be cramped in my tiny attic conversion with the danger of running out of space as my work piles up in readiness for my exhibition ‘Veltas Journey Displaced’
My output has been incredible and I can only put it down to the space I am using and the intensive energy I can devote solely to my art! I would highly recommend any artist/creative/theatre group or individual to contact Point Blank (contact me for details) if they are in the Midlands Area and in need of temporary premises.
For one off use there is possibilty of no charge whatsoever, whilst more regular use may mean a very modest charge towards utilities. The units are so large where I am based that it is possible to even share the same unit and never get in each others way!
When I moved in I had the idea of completing two works per month and I have happily gone way passed that tentative target! The way my imagination is leading me through my mothers memoirs has resulted in overlapping styles. This, I deduce is because there has been much lateral thinking on my part about the means to portray the violence, the bloodshed, displacement and the politics artistically without resorting to the obvious blood and guts and finger pointing.
In my images I want to show my personal interpretation of all these elements with an artistically created backcloth of paintings and drawings which have adhered to Veltas story.
Well I have been very active in the ways to create images from the never ending chaos of my imagination which is switched on, seemingly, 24 hours a day to do justice to ‘Veltas Journey’.
To remind me of the sequence of her journey so that I do not deviate or forget certain elements and ideas I constructed a storyline much like an author would construct a storyline and it is pinned on the wall. When my ideas seem to stall I take a good look at my original storyline it has been a massive help and I have found from that I can even add to it!
I have also completed lots of drawings during this process so far and will probably exhibit a selection of these preliminery sketches as part of the exhibition.
I feel the process is as important as the exhibition and it will show where my inspirational ideas came from. I am on a journey myself.
I have to date finished one and started two other paintings. At the moment all deal with the very beginning of my mothers long journey.
I also decided the best way I could portray the futility of war and how fragile the film of peace is even today, was to present a collage of the age old question ‘why’
Other images deal with displaced people picking raw food from the fields to eat. The constant search for food and the methods the segregated girls used to offset the hunger.
Reaching the port and seeing the cargo ship which would take them to Poland.
She remembers the hunger and on boarding the ship being given a slice of dried bread and a scrap of fat. People shared the space with pigs and cows. It was not a cruise liner by any stretch of the imagination and the conditions were cramped.
I am looking for a sponsor in order to visit Riga and Jelgava in Latvia and do some more research for this exhibition and to incorporate a short video of Latvia today.
The inspiration behind this exhibition came directly from the images derived from my mothers storytelling of her time in WW2 as a displaced person, the conditions she faced, the perilous journey, her innocence and naivety, her ultimate survival. e.g.
The dress she was wearing when she fled her country was sewn from Latvias flag (red and white) it was impossible to buy new clothing and she was still growing at 13 years old. Because of the fighting she was separated from her whole family and it was to take 50 years before she saw them again!
The huge coat that both she and her best friend had to share as the autumn turned to winter and they only had the clothes they stood up in. (One arm around each other and one arm each in the sleeves.)
No water to wash in for weeks, no food to speak of, seeing the unthinkable and doing the impossible, surviving.
My mother was not able to return to see her mother or her sisters for 50 years!
I already have drawings of which portray what these memories of my mothers journey inspired in me. And I intend to do many more. My first oil painting was finished at the beginning of the week and my second is in full swing. I anticipate completing at least two canvases each month.
I would like to process my thoughts with my blog through these next 10 months by sharing my experiences as I prepare for my exhibition in July2013
