Short film – Selection of Images – Text…

Interior – Inbuilt – imprint

Process: Painting (Oils), Drawing, Digital Drawing/painting and clay.

Responding to ideas around the Interior space. Continuing with a loose approach to the physical act of making.

In terms of painting I am blending ideas with process. Intuitive actions, no intention for final composition/aesthetic. A process of layering painting over painting, each time different with no end point. This feels like the space where my ideas are less obvious and communicate my personal feeling of the subject matter, the act of over painting pushing and pulling past and present actions.

With the clay I have tangible sense of inside space, pushing the material to breaking point where it can no longer hold itself and inside space breaks out. It feels less ambiguous yet still open to interpretation which hints at natural forms and small beings perhaps. I have much less experience with clay compared to oils so there is a curiosity to explore the possibilities of this material.

Context: Interior spaces. In the context of the house and other forms of interior. What it is to be inside a space.

The home: Thinking about human construction of interior space in western culture. Less the outer physical structure but more the manner in which we order our environment to be psychologically ‘home’. Memories, personal histories, the self is present by the placing of objects in our safe place.

Most recently I have been exploring this through my current home and the home of my birth. The home of my birth and childhood has the biggest imprint on my sense of what it is to be at home, often dreaming of what is current but in the backdrop of this home. Rebecca Solnit (Field Guide to Getting Lost) describes the dreams of childhood home: “In dreams, nothing is lost. Childhood homes, the dead, lost toys all appear with a vividness your waking mind could not achieve”. This month, after over thirty years under the same ownership the house came on the market and I was able to go inside, perhaps for the last time. I recorded this taking photos and am writing my thoughts on the experience which was immersive merging past and present.

I am currently reading:

Rebecca Solnit – A Field Guide to Getting Lost

Gaston Bachelard – The Poetics of Space

Questions

I am thinking of inviting others to input in some way as part of my public realm project. Does this enquiry prompt you to reflect on your own thoughts, feeling, and memories of what it is to be home?

I have recently set aside the clay to focus on painting. Do you think that I should continue to explore my ideas with the clay? Perhaps increasing scale? Any clay/materials advice would be welcome?

I am interested in fictional writing and poetry in terms of creating sense of spaces through words. Any recommendations?