Proposal – 709

Aims

To date my long term practice has predominantly been anchored in concepts of place, sense of belonging and home. The MA began with a period of experimental processes where I uncovered ways of working which were intuitive and free from representation. Last year following a visit to my childhood home I embarked on a period of focused writing reflecting on the experience of returning home. I am interested by the power of remnants from my past still in the house thirty seven years after my leaving and the house’s ability to transport me to moments which I thought I had forgotten. In particular I am interested in objects and tangible memory triggers which has fed into my studio practice as I began to merge writing with process grounding the previously open forms I had been painting into internal spaces. For this project I aim to concentrate further on the object of memory and the notion of holding, holding physically and holding subconsciously onto something. The writing of Rebecca Solnitt (A field guide to getting lost), Sherry Turkle (Evocative Objects) and James Krasner (Home Bodies) has given me a broader insight into the subject and the experiences of others in this subject area. My written work connects my own experience and memory to wider concepts of the subject and will underpin my thinking throughout whilst my studio practice will be a physical manifestation of these thoughts through touch and process.

I aim to produce a body of work using oil paint and clay which will echo my experience of memory and object observing how the object can evoke memory through conscious and subconscious thought. A methodical process which will initially look specifically at objects in my possession, holding, drawing, painting, sculpting and writing in response to the physical interaction with specific items. It is not specifically my intention to represent these items in a literal way or to tell my own story but more to do with universal feelings of remembering through objects and tangible matter.

I am also mindful that the act of making itself could be considered a means of recording and documenting experience and duration. Do the tools, materials and final piece itself become both an object of remembering and a physical record of my actions repeating and changing over time? I will be recording elements of the making process throughout; however, whilst this is an area of interest it is not intended at this stage to be the focus of the work.

Objectives

I will continue to make work which is experimental and intuitive building on the work made in year one and two. This will include work on paper, Oil on canvas/panel and explorations using clay. This experimental phase will be punctuated by crits, tutorials, research, gallery visits, seminars and self evaluation and will take place between now and Christmas. My intention is to then select and develop best ways forward for final exhibition. This experimental period will allow for changes and refining of my ideas and will run alongside my research and essay which will underpin the project.

The work will develop the blended approach I have been using which involves experiencing holding, looking, sensing objects and drawing, painting and sculpting responses to the experience. These twelve objects are items from my loft, collected and found objects from my life both pre and post my existence as well as found objects which seem to echo someone else’s past. The experience is fleeting physically but resonates over a longer time during the making process becoming abstracted and distorted.

The clay will provide a three dimensional element to the making aspect and the two processes will run alongside each other. This is to allow one to feed into the other. There is a stronger sense of object, touch and form in the qualities in clay as it holds weight and substance which can be held and experienced in a different way to paint. The two mediums are connected in terms of the making process however I am less concerned with how or if they connect aesthetically at this stage.

Project outlines and methods

I have organised materials required for the initial stages of my project. I aim to produce a minimum of three canvas pieces and a number of clay pieces alongside a series of five works on paper which are likely to be multimedia and perhaps three dimensional.  This is an approximate target which I feel is achievable between now and the Christmas break.

The scale of the work will begin as a series of smaller pieces which will enable me to make multiple versions and developments fairly quickly which are free from expectation as sometimes happens with larger works. Ultimately it is my goal to make work which is life-size and reflects actual scale. This is important in terms of viewer experience and enabling an understanding of the objects size, weight and presence, how it may feel and be held in the real world despite its possible abstraction.

I plan to set aside time for research and reading for a minimum of one day a week but will continue to use my blog for notes and reflections at least twice weekly and this may include film work of the making process to support my aims.  This will help me to clarify my thoughts through this gathering and recording process. This proposal will provide a document for reflecting back and recording changes as they occur.

Mapping the field and sources – Framing the work

Materials and process

James Elkins –  What Painting Is

Thinking Through Art – Reflections On Art As Research.

Writers and theorists

Henri Burgson – The Philosophy Of Henri Bergson.

Henri Burgson – intellect and Intuition in Henri Bergson. – The Dynamics of Transformation.

Gaston Bachelard – The Poetics of Space

James Krasner – Home Bodies

Marcel Proust – Excerpt from Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust

Rebecca Solnitt – A field guide to getting lost.

Sherry Turkle – Evocative objects.

Virginia Woolf  – To the lighthouse.

Artists and makers

Martine Poppe

Frances Bacon

Anj Smith

Cecily Brown

Rachel Whiteread

Cornelia Parker