Project 7 Critical essay for Ideas and processes
Exterior influences: What lessons and influences have I gained from the study of other practitioners and how have I implemented these into my own work? What impact has doing this course had on my working practices?
Introduction
As the title Ideas and Processes suggests, this is a course about ideas. By using the course materials as guidance I should be better able understand the creative process, and how using research can broaden my knowledge and understanding.
External influences can be from exploring themes as suggested in the De Waal article – Writing, music, place – or by looking at the work of other artists, investigating the well spring of their ideas and themes.
Reflecting upon how artists use these ideas and themes to stimulate, promote and develop new work, can then inform my own working practices.
Contextual research adds to my web of understanding so I am undoubtedly influenced by the wide array of artists that I have studied or seen In galleries. For the purpose of this essay I will be focussing mainly on the artists referred to or led to by the course notes as these are my recent layer of influence.
In particular the creative thinking of Martin Creed has had a big impact, I use the term ‘creative thinking’ rather than ‘work’ very deliberately here. I will elaborate further in the main body of the essay.
What lessons and influences have I gained from the study of other practitioners?
The biggest leap for me in Ideas and Processes has been to focus my research on artist philosophies, rather than specific artworks. Previously my contextual thinking has been about my response to an artist work – looking at the visual impact and the use of materials and the way these have been combined.
In the catalogue for Entangled -Threads and making – an exhibition at theTurner contemporary in Margate , Ann Coxon talked about The essay “Making something for nothing’ which dared to question the differences between amateur and high art. In it she describes a hobby book titled How to make something from nothing, encouraging women in the 1960’s to make something from various found materials as a thrifty way of crafting. She observed that this sounds very much like fine or high art. The exhibition itself contained work by many women artists whose work I admire and have since studied a little more , so they have bound to have been some influence. Artists included Eva Hesse, Christians Lohr( uses horse hair), Sonia Gomes, Louise Bougeois. All using found materials in some way in their art.
This led me to research found materials on the Tate website where I discovered that that Picasso used found objects in his work from as early as 1912, and his works along with ready-mades by Marcel Duchamp, paintings by Francis Picabia , acquired the title Objet Trouve, The movement Arte Provera in Italy, and Mono Ha in Japan also comprised of artists using found objects.
The Handsome Pork-Butcher c.1924–6, c.1929–35 by Francis Picabia – using combs for hair seems similar thinking to me choosing collage materials that were linked to the object that was being portrayed eg trees for pencils.
An artist we were encouraged to research is Martin Creed. I wasn’t massively drawn Creeds artwork specifically, however watching his video interviews has had quite a big impact. Particularly in the video series Poet of the every day- brilliant ideas. Creed talks about how seeing things through new eyes presents thoughts/questions(feelings) he makes art to feel okay, it’s a drive to communicate, a yearning for understanding. ‘Thoughts are used to deal with feelings, feelings don’t have shape – how things make you feel is the important thing’. My understanding of what he was communicating gave me permission to make work in a way that is processing my thoughts and feelings from walking in the landscape and being me, here and now, rather than making work that I feel will please anyone else, using the course materials to guide this journey has given starting points and a scaffold of ideas to investigate and inspire thoughts and processes – to get the ball rolling.
Creative thinking is realised in many different forms, similar design thinking is expressed in many different ways for example Polly Binns makes work about her response to the Norfolk Coast, rather than representation of the north Norfolk coast,
Close up
‘Intimacy and space blend in the immensity of the landscape. The whole is imbued with the memories of my body within the landscape; my step, pace and sight-line.’
Polly Binns, Serial Shimmers and Shades, 1996 Acrylic paint and thread on linen canvas 185 x 125 cm, collection of Nottingham Castle museum
Similarly Jessica Warboys makes art in a completely different way, using pigments dispersed by the sea as a response to the landscape, Barbara Hepworth walked the moors of South Cornwall and made work as a response to the landscape rather than of the landscape, all using very different ways of working, and different materials and processes. Intimacy and space blend in the immensity of the landscape. The whole is imbued with the memories of my body within the landscape; my step, pace and sight-line.Similarly Robert Rauschenberg and Alice folks both use found materials but from very different locations and they use them in a very different way.
How have I implemented these into my own work?
I’ve been quite influenced by the work of Robert Rauschenberg, another artist using found materials, Rauschenberg used walks from his apartment to gather materials, and used them to create art work. In following this philosophy in my new town I came back only with a cup lis and some sheet plastic from a builders skip that I incorporated into my first piece of work for this unit. I continued to gather and use both natural and manufactured materials throughout the coursework, feeling more empowered to use them as found.
A Strength in my work is responding to and experimenting with materials to create 3D forms. I think my enjoyment of the investigative process stems right back to childhood, I have a deeply rooted relationship with materials which naturally gives me a very haptic approach in my work. In the book art_textiles from the exhibition of the same name at the Whitworth Gallery, Jennifer Harris discusses the haptic in relation to textiles, the idea that can evoke the idea of both physical as well as emotional comfort or protection. Cloth bears witness to lived experiences and carries the traces of those who wore handled it. I believe this to be true of all materials/objects and certainly in the found objects used for assignment 5 and the bed sheet used for the rust drawing. This could be my projection onto the materials but one of the things I understand from the Martin Creed videos is that the work is for me to make …….
Moving back to wild landscape I have developed a deeper connection with the natural world, I feel a connection with artists like Barbara Hepworth and Polly Binns who walked repeatedly in the same landscape, developing a deep respect for the land and being sustained by not just the nature around them but the very sense of place. In the BBC documentary Barbara Hepworth talked about the closeness of living things in nature, to human spirit, she said that “the form and texture of a pebble in our hand is a symbol of continuity – the silent desire for peace and security, relates to the past, gives a sense of universal force. Hepworth‘s work follows nature not imitating it. Poly bins wrote a thesis ‘vision and process in textile art – a personal response to a particular landscape through textile art.’
I have being taking sustenance from the landscape and my work has developed into being a response to the land around me both in the present day, visual and environmental, and also has an almost archaeological response.
What impact has doing this course had on my working practices?
I visualise the process of making art as a gathering of metaphorical threads, strands of ideas woven into a solid object.
The main thing I have learnt is not to pre judge. The process of immersion in a task , being inquisitive, questioning and ready to experiment can yield results I couldn’t dream of – dreaming up ideas is a bit of a fallacy perhaps! It is a skill that can be honed’
I discovered that sometimes the creative thinking of an artist can have be a profound influence even if the work doesn’t have the same personal impact this is really widened my sphere of research, it’s also has caused me to look wider to where and how I found my research, it’s really important not to be dismissive of any information that you come across because everything becomes a point of reference and something that you can learn from. Information, for instance watching videos has really piqued my interest, and has caused me to look deeper into my own practice than looking at specific pieces of work has. It’s been a surprise to me But I’ve learnt more from what I don’t like than what I do like.
In ex5.2 I visualise the process as a gathering of metaphorical threads, strands of ideas woven into a solid objects, the body of work is of the hills of my home yet reflective of the wider world. It is strongly of this place in time and yet unequivocally has come from the past, the strongest area of my work has been is responding to and experimenting with materials to create 3D forms, however after completing this course my work is now also informed by an underlying narrative, a really strong response to the landscape both visually and almost archaeologically. This is a concept that I came across when researching Elise Engler, she sees herself as an anthropologist or archaeologist. I think my enjoyment of the investigative process give this work a freshness and feeling of playfulness.
Work based on a poem or song lyrics in ass2 had me completely floored, however a particular refrain ‘said the crow on the cradle’ added context to the found rusted military buckle. My response, was to the found object, and the landscape – I could not have taken the refrain and decided to find those objects to work with.(this would seem more like shopping than making art)
The completed piece may not induce an observer to think ‘crow on a cradle’ yet it was an inherent part of my journey to create the work.
In conclusion the course has led me deeper into the creative process and my understanding of how I can work. I have learned to take risks and follow my own thoughts and feelings to make work that is honest to myself. It is clear to me that a very strong response to place feed my work while still working with curiosity to investigate materials.
Anne Coxon, Entangled – Threads and making, pg31
Jennifer Harris, Art-textiles, pg15
Martin Creed, Poet of the Everyday | Brilliant Ideas Ep. 36
Light and Line – An exhibition of works by Anne Morrell & Polly Binns
Serial Shimmers and Shades, 1996 Acrylic paint and thread on linen canvas 185 x 125 cm, collection of Nottingham Castle museum
http://modernistaesthetic.blogspot.com/2011/09/polly-binns.html
https://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/tate-papers/28/picabia-handsome-pork-butcher
https://www.roberthenrycontemporary.com/artists/elise-engler/statement
