I'm not sure if other artists do this but...I (mostly) only name my paintings if they're going into a show! Unfortunately naming my work comes last, its a bit of an afterthought with some. I have used song lyrics, a poem, a feeling, something from a film, inspiration from a gallery or other place I have visited as my chosen name. I don't keep lists, (I now think I should), but I have an envelope of text I have cut out of an old book. I started cutting out the text and using it with a finished painting to create the narrative and its name. I still have lots of the cut-outs as they seemed too good not to use one day. However, my work is process-led, I have never chosen a cut-out sentence and made a piece of work to fit. Often, 'my practice pieces' come out as the best ones. The approach to my work and the process means I can't replicate the marks exactly.
Copying my practice piece tends to lose its 'essence'; it becomes stiff and flat. These practice pieces are usually in my sketchbook and that's where they stay. It becomes a library of time and skill development. However, recently I have been sharing these on my Instagram account. I have been naming my sketchbook work after the place of inspiration. The painting 'December Morning, Tehidy' was painted from a photograph I took one morning of a vivid sunrise through the bare-branched trees. The piece, 'Over the Hedgerow' is a viewpoint I often stop at on my countryside walk, over the hedgerow I often see a rabbit in the field and lots of wildlife around the Cornish hedge where I stand. Both of these are still in my sketchbook. See more of my images with narrative on the Krowji Residency page
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If you want it, you have to make it happen Pretty obvious, right? However, I’m really good at talking myself out of a situation because I have what I now recognise as imposter syndrome and I’m good at procrastinating. I know I’m good at procrastinating because when I got my latest phone and checked the digital wellbeing app it came with, I realised how much time I spent on my phone. All those hours I could have done something productive like sort my studio, started that piece of work that’s been stewing as an idea for ages, contacted a gallery, applied for something etc. I’ll never get that time back. My imposter syndrome generally manifests as anxiety telling myself that I’m rubbish so why bother; it’s has reduced me to tears on many occasions. If I listened to myself though I would’ve missed out on the experiences I’ve had. When I went back to college it was the first thing I was doing for myself for years, I’d been a stay at home parent and struggled with post-natal depression, I had little confidence left however I knew I wanted to do something creative. Art had always been a hobby. When I walked into the class, I thought that I didn’t belong there. I stuck it out and studied for four years achieving my Ba Hons degree. It was such a difficult four years; my children were still very young, juggling study with home stuff was really hard and stressful, I snapped and said several times I was quitting. I knew I’d regret it if I did quit and upon graduating I went straight into a paid creative job and won a residency in an art studio. Those opportunities wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t been determined to finish. There have also been many times where I have had the opportunity to show work that I felt really unsure about; again imposter syndrome tells me nobody would be interested. It always means a lot to me when someone says they like it, they have a connection to it, some have said that ‘they just had to have it’ and of course I feel on top of the world for a while. I usually go to London to be a part of an exhibition or see a show and I’ve nearly talked myself out of it a few times. I can guarantee once I’m there, I don’t want to come back yet, because there’s so much to see and do! Let’s hope this virus goes away soon so we can all jump at the opportunity to travel and socialise again! I have decided to start the new year by joining in with the 21 day art challenge set by Tara Leaver over on Instagram; you can sign up via Tara’s website or screenshot the prompts and get going. Most people are doing the challenge by posting photos to their Instagram page however, I decided to do it as blog posts and sharing links on my Instagram. I haven’t joined in an art challenge before but I had several reasons to join:
So the first prompt of the challenge is called A Favourite Painting. I’ve probably considered myself a painter since my last year at university; around 6 years ago when studying for my Ba Hons. It doesn’t feel that long ago but that’s a lot of paintings in that time! I find that whenever I’m working on a piece of work, whether in my sketchbook, on the table or at the easel, I will leave it on display for a while. It’s like leaving it to breathe; even if it’s already dry I’ll keep looking at it from various angles. Whatever I’m working on becomes the favourite; I’ll keep giving it attention, tweaking the composition, wondering whether I can call it finished and share it on my Instagram and Pinterest pages. However, if I’m creating a body of work I will lay out all of the pieces and pick a couple of favourites and some that I think don’t work now but could become something else by cropping or working over the surface again. One painting that will remain a firm favourite of mine is one that I no longer possess; I sold the painting at the private view of its showing and I’m really happy that someone now has it on display in their home than it being stacked with others in my studio. The painting is called Towards Zennor and is the canvas I exhibited at Tate Modern in 2019 (you can read about it here) it is mixed media on stretched canvas. This painting isn’t a favourite because it was exhibited and sold in London but because of the experience of creating it. Towards Zennor is one of many pieces made as part of a mentoring project I did with landscape artist Liz Hough; a colleague from when I worked at St Ives School of Painting. We drove just out of St Ives town to do some sketching up on the hills whilst following the journey artist Peter Lanyon made. The grey clouds were looming, it was biting wind and it felt like a race against time to do as much as I could before we had to run back to the car. We sketched in various spots between St Ives and Zennor and once I was back in the studio I started picking through all the pieces to see which pieces stood out to be worked from. This particular composition was created several times; the original in my sketchbook, the canvas, a mixed media on wood piece (also sold) and a piece on paper. All worked from the same sketches made onsite but all are different because of the creative process used for each, not all of them were intended to be finished pieces but its common to have several pieces as studies or prep work. In January this year, I wrote a blog post called ‘2019 roundup and plans for 2020’, however, I didn’t know that all plans would be put on hold or completely changed for a worldwide pandemic. A scary time of being at home worried about our families, friends, and livelihoods.
So what were my plans for this year? When the Coronavirus pandemic lockdown came into place I was still working in the art gallery where we had the exhibition of Naum Gabo, Russian constructivist; “...the first extensive presentation of Naum Gabo's sculptures, paintings, drawings and architectural designs to be held in the UK for over 30 years. The exhibition marks the centenary of the Realistic Manifesto 1920, a set of pioneering artistic principles launched in Moscow by Gabo and his brother Antoine Pevsner. The statement declared that authentically modern art should engage with and reflect the modern age. ” - Tate St Ives During our time in quarantine, my colleague, Alice, decided to put together a film of the museum staff reading the realistic manifesto translated from Russian to English, not only marking 100 years since it was written but also how relevant it is today. The manifesto was originally written by Gabo and his brother Antoine Pevsner. I took part; it has been a joy and a privilege to be able to collaborate. It was really sad that the exhibition was missed by many and on my last day I found this written in the exhibition catalogue, I shared this to my Instagram: "Art should attend us everywhere that life flows and acts...at the bench, at the table, at work, at rest, at play; on working days and holidays, at home and on the road...in order that the flame to live should not extinguish in mankind" Naum Gabo, from Constructions for real life exhibition catalogue 2020 You can find out more about Naum Gabo here. References https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-st-ives/exhibition/naum-gabo https://www.moma.org/collection/works/173291 text for gabo pic 1 …Naum Gabo Head No.2 1916, enlarged version 1964. The Work of Naum Gabo © Nina & Graham Williams / Tate. Photo: Kirstin Prisk. Happy New Year and happy new decade! I thought I would do a roundup of 2019 and what is instore for 2020 post. I don’t generally do resolutions as such but last year one of my goals was to be more active with my creativity. I didn’t have a clear set plan of what I was going to do or a timescale which sounds really rubbish, in fact I was very vague because my art has to fit around my job and family. I felt if I was too rigid and things didn’t go to plan I would feel too defeated. However I had some great successes last year and a few low lights but that’s to be expected, as they say; a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor. I think it’s important to acknowledge what didn’t work rather than erase those bits and paint a ‘perfect picture’ for the world. I wrote about it here in my post 'How to deal with rejection as a creative practitioner'. In 2019 I was lucky to have 5 exhibitions in Cornwall;
When I went back to college I remember being nervous and telling myself several times I wasn’t good enough so to have exhibited and sold my work at Tate St Ives and Tate Modern were definite career highlights and experiences in 2019. The paintings I submitted for both Tate exhibitions were painted as part of a mentorship I did, one sold at the private view and the other about a week later! ‘From Trevalgon with Lanyon’ shown at Tate St Ives I had to take my artwork to London so I spent a few days there and also enjoyed the Olafur Eliasson exhibition, a few days is never enough though. I love London as it just opens my mind to more artists and I always come home with lots of new ideas. In February, many months before the exhibition at Tate Modern I went to see the Don McCullin photography exhibition at Tate Britain. This exhibition will be at Tate Liverpool 5th February – 6th May 2020. I know Cornwall has so many artists and galleries but it’s nice to get away from seascape themed artwork and look at different perspectives. So what’s the plan for 2020? I made a list a few days ago;
‘It all works out in the end, you just got to deal with the rejection every now and again’ This is something I have had to tell myself several times. Nobody likes rejection but you have to put yourself out there otherwise you will think about the ‘what if…’ With such easy access to what people are doing now through social media it’s easy to look through someone’s Instagram or Facebook page and think that other people are doing better but you have to remember it’s only the highlight reel; not everybody talks about the not so great stuff. I’m guilty of that too because if something goes well for me I want to shout about it because I feel good and there’s nothing wrong with that. There has been several times when I’ve said to myself or my friends: ‘I’m a rubbish artist’ ‘Nobody would want to buy this’ ‘Why am I wasting my time?’ ‘Maybe I should focus on having a ‘proper’ job’ I haven’t discussed these feelings on my creative social media account or about any of the rejections I have had as creative practioner. There have been a few I have experienced but not many people generally talk about it. I submitted photos and an artist statement to apply for an exhibition where a group of people rejected the whole proposal, no explanation of why and it hit me hard. I know several people on that judging panel and felt embarrassed. I had worked towards this for nearly a whole year and without the reason of why it wasn’t good enough I felt I couldn’t improve or progress, I wasn’t sure what to do other than cycle through those negative thoughts and feel stupid for putting all my eggs in one basket.. However later on I submitted two of the paintings for shows at Tate Modern London and Tate St Ives and they were successful! I had some amazing feedback, one sold at the private view and the other one sold the week it was on display. If I had let those negative feelings consume my thoughts I probably wouldn’t have tried to get in the Tate Gallery as that is a big step up from a small town independant venue. Only a couple of months after that I submitted a painting for an exhibition which wasn’t accepted. I felt a bit low but I did better to reason with myself; I had submitted one large painting rather than a couple of smaller ones where the gallery may have been able to squeeze one out of the two in, I took a risk which was better than not trying at all and wondering whether it would have been accepted. I sat at the bus stop with my large painting wrapped in a bin liner (not very professional but the reality is that I don’t have the funds for archival wrapping and a courier to take it for me). As I walked through the door feeling thankful that it had stopped raining long enough for me to get the painting home, my phone picked up the Wi-Fi and I received a message; a commission request! I went through quite a roller-coaster of emotions that day! I found a book at work in our Wellbeing box (so grateful for this) which really helped me and I recommend reading if you can get hold of it. The book is called Ways of Being by James Cahill, Advice for Artists by Artists and covers the early days being a student, getting their first shows, becoming successful, inspiration and lots more through short artist quotes. I do recall a few quotes that helped me and reminded me to just keep going with my art no matter what is going on in life and how busy I am, just do something creative every day. For me that can be just a quick sketch, discovering a new artist and making a note to look up more about them, supporting another artist by buying a print or book, visiting an exhibition, discovering images on Pinterest that sparks a new project…anything to just keep going. It helps to remember that:
If you need some more positivity, inspiration and reasons to keep on with your creative practice visit my Creative Help & Inspiration Pinterest board, save them to your phone, laptop, tablet or pin them to your own boards! This week Tate St Ives are hosting an exhibition showcasing the creative talents of its staff based on the theme environments. I am really pleased to have a painting on show! The exhibition also includes sculpture, jewellery, photography, painting, performance, film and more. The exhibition runs from 24 - 29 September 2019, Foyle Studio, Level 3. From Trevalgan with Lanyon by Stephanie Croydon My exhibition piece is mixed media on wood and was made during a mentoring session with artist Liz Hough. We went to a high point in St Ives to sketch; between rocks, fields and with the sea at the horizon. Nearby is a memorial plaque dedicated to St Ives born landscape artist; Peter Lanyon. Statement; 'The coast, woodland and the countryside are places I often use as inspiration to create, working outside directly in the landscape. Primitive places unoccupied by technology and consumerism; particularly up on the hills and in fields where the landscape still feels raw, still bearing traces of how our predecessors occupied and moved through the landscape'. 'I use these areas as a place for quiet contemplation, places where we can be still from the world. ‘From Trevalgan with Lanyon’ is taken from a larger body of work; Out West, and was created with the starting point of looking in more depth at the ancient Cornish landscape. Following Peter Lanyon’s map along the Penwith Coastline, I started from Trevalgan near Lanyon’s memorial plaque, information gathering directly taken from my surroundings'. 'Evolving from my previous work; looking at how the world touches us on an emotional level, working outside leads me to question our movement in the landscape at a time when it has become critical to question the future of our environment. How we move through the landscape every day; our footprint and the wider impact we are creating with consumerism, waste and the impact of climate change'. The private view was really busy and there were performances of music, poetry and other reading on the night. On Friday there will be another performance at 12.30pm by the wonderfully talented Alice Ellis-Bray which is not to be missed! The show has numbers next to each piece rather than text but there are sheets and a booklet available for visitors to find out which piece belongs to which artist, the booklet gives a short statement about each artist. The exhibition is family friendly and free with a paying ticket which will give you access to the rest of the galley. Modern Art and St Ives and Otobong Nkanga: From Where I Stand are the exhibits currently on show. Although this isnt a selling exhibition, there are no prices listed, I am happy for this piece to be displayed in a permanent home should a collector be interested. The exhibition is featured on the Tate website Whats On section HERE The instagram page for the exhibition which also features more artists can be found HERE I recently travelled to London from Cornwall to take my painting ‘towards Zennor’ to be exhibited at Tate Modern and spend a few days in the city. The exhibition was the Tate Staff Biennale by the Inside Job Collective and based around the theme of Movement showing work by collegues from all 4 Tate sites; St Ives, Liverpool, Tate Britain and Tate Modern. The exhibition was held on floor 5 of the Blavatnik building from 28th august – 3rd September 2019. The private view evening was really busy and although it wasn’t a selling exhibition my painting sold that evening and has now gone to its new home! In total 6,070 people visited the exhibition and was featured on the museum and heritage advisor website. The work varied from painting, sculpture, film, textiles, prints, photography and also workshops. I attended 2 of the workshops by my colleagues; Annabel who lead a cyanotype workshop and Sayra who lead a comic book making workshop. I interviewed Sayra recently in another blog post. There are more photographs on my instagram page. In the third Meet The Maker I had the chance to put forward some questions to Jade who is also a colleague who will be exhibiting in London with myself and Sayra Begum this month. CAN YOU GIVE ME A BRIEF OUTLINE OF YOUR CREATIVE PRACTICE? I mix and pour coloured resin (usually epoxy) to create layered paintings often on circular boards. I do consider myself a painter but also the process of creating my works is semi-sculptural as I work in layers with the resin. Casting resin in moulds and working with ink on paper are also part of my working practice so I guess a combination of all of those things really. WHAT WAS YOUR PATHWAY TO THIS; HOBBY, A WORKSHOP, EDUCATION, SOMETHING ELSE INSPIRING? I have always been creative since I can remember so art was always one of my favourite subjects in school and college. When I left college, I went on to do a foundation in Art and Design which I really enjoyed, and it really confirmed my decision to study Fine Art at Falmouth University. I graduated in 2017 and since then have worked at Tate St Ives and the Barbara Hepworth museum alongside my artistic practice. Being around amazing art daily and being able to research new artists all the time has definitely had a positive influence on my practice. IS THERE A STORY OR A THEME BEHIND THE BRAND/MAKER? My Dad is also an artist, so he and my Mum have always been very supportive and encouraging of my creativity. I was born in Cornwall and I have lived here all my life so naturally the sea and the landscape have always been a big inspiration. I think whilst I was at University, I combined this interest in the Cornish coastline with research into global warming. Particularly focusing on the worlds water systems and the changes they are undergoing as a result of dramatic climate change. CAN YOU TELL ME MORE ABOUT YOUR PROCESS FROM IDEA TO FINISHED PIECE AND DO YOU WORK FROM HOME, OUTSIDE OR A STUDIO? My initial inspiration is usually walking in the landscape or along coastal paths - I take a lot of photos and videos– especially of the sea and the Cornish coastline. When making a new work I often refer to these for inspiration and ideas. When I’m working with resin I usually work from my studio at home – I use various pigments which I mix with the resin. As the resin begins to cure as soon as Part A and B are mixed together I only have a limited time to work with it. I use a butane blowtorch to heat the resin as I tilt which helps me to manipulate the resin on the board – the heat also pops any air bubbles. Once I am happy with the first layer, I leave it to cure for about 24hrs before starting on the next one. Some of the layers (usually the background ones) are opaque colour and then some (usually the top or final layers) are mostly transparent with a few finer details. I find this layering process helps me achieve the depth in my work. Recently I have developed a series of small cast resin works called ‘Wave Studies’. This involves pouring resin into a round silicone mould and again using a blowtorch to pop any air bubbles. I then work into the wet resin with inks and pigments before leaving them to cure. I sometimes use this process as a way of trying out different colour combinations before starting on a larger piece too.
ARE THERE ANY ARTISTS/MAKERS YOU ADMIRE, WHAT IS YOUR INSPIRATION? I find Bernhard Edmaier’s work incredibly inspiring. He is a photographer who ‘combines his training as a geologist with an exquisite talent for capturing dreamy, seemingly abstract images of earth from above.’ He also highlights the effects of climate change on the environment in his work – which is really important. Since staring work at Tate St Ives, I have done lots of research into many of the St Ives modernists and I have found that Bryan Wynter’s work very inspiring. Learning more about how he captured the beautiful movement of water in his paintings in various ways is incredibly interesting. Olafur Eliasson is another artist I really admire – especially his works that draw attention to the important topic of climate change. His ‘Ice Watch’ works were particularly inspiring for me and along with other inspirations led me to make a series of ‘Readymade’ Ice works myself a few years ago. I am really looking forward to seeing his big retrospective at Tate Modern in a few weeks. INFLUENCES DO YOU HAVE ANY UPCOMING PLANS/EVENTS/NEW LINES/EXHIBITION/WORKSHOP? Currently I have a piece of work on show in the Penwith Gallery in St Ives as part of their summer exhibition. The next exhibition I’m taking part in will be the ‘Movement’ exhibition at Tate exchange at Tate Modern in London 27 Aug – 4 September. Following that – ‘Environments’ at Tate St Ives 24-29 September. I have been experimenting with a new colour palette with my resin works – inspired by rocks and minerals rather than the sea so I will be working more with more earthy tones and pigments alongside the bright blues and turquoises I usually use. It’s a little scary but really refreshing to try something a bit different and I’m looking forward to making more works with these colours. NEW WORK…. |
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