MA week 1 - Starting out

Reflection on first taught session, Friday 2^nd October 2015

Show & Tell followed by group discussion

 

  

Memory Cubes: an investigation into Therapy, 2013

The first part of the session was a “Show & Tell” and I was in a group with Pamela (painter), Sally (surface pattern designer) and Larissa (musician/performer). I took my “Memory Cubes” and I went first. The others in the group understood what I’d been trying to achieve (depicting what we keep inside and what we show to the world). However, I controlled the demonstration and in retrospect I wish I’d just given the others the cubes to explore! Why do I need to protect them? They have been finished to a quality so that they can be handled. I need to think about other people touching, as well as viewing, my work. Sally referred to the cubes as “bricks”. I hadn’t even thought of that link to my current investigation as housebricks are a different shape. Thanks for the link, Sally! I think it shows that certain themes come out again and again in different ways. I need to remember this and use it to help me identify new threads to my work.

Despite having very different practices, we found some common threads. One was “control”. My work dealt with controlling what you show to the world and what you keep inside – a form of control. Sally was using different printing techniques to demonstrate chaos and control. Pamela made very symmetrical and geometric paintings which were very controlled in their execution. Both Sally and Pamela has used repeat patterns in different ways. We also had some colour palettes in common. Pamela uses a lot of red, black and white, as I do. Larissa had also used black, white, red and pink paint to cover her body in her music video. Sally, on the other hand, had used blues, greens and earth tones.

Something we all used was layering. Pamela uses egg tempera and acrylic media and uses many layers. Sally had layered screen prints on a garment and also used photoshop layers in digital printing. Larissa’s sound was very layered and she uses her voice as another sound layer, rather than trying to enunciate her lyrics distinctly. And of course I love my layering for the complexity it brings to my work. I found identifying these common threads really helpful as I felt it helped validate my work as genuinely creative.

 

Each small group fed back their thoughts into a plenary with the whole group. This revealed some interesting points. One was around “who is the audience”. Quite a few students felt that their professional and personal practices (“free practice”) were different. There was also a feeling that we are trying to please some amorphous mass of people out there by doing pieces that “they” will want – but do “they”?

Curiosity was identified as important. Experimentation, playing and discovery were also identified as important but thought also needs to be given to resolving and “finishing”, not just playing.

Thinking about changes to your process or the medium you work in can change your practice and the message you are giving. However, change of any kind may be forced upon you, may be evolutionary (“natural development”) or may come through choice. Biographical work will naturally change with time because you as a person change. Ethical considerations are also important. Do you need to reveal all your work to everyone? (this question is, of course, of particular interest to me).

An important point that arose for me today was “what is my practice”? I struggled to answer succinctly when Sally asked me. But I have to accept I have now left Access level behind and I need a clear answer. I like the use of the word “biographical” because that is what my practice is –autobiographical, really, quite often. It is, at the moment at least, also collage-based, although not in the sense of using found images like Richard Hamilton or Kurt Schwitters – it uses images I create. So for now I will describe my practice as a biographical, collage-based practice. This brings into play the question of “who is the audience”? I keep thinking that I want to produce lovely watercolours or drawings or prints – but this is not what I pursue! I need to consider and resolve this as I move on with the course.