Reflective Summary
Since the beginning of my degree, I have had a great interest in minimal conceptual works, exemplified by the works of Felix-Gonzalez-Torres, Jenny Holzer and Richard Long. Initially, I struggled to understand how I could create work similar to the art I was interested in: I thought I would be unable to justify minimal, concept-based work, a feeling I attribute to an upbringing centred around illustration and design.
As I entered my third year, and especially my final term, I knew I had to push myself to create the work I wanted to see realised. During this time, I found myself wrapped up in British folk culture, after visiting the Scottish Village I grew up in and deep in my CP3 essay ‘Performing Gender in the Rural Landscape: A Study of Gender and Genderless Expression in British and Irish Folk Festival Customs’. I began to better understand the contexts I was drawn to in my work, ideas of identity, folk-hood, and the natural landscape.
Whilst pursuing more conceptual making, I knew had to understand what I was drawn to in other artists. Through my research, I learnt how the artists I am interested in justify their conceptual works. Sol LeWitts's Sentences on Conceptual Art and Paragraphs on Conceptual Work developed my understanding of how I related my practice to conceptual theory. He states ‘The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.’ further explaining the intuitive nature of this kind of art and acknowledging that the most important aspect of conceptual art must be the concept. As he continues, he writes that for conceptual art to be mentally interesting it must be ‘emotionally dry’, something I wanted to challenge in my practice.
I found a notable turning point in how I perceived my work through my tutor's suggestion to look at the works of Helen Mirra. I found myself completely enamoured by the overlap of themes in both our works: the use of natural textile materials, with strong themes of the landscape and the culture that surrounds the landscape. I believe Mirra’s practice is one that has influenced me the most in the past few years. I have found a comfort in the simplicity of her work, her emphasis on walking and the compositions she creates with found objects. I was particularly struck by her ‘Hourly Directional’ works displaying her minimal mappings of walks, and her earlier 1999 ‘Garanimal’ piece that showcased her entire wardrobe colour-coded, folded and tied together. This directly influenced my own work as I developed my ‘Positive Print/Negative Print: Hill-Roll’ piece.
The development of my work is influenced most strongly through experimentation with ideas that come naturally to me, as opposed to more focused academic research. An important moment in this process was the purchase of my sewing machine. This allowed me more freedom than I have ever had with sewing. I have been able to create works from conception to final product in almost one sitting, something that is important to me as I feel my brain works in a way that conceives an idea and wishes it to be realised as soon as possible. Through my sewing machine I have taught myself to make clothes. I wanted to develop and explore clothes-making for my Hill-Roll work, but I have found it is something that further aligns with my feelings around embracing domestic craft and care, and it is a transferable skill I see myself pursuing. Furthermore, through the bookbinding facilitates, I have learnt and developed skills in bookbinding. Through practice and experimentation, I made several books to gain experience for my piece ‘Book’. I find these craft methods very important to my practice, I feel connected to traditional methods and enjoy developing non-digital skills.
Midway through this final term, I found myself stuck with an idea that my brain desperately wanted to realise but became increasingly unachievable, both in the actual construction and due to my own lack of enthusiasm around the concept. I often have a backlog of ideas that have come to me in random moments, but at this time I had nothing I was passionate about pursuing. This was one of the most challenging points I faced, awaiting something to realise. Beginning my next piece, I faced many challenges and changes. While planning many of my physical works, I experienced a rib injury, which, while initially frustrating, forced me to adapt and develop my work. After being unsatisfied with my degree show proposal, I ended up pursuing a last-minute and large-scale work with the land, a risk that took a lot of work and compromise. Despite this, the piece (SKIM 28) became the exact type of work I had been wanting to make in my pursuit of developing a refined conceptual practice that incorporates craft, intimacy and sentimentality.
As I have developed my practice into something I am more satisfied with, I have found my confidence in my work has grown. This confidence has encouraged me to pursue more exhibition opportunities, most notably a week-long group exhibition ‘Testament’ in PINK art gallery, alongside two other fine art students. My experience exhibiting in PINK allowed me to play with composition and understand how my work interacts with an audience in a way I haven’t experienced before. I was able to watch how people engage with an open space, and through this process, I learnt how my work best fits into the space to engage the audience. Working with the curator of PINK gave me great insight into her curatorial knowledge, something I’m incredibly appreciative of.
In search of research, I find myself constantly brought back to my everyday, my relationship with friends, my lover, parents, what brings me joy and how I grew up. The books I read for my own enjoyment this term such as Maya Angelou’s memoirs and Masanobu Fukuoka’s ‘The Dragonfly Will Be the Messiah’ are all pieces of text I’ve found greatly impactful in my life. By default, I feel as though these books seep into my practice, though this connection is not something I’ve fully managed to understand yet. My practice is held together by a central idea of intimacy and connection, a connection sometimes portrayed with the landscape, with individuals or with a culture, it nonetheless remains a beacon throughout my work.