Once the degree show was done and I had graduated I decided that after six years of intense study I would take a break. Part of that break included walking the pilgrims' route El Camino Frances, from St Jean-De-Pied-De-Port in the Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. This is a 790 km walk, embarked on by people with very different reasons for doing so and expectations as to what they will meet on the way and achieve at the end. For me it was simply to take time out, slow down the pace of life and clear the mind in preparation for what next. I did not take any drawing material but took many, many photos. Art is really all around us. Often executed by those who unwittingly produce beautiful sculptures and installations in the messages and way markers they build or add to along the way. I may have some sympathy with those who disapprove especially I'm afraid with what is left at Finisterre. Not having enough time to walk the last leg from Santiago to Finisterre, I got there by car. It was the same disappointment as when I got by bike to John O'Groats from Lands End. What should have been an uninterrupted view across the ocean was hindered by offerings left by previous pilgrims. No doubt meaningful and symbolic to them but to my mind spoilers for those who came after. The old shoes, t-shirts etc left draped and often in the remnants of bonfires did nothing to enhance the serenity of the place. However, the following images illustrate my first point that art is all around us if you look, made by folks who probably would never consider themselves artists. And then there were the trees - beautiful sweet chestnut trees in the main. Some had shrines installed and you had to really watch out or you missed them. In these photos, church architecture mimics the intricacy of nature. Way markers, sculptures and signs.
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The installation was dismantled on Monday after nine days of being open to the public. I was delighted with the response it got from those who viewed it. I took particular heart from those who took time to study it or just stood and smiled. I started to refer to it as 'The Happy Wall' given the number of smiles and nods it did get!
Sometimes it was the colours that appealed to folk, I was told they were beautiful and reminded them of the sea. Specific connections were made to sails of boats, of windmills and even kites. The subtle patterns also evoked interest and sometimes a visitor would get up very close to inspect the surface of a painting. When the sun shone and the windows cast their magical shadows, the room really did have a wow factor. The words calming and peaceful were also used. All-in-all, I had a very positive time in the Degree Show and came away feeling that I had contributed something that appealed to a great many visitors. So last night, I was at the CBC with colleagues Ann, Trish and Pat setting up the office suite and corridor with our artworks.
Four hours went in like a flash and I was in my element. I really enjoyed considering the relationships between the works and how best to place them. Intervention was the theme, with mixing up respective artists' works rather than having them on separate walls. I think this made for a far better exhibition and I was so pleased to have willing colleagues. The room is great though with its challenges - namely a curved wall though one of Trish's paintings looks great on its own there. We also made use of the space under the windows which makes for a quirky and inventive display. We ended up colour coding to some extent; a green wall, a blue wall and a red wall. On the red wall, Pat's colours are strong and contemporary. They make a bold impression and Trish's painting helps bring a visual conclusion to the display before the doorway. All in all we have mixed minimalist (Carol) with classical - Ann's Florentine Ladies; table tops with landscape (Trish) and the quizzical - Pat's bird with attitude! I am really excited for this year's show though unfortunately I will not be present over the first weekend. So - I am missing an event by Greentrax who are based at the CBC in addition to a fundraiser event for Boatie Blest. I hope the sun shines and visitors flock. It was with some nervousness that I received my award from ECA but chuffed to bits with a 2:1 in a BA with Honours in Painting.
I could not be happier. So, there is a bounce in my step and the smile is even bigger when folk come into the studio to see the exhibition. I love to see the smiles when people look on my wall at the triangular paintings. I have had lots of fantastic comments and enjoy the chats. Today and tomorrow the opening hours are extended to 8 pm but I cannot be there late today as I am setting up at then 3 Harbours Arts Festival. I am looking forward to the last few days of the Degree Show, enjoying the company of my colleagues amidst such fantastic surroundings. I have lots I want to explore. I have a rather large and beckoning collection of beach finds which warrant exploration through drawing to see what they could lead to by way of a painting.
This will be my starting point for over the summer as I had intended to give myself some space over the next few weeks to re-engage with people and activities that have fallen by the wayside over the six years that I have been in full time study. However, my mind keeps drifting towards the shed which contains all the necessary equipment needed to put pencil to paper and draw. Longer term I aim to apply to the various gallery exhibitions that ping up in my email box and to approach local galleries for inclusion. And, basically to keep painting. I have plans, rather ambitious plans to be a self-sustaining person of complete busyness. I am in no hurry as yet, but will see what comes my way. Once summer is over, then I will start in earnest to see if I can realise those big plans! The arrangements for the Degree continue apace. Tomorrow is the Business Evening and I am looking forward to the buzz of that.
In addition however, preparations are afoot for this years 3HAF. I am exhibiting again at the Cockenzie Business Centre, but with Cockenzie House no longer available as a venue, Trish and I have more company. There is one overlapping weekend with the Degree Show, so I am having to rely on my colleagues to see to business at the CBC whilst I spend time at ECA. Trish, Pat Turquand, Ann Gilmour and sculptor Enrique Arbiol and I have the use of an office suite this year in addition to the corridor. This allows for more creative and cohesive hanging I think, which is to take place next week. The benefit of having more folk at the Centre will hopefully be the attraction of more visitors. Fingers crossed. Hard as it is to get my head round it, my participation at ECA is to all extents over and after six years of study, I am to be set loose upon the big wide world again. I have to say I am happy and content. With some most appreciated advice from the tutors some tweaks were made to the install and I have to say hand on heart I am delighted to end on this note with this particular set of paintings. I know I could not have worked harder, applied myself further and challenged myself more. What is done is now done. The next time I clap eyes on the studio, the assessments will have taken place. On Tuesday 29/4 we made such inroads with the white paint we were able to start installing work the following day. The part I managed to do was the easiest part of my instal in that the pieces were custom made for the space under the window. I wanted to mirror the proportions of the panes of glass. It seemed fitting in that as the whole work I have made for the Degree Show has stemmed from pieces of glass, some of the work at least is placed under glass in the studio. I also wanted to create a dynamic in the work, building on relationships, pauses and using voids to mirror the shape of the artworks themselves. It was a dull, rainy day yesterday so we had none of the light expected to work its magic. The instal was relatively easy in that I have hung these pieces several places before so I knew how to go about putting in screws in strategic places. I am by no means sure this is the final hanging for this part of the exhibition but there are a few days to allow this configuration to hang and then to tweak it as the rest of the hanging takes place. I am still uncertain as to how I will use the rest of the space. It is a large wall section, quite high and I am keen to use that height. I know I want to focus on using the new pieces, not necessarily the works that were already on view in the Andrew Grant Corridor. However, if as is the intention, I use the rhythms of the space, the long rectangular columns of the first triptych would flow well around the door which links the two studios. I am also particularly keen to have the square paintings involved so the focus is not completely triangular. At the moment I am considering using the the section of wall to the right of the window to hang the larger square triptych vertically. The issue there is the covered sink. I am also liking the panel to the left of the adjoining door for the smaller square triptych but fear over-crowding. The larger three triangles convey best in what I had sought to achieve by way of tone and pattern so really want them in. Thankfully there is time to ponder and even trial pieces on the wall now that we have a ladder to use. Friday 2/5: LESS IS MORE. I know this. I have had this as a mantra for years now although I seem to have a problem practicing what is constantly being preached in my head. Time to stick to a plan. I came to the conclusion that the squares and rectangles had to be gracefully retired. This was a show all about the triangle. Time to be bold and make a statement. Harking back to the stimulus for these paintings, the shards of glass; they are found in a random manner on the beach. I decided to try to emulate that randomness with a dash of the theatrical thrown in. I sought an arrangement which would act as counterpoint to the composition under the window. Chaos versus order, explosion versus containment. The paintings under the window followed the rhythms of domestic glass, I wanted the wall to conjure the destructive powers of nature. I experimented by laying the pieces out on the floor, striving for equal measures of randomness and balance. A tricky thing to do. At one point I worried about not having enough pieces to make it work, but by using the entire height of the wall and strategically placing smaller works on the perimeter of the larger ones which gave it ballast of a kind, the drama unfolded. Works set on the wall as a trial. As the afternoon progressed and the light journeyed across the wall I saw magic unfold. Subtle patterns were highlighted only to be cast in shadow and the geometry of the upper windows acted as fleeting frames for the pieces. Monday 5/5: The resolved installation - perhaps? There are a couple more days to allow time to reconsider, however I am happy with the relationships that exist - the voids acting as echoes of the triangular shapes - the drama of pieces touching and moving further up the wall. The sink cover on the right will be painted and made good and I can use it to sit my professional practice documentation on. The flat light on the Monday allowed for a better record of the window arrangement. The triangles on the farthest right and left anchor the rest, functioning as punctuation. Within the series relationships are explored between the spaces, the voids also acting as punctuation. Wednesday 5/5: The final ensemble - one tweak which entailed switching two of the smaller triangles. The lighter one now sitting at the bottom of the composition reads much better. Thank you Tutor John. The last task is to to finish painting the covered sink area. The gum tape was not behaving today so I will be back tomorrow to fix it. Part of me thinks that it would be better just to buy some proper white card and cut it to fit the top of the box shape. Once that is done, I will properly photograph the room. With the adjoining door open there will be an interesting juxtaposition with Sophie's strong and visceral wallpaper collage paintings. Thursday 6/5: Battle recommenced with the box cover for the sink. Silk purse and sow's ears come to mind. I had brought in my professional practice documentation so tried it out on the box to ensure it would look ok. I had further arrangement advice from tutors Charlie and Colin and have acted upon it. The window section was rather heavy going in comparison to the rest of my display and the window spaces in general. The tweaking of that area was easy and I took down four paintings, patched things up and re-hung two as suggested. It does make a heap of difference. Tomorrow morning I am going in to meet with the tutors and add to the paintings on the wall to maximise presence and flow. This is what the walls looked like before the tweaking of the space under the window. This is a side view of the new arrangement. There is much more space around the pairing of the paintings which does look much better. The feeling was that as I had previously hung it, the arrangement was too heavy. A view towards the window from the door. Yesterday we got into F8. It felt good to get into the studio and to be active in getting it ready for the Degree Show. We are lucky really as the walls and floor are in pretty good condition and apart from a very pronounced blue streak of paint and some loud splash marks, there is little to challenge a good coat of fresh white paint.
The lift goes to the 1st floor. The studio and its neighbour are then reached by a couple of flights of stairs. These stairs were painstakingly and slowly trod with heavy loads as the trolly which eased the burden of transporting paintings from the 'holding' space on the ground floor had to be parked and unpacked at the 1st floor level. The new panels on which Anna's work is to hang were undercoated. All problematic areas scoured and primed so today's work will be easier. It was warm in the studio as expected though the sun was out and it was an altogether better day than the one that has greeted me this morning. I look forward to seeing how the light will sit on all our work. I had time to reflect yesterday on where my work will go. The pieces created specifically for under the window are easy. The rest less so. The wall is high and the lower portion interrupted by doorways and where the sink will be blocked in. Lots to consider, so many permutations but I must get it right. The paintings are all completed and secured with bubble wrap to hopefully avoid dings and dents. The larger pieces are unwieldy, especially the triangles and the points are prone to being damaged.
The last piece of documentation was completed on-line using Albelli. This website is one that I have used from the beginning and it makes sense to have a continuous set of books that contain all my university work. Added to that it is possible to add a link to the books onto my website which increases their accessibility. A major issue has been in the photographing of the artworks. Given their surface quality and shape and my lack of specialist training in photography, it is all too easy to arrive at skewed images, even with the use of a good camera and tripod. I returned to university last Friday and methodically hung up each piece and carefully re-photographed the entire set that are up for selection for the Degree Show. I have actually found the camera on my i-phone to have excellent resolution and normally have really good results from it. The other camera and tripod allow for a more steady hands-off approach especially when using the timer. Photoshop has always been over-kill for my needs but I was directed to GIMP which is free to download. Thanks to many hours spent attempting to master the finer points of Photoshop during 3rd year for printmaking, I was able to get a handle on the processes required on GIMP. What I was looking for was a means of isolating the image free of scruffy backdrops. Once I was happy with the cleaned-up images it was a straightforward process to upload onto Albelli and the List of Works section of this website. Today I am returning to university to peruse my section of the Degree Show Catalogue. Some very patient and gifted students have taken on the task of organising this and I am particularly grateful for their prodding and encouragement when it was felt I had not sufficiently done justice to what my work is about. All said and done I am now very excited and keen to be in the final space, getting everything readied for the work. |
AuthorCarol E Duff Archives
May 2019
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