conference, conference, conference!

When it comes to conferences it's been a funny few days ... 

I have been beavering away blogging about Making Space - the art and psychoanalysis conference I recently attended in London (part 1 and part 2 of three done so far) which is getting a big readership!

Louise Bourgeois

In between this I was delighted to discover a new Louise Bourgeois exhibition at the Freud Museum in London - squealing with delight of the events alongside it.  Only to be be disappointed to find the conference was fully booked.  So eager me emailed to go onto a waiting list and guess what? ... more spaces were released and I'm booked on and ready for London this weekend!  Which of course is going to result in more blogging! 

Dartington Hall

Then! Today I got news that a proposal I put in for The Home and the World conference was a success!  This is just an added bonus to attend what will be for me an intensely interesting 3-day creative summit with international artists and thinkers.  It also has the added bonus of being in the most stunning of settings - Dartington Hall, Devon.



What I intend to deliver is a presentation that does not take the form of a traditional paper reading but rather a sort of potpourri of images, video clips, speech, text and music which together form the argument of what I intend to set forward.  The title of the piece will be House, Our Corner of the World which will explore our historical, social and precarious relationship with the architectural space of home.


I'm very much enjoying this creative and academic life!

Making Space part 2

So I hope you're up to speed with this series so far?  Part 1 can be viewed here if not.

Grayson Perry

Right, after a quick break the next proceedings start with Grayson Perry, I have to admit I was a bit star struck by being in the same room!  Whilst waiting for his talk to start Grayson Perry looked somewhat despondent but as soon as he started he was full of his usual directness and humour.  The audience were immediately hooked and in fits of laughter with his very humourous and somewhat modest approach to talking about his work.


The first image Perry shows us is the first things he ever made, an ashtray for his mother - we're told to read into that what we wish ... This relationship with his mother as well as his father is often used to illustrate some of his art's narratives. 


As you might have guessed with Perry's work he likes other artist's who build their own world - a fantasy land.  The artist then shows us a series of examples of outsider artists who do such a thing.  I particularly like the example where the guy who couldn't get into the navy then went on to create a whole model size navy fleet to play with!  Perry describes the creative process as a 'play like' activity and he is a self-confessed well paid player.

Henry Darger - outsider artist

One of Perry's favourite outsider artists, which he discovered in 1979 at an outsider show, was only discovered after his death in the 60s.  Henry Darger had died and discovered in his apartment was a huge array of writings, collages, drawings etc which depicted a fantasy world.


You can clearly see the influence and Perry admits he has 'ripped him off over the years' (said in jest) as he does have a sympathy to the 'metaphorical symptoms with one's issues with the world'.  I particularly liked the description Perry gave of his process of working, that he post-rationalises, he creates works because he is 'fucked up' and then 'talks cleverly later on'.

Grayson Perry 'Map of Truth and Beliefs'

Adolf Wolfli - outsider artist

Using some of the works at the recent British Museum show of his The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman Perry showed the image of the tapestry and linked this to the work of another outsider artist Adolf Wolfli. 


The muddling of truths and beliefs, as illustrated in the tapestry above by Perry, is an interest for Perry who critiques societies' fickle nature and confusions.  The pilgrimage is a further theme that really literally weaves itself into Perry's concepts.  Even the visit to the British Museum is likened to that of a modern day pilgrimage.

Alan Measles

Perry's own pilgrimage is evidenced before entering the The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman with the elaborate motorbike used to tour Germany with Alan Measles.  Alan is Perry's childhood teddy, which he describes as his surrogate father as his left when his was a young boy.  Lots of male positive paternal attributes were projected onto Alan and formed lots of their games played - valiant battles etc.  


Perry goes even as far as describing Alan as his god, as an atheist Perry creates his own religion with Alan as a godhead.  Throughout the The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman show you see a narrative involving Alan as a warrior, guru, injured soldier etc. Alan has his own shrine and Perry describes art's origins coming from religion and being drawn to a place and see something.  


Describing the impulse to create the The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman  show Perry discusses the significance of his own practice in contrast to the maker of unknown origins.

'I have a weird midas touch, if I do a drawing I literally draw money and in an afternoon I can make quite a bit of money! ... When you're not the anonymous craftsman you become this public figure who then has to carry on being creative in the public and this is no small feat.'

Perry talking at Making Space 2012

Next to talk was Valerie Sinason who is a poet, author, child and adult psychotherapist and adult psychoanalyst.  Sinason starts with highlighting the laughter we enjoyed in Perry's talk is what Freud would explain as truth breaking through.  The anger and pain within the subjects raised by Perry where transformed into something that allowed us freedom to laugh.  Let's face it the ashtray brought up at the start of Perry's talk hinted to an unconscious desire to kill his mother isn't in fact really 'funny'.

Sinason stated when she started analysis it left her worried it might stifle creativity but says it in fact aids it.  The links between all forms of therapy and art are a sort of truth seeking.  With reference to Perry's work, a well know artist, does not have a fake celebrity to him, Sinason describes this as the work reveals a personal narrative - we are exposed to his truthfulness of his world.  

The Rosetta Vase by Grayson Perry

Linking psychoanalysis and art Sinason describes a core identity within us that is being sought, this runs throughout our life not as a singular but plural - somethings - a multiple bag of states.  One of the 'states' of Perry's work is that of ancestry, an influence stretching back hundreds of years in the craftsmanship of the ancients.

Sinason describes the transformation process within art or therapy something which finally reveals or deals with trauma etc as profoundly beautiful.  The transformation done by the artist is one that deals with universal pain. Seeing the beauty of what the artist has produced allows the viewer to be narcissistic and egocentric Sinason continues.

X-Factor television show

When both Sinason and Perry join at the end for their paired discussion the theme is mainly of the artist's persona.  They agree that it is hard to separate yourself from your work.  For Perry the creative process is like seeing 'the little rabbit ears over the horizon' - creative people see life in much better detail and focus on something specific that others' don't necessarily see but we draw their attention to it.  When creating work, for Perry this can happen anywhere. 'Just let it happen' he exclaims!  Sometimes his favourite place to think is watching X-Factor!

Something interesting the Perry also brought up, which I am in great shame of doing, is to talk about work in gestation.  Apparently PR is everything and you should not give too much away before revealing the finished work.  I however feel that would be very much the case for someone of Perry's fame but little ole me, nah, I find it helps my thinking process blogging and I hope it opens up my work to a wider audience.

This session finished with questions from the audience which I managed to get the first one in and was very nervous!  

Now, I am getting very worn out from typing this, so end today's post and need to get to work on my presentation I'm giving on Tuesday at university.

Watch out for part 3 soon ...

Making Space conference PART 1

The end of last month I was lucky to get up to London to a free conference organised by the Slade Research Centre called Making Space which explored psychoanalysis and artists' creative process.  Grayson Perry and Martin Creed both gave talks so had to not miss this!  Unfortunately it wasn't an occasion Grayson made the effort to frock up.


The day was mainly split into three, with a pairing of a psychoanalyst and artist delivering a paper or performance and then followed by a discussion between them, finishing with questions to the audience.  In order to not have a very long blog post I will separate it all into three separate posts.


The first speaker was Dr Kenneth Wright who started the day with some interesting ideas on the creative process and its links to psychoanalysis.  Some of this was a bit beyond me but luckily my MA tutor, Sarah Bennett (who also attended the conference), has an interest in this field and had recently given the MA students a group seminar which gave a little grounding in the topics and thinkers being discussed.  

The nymph Echo painting
by Alexandre Cabanel, 1887

Wright basically starts with introducing the significant form by Clive Bell, an English art critic associated with formalism.  The  significant form arouses aesthetic emotions and is the essence of every art work.  This will be all I can agree on with  Bell's aesthetic ideas, but formalism I certainly don't agree with!


Moving on, Wright then discusses how Seamus Heaney likens the making of poetry to an echo.  This is could be said for all art, that it is the echo chamber of the artist's heart who authentically renders the work with their own 'words' and profoundly true tones.  This echo leaves you, it's like you but isn't you, you recognise yourself within the work.  The artist is inhabiting their experience of the world within the work but it invites others in who reflect their own selves.  

We move smoothly onto the psychoanalysis part of this paper and Wright argues that this pattern for representing inner feelings starts from infancy.  This is known as the mirror stage by Donald Winnicott in which the child lays the foundations of the self.  The infant becomes a creator using non-verbal expressive forms in the face with that of its mother's.  They see themselves within the face of the mother and in art we too create a face like object, echoing the patterns of life and becoming a creator.


Following this intriguing speaker was the artist Sharon Kivland, who I have to confess I had never heard off.  Kivland was a very formidable character and felt her delivery was part performance.  As a backdrop to her paper reading was a slide show of exquisite images of the construction of a piece of work in the process of being made.  I can only imagine Kivland's background is in dressmaking as the piece was a perfectly constructed period bustle made from the most gorgeous salmon pink silk.  I'm really sorry to say I cannot remember much and did not take notes to jog my memory like I did on the above speaker.  I was really enthralled with the character of the artist and the images being shown to take notes.  

When this talk ended the psychoanalyst and artist then joined each other for a conversation which started with EXPOSURE and CONCEALMENT ideas.  They talked about the conceptual ideas of artists revealing or concealing of the world and how much of ourselves do we want to reveal and expose in our work.  You put yourself in a vulnerable position when exposing yourself in your work.

This is the end of part 1, to follow will be part 2 on Grayson Perry and Valerie Sinason.

new objects

Well, this blog is not being written as frequently as I would like!  It is simply due to the fact I am juggling an MA and three daughters, the youngest is three and the eldest 14 but they are the most wonderful little girls (no way I could do what I do if they were a handful!).


So today's blog post is a little look at some recent studio pieces I have been playing around with.  It's been really exciting returning to more sculptural works and I find myself much more confortable in this area.  The home theme is continuing and the focus is more on home as not always a positive place.

(c) Rebecca Harris 2012 - Silver plate platter and bitument paint

I have left behind the found object in this developing body of work and am sourcing my main materials from DIY stores. I am interested in working with 'sterile' materials, objects that have no history, no 'dirt' of human contact.  It is also an interest in playing with  objecthood and materiality. 


I am enjoying the methodology of this body of work more, I seem to be allowing the materials I use guide me and not using too much of my 'head' in constructing the work.  I feel much more relaxed in this power shift and its taking me into much more interesting areas of enquiry.

(c) Rebecca Harris 2012 - Stopcock, tights and stuffing

Furthermore the reasons for using the DIY object is I am getting interested in gender politics within the constructed home. How the body relates to masculine and feminine aspects of the building of home.

(c) Rebecca Harris 2012 - Tumble-dryer hose, tights, insulating tape and coat hook

It's interesting to see humour evolving in the work alongside works that instill feelings of anxiety. 

(c) Rebecca Harris - spindle, synthetic hair, castor wheel and handrail bracket

(c) Rebecca Harris 2012 - connector blocks and synthetic hair

Now, talking of the unsettling, I cannot decide about real or fake hair!  I've been happy working with synthetic hair as ethically I don't agree with the farming of human hair from poor countries for the vanity of the West, also it 'grosses' me out. It's that final remark that is part of the questioning the use of it, what I mean is that should I use it because it has a more uncanny presence?  


This piece below from Doris Salcedo's Unland series would not have worked if this stitched hair on the furniture was not real!

Image source: http://www.pbs.org/art21/files/imagecache/full_image/images/salcedo-photo-009.jpg

Of course I need to think how important this is conceptually to my work as I am relating the body to the house. 

(c) Rebecca Harris 2012 - picture frame, drawing pins and synthetic hair

The synthetic hair extensions I have been buying come in a sort of strip that I have been thinking relates to upholstery trim and it is here I think synthetic hair can be justified (but then human hair comes in this format too!).  

So I close this blog still undecided on hair, would greatly appreciate any thoughts you would like to have on the hair dilema in the comments section.

Thanks for reading :)

videos of interest

What I thought I would do with this blog post is to share some videos that I have been looking at on the Internet.

A bizarre but mesmerising video watching a house get destroyed by an insect like machine

An interesting clip on houses from one of my favourite films True Stories by Talking Heads

A great archival interview about Eva Hesse, her use of latex and its impermanence.

Some interesting news clips relating to home that have caught my attention:

• A house burgled and completely stripped bare of all fittings 
• A woman who has lived in the same house she was born in a hundred years ago

dwelling ....

I cannot begin to exclaim how difficult it was erecting the house skin in the Roland Levinsky Building recently.  The piece is deceptively heavy and there is no way I could have done it without the help of three very generous and patient chaps, thanks guys.

Alongside this hanging I had a small show up in the new 101 Artspace at the entrance to the fine art studios in the same building.  This new space has just started in showcasing the work of staff and students within the university.

Here are some installation shots of the recent work I did within the Roland Levinsky Building at the University of Plymouth.

RIGHT!

I'm having big issues uploading and editing on Blogger, you can see an album of the photos on my Facebook page.

house skin progress

As you may know I have had this house skin project haunting me for some time now, it's one of those ideas I have in my head that can only be disposed once I have made it.

I have had the cross-point area of the Roland Levinsky building at Plymouth University booked for 12th December a while now.  Have been putting off making and so doing other things like the Still Life show and council house collages.

This weekend was looming and I knew it had to get made now!  Unfortunately it has been cold and not quite going to plan (plans and me don't mix quite well).  What has been good though is I am learning a lot from this trial run, oh I am not making the full house size piece by the way!  It is a slightly scaled down version, enough for me to get a sense of its scale and impact before going on to do a much bigger and more challenging full gable end.

stringy and strange latex

The most important thing I have learned is that latex doesn't like the current cold temperature, not just because it takes longer to cure but it actually cures differently.  It became very stringy, is the best way I can describes it.  The latex did not take a nice cast as it has done before, this has resulted in a less obvious trace of the bricks, the pattern remains, just not the texture of the individual bricks.  Depending on how I feel once this piece is hung in situ then the larger one will definitely be postponed till the spring.

first part of the fabric and latexing up

still waiting for it to dry!

 As you can from the above images, it is quite a big piece but still small in comparison to the size of the house.  This was just the first phase, I wanted to recreate the house shape and given that I didn't want to work at great heights just yet.  Decided I would do the main lower area first and then add the roof peak by removing this first section, reattach lower down.

Today seems a lot colder, still waiting for this last piece to dry enough so I can remove it.  Have come into the warmth to write this blog, be back out again shortly to make sure no 'bored teenagers with nothing better to do on a Saturday' have torn it down!

I have really enjoyed the responses from the local residents.  Of course anyone nailing an enormous piece of fabric to a wall and then painting milky stuff onto it will rouse curiosity.  This gable end faces a lane that has access to other houses and the road so has lots of passers by.  I have been surprised by people smiling and nodding, not enquiring and those who walk pass thinking 'do not make eye contact, do not make eye contact'.  I wonder if I am now considered a bit odd in the area? But of course some have asked me and are very interested in what I am doing, it's funny because my opening line is 'well, I'm an artist...' as that excuses the eccentricities (I hope).

Here are some other lovely images the project has produced so far ...

still life

I will confess I was a little disorganised when it came to the lead up of my show.  The problem being for me is I am quite a perfectionist and had to accept I had limited time to get it all together.  I also got into a slight panic as my lovely curator Camilla was ill and unsure whether she would be there to help out.


Well the weekend came, I had done enough work for the show and set off west!  It was lovely to be heading back down into proper Cornwall and see friends and family - mixing business and pleasure.


Everything worked out well in the end, luckily curators know other curators so I had two on board and they were fantastic, thanks Kate and Eugenia!  I think we used the space wonderfully and the work really came together once in situ.


I was slightly worried about how the theme would be taken, being about death and all that.  But was pleasantly surprised by the reactions, I  must underestimate my audience, sorry :)


Here are some installation shots, proper documenting photos to follow soon (left in a rush grabbed camera, checked battery life - dead - and couldn't find charger).  I am due down again next weekend and have all week to find the charger!  It will also be great to see the evolution of the window piece.


If you do get a chance and find yourself in Falmouth then please go along and have a look, feel free to ask questions and leave comments.

Still Life exhibition poster

music and art pairings

Driving home from uni last week with my wandering mind and listening to Pulp I decided to match songs to visual artworks.  Thing is I can only come up with one so far, so thought I would share my combo and maybe you could suggest yours?  

I'll start with this one:

Rachel Whiteread, Untitled (Double Amber Bed), 1991 

and

Pulp, Live Bed Show, 1995

click the links, listen to the music and view the art work.

Have I just exposed how bizarrely I think now?