Tea time ....

So I’ve taken my dumpster diving to another level and enlisted the school staff in my pursuit of discarded materials, placing containers at tea-making facilities around the school late last week.  Despite my reservations that this request may be viewed as just a bit too odd (and potentially smelly and gross!) I was pleased to return from emptying the containers yesterday with a hearty and surprisingly fragrant-smelling stash.  Placing the teabags to dry in the sunny window of the classroom adjacent to my space has drawn only a few perplexed looks from students and, in fact, I’ve overhead a couple of comments concerning my creativity, which I’ll take as a compliment. 

And why am I collecting teabags?

I’ve chosen teabags as a symbol of the proliferation of ‘things’ around us that we overlook or discard as worthless.  There are lots of products that could serve this purpose (look in your rubbish bin, recycling bin and almost anywhere you store things for examples) but I happen to find the paper of a dried, used teabag rather beautiful and creativity inspiring. 

I have a bit of a thing for discarded paper, have you noticed?

When I’m not playing with paper my other chosen medium is porcelain clay, which I used to make functional vessels of various forms.  Doing this in a consumer environment of low cost, mass produced domestic ceramic wares brings me to question how objects are valued: what is the non-monetary currency that makes any one object more or less valuable than another like object? 

Books are also a good example of objects whose value is placed in question in the context of our contemporary environment, largely thanks to the Internet and other digital technologies.  In searching for discarded materials within the school environment I recognised a synergy (and irony) in the availability of discarded printed information in the form of newspapers from the library.   This caused me to question how and why we value any one form of printed information above another.  Also how, and at what point, is any object transformed from being of value to being discardable?

So the idea still needs more investigation and a lot more experimentation with processes, but within the form of a book and the use of discard paper products I think I’m onto something. 

Stay tuned, but for now here are a couple of my experiments.

A little inspiration ....

I'm loving the work of Cara Barer, finding interesting parallels in the lines formed by her manipulation of book pages and the line drawing exercise I've been doing myself. I'm continuing to work on these drawings along with my small group of students, experimenting collaboratively with how we each can use the same process and produce an individual yet cohesive outcome.  

Research and doodling as creative process ....

Books, glorious books!

I suspect that books are going to become extra significant to my work during this residency: as a resource of physical material and as a resource for inspiration.  

While the internet is also an incredible resource it is lacking in tactility, and I am someone who is strongly informed by sensory input.  One of the wonderful things about working in a school environment is the access it allows to a library and its staff.  It was wonderful to be browsing the Art section yesterday and have the librarian approach me, already aware of my work and brimming with enthusiasm to help me with my research.  I walked out of the library with four wonderful titles and a determination to make the most of my access to this resource while I’m able.

This morning I spent some time with the small group of students I’m going to be working closest with during this residency.  I showed them a couple of TED talks (shared below) which are each playing a role in informing my current thought processes, then they joined me in one of my line-drawing exercises. I’ve begun to recognise these drawings as a method to free my mind, a sort of meditative action that may seem mindless but which facilitates thinking that I’m otherwise too busy to pay attention to.  This is also a process where boundaries are set which, converse to the creative concept of ‘stepping outside the box’, can promote ingenuity.  I experience this as a sort of antidote to the information and sensory overload that can be hard to escape in the rush of life, so these types of exercises have become an important part of my creative process.

Phil Hansen: Embrace the shake

Sunni Brown: Doodlers, unite!

Serendipity ....

Among the many reasons I decided to apply to do this residency was the opportunity it could present for experimentation with materials.  For reasons such as available studio space and conflicting priorities I’ve found it can be difficult to dedicate extended periods to exploring new materials and processes.  A residency provides a time, place and structure in which this can be achieved.

I arrived at the school this morning feeling quite unsure of how I would get started. I made some interesting explorations into materials yesterday, but nothing that I was itching to get back to this morning.  Then while walking along a corridor I noticed a recycling bin overflowing with paper products.  One of my interests is in using simple materials on mass to create multiples of forms.  Using materials that would otherwise be considered waste enables me to do this cost effectively.  So, call me odd, but finding a collection of discarded cardboard is a bit exciting for me!

My bounty, and some painted to obscure unwanted marks.

From there a chain reaction was set off, and I have spent the morning experimenting with my found treasures: folding, tearing, painting, scrunching, dipping in liquid clay.  From the outside it may look like a bit of a manic process, but I’ve actually been feeling like a kid in a candy shop!  By the nature of the fact that I am working in a school environment I have at my fingertips many materials and tools that I would normally need to plan for and source externally.  To be able to lay my hands on a little bit of paint, or wire, or a particular tool enables the creative process to go on uninterrupted, responsive to ideas as they occur and evolve.

Scrunched and strung.  

Dipped in liquid clay (called 'slip') and hung to dry

So, a day that started out with a lack of direction has become a productive one thanks to time, space and opportunity to explore.

Getting started....... 

Wow, the first three days flew by, consumed largely by setting up my space, taking care of all of the OH&S requirements for both Arts Tas and St Pat’s (no escaping this stuff for artists, in fact making art can be VERY dangerous) and sorting out access (keys and IT). In the process I met lots of really friendly and helpful people and stumbled across a number of already familiar staff and student faces.  I was thrilled to be able to install my existing work Interstitial in the Guilford Gallery, thanks to a lot of expert help from Michael and Danny who set up the anchorage points and hung the work.  Lovely scrunching too guys!!

Interstitial, installed in the Guilford Gallery

I managed to punctuate each day with a little bit of making also.  Over the summer I’ve been thinking about and doing a few things (like collecting used tea bags, more on that later…), developing in my mind a number of ideas that I think will work together in this project.  I wont try to explain these ideas yet, but as a start to the making process I’ve begun attempting to draw straight lines freehand on various types of paper.  At least I start out trying to draw a straight line, but then continue to attempt to draw lines an equal distance away from the previous line. It’s about layering through repeated actions, and multiples of layers and actions, but most of all at the moment it is about making and observing, not only the outcomes but also my experience of making in a physical sense and a mental sense.  I’ll try and explain that a bit better in the coming weeks, but for now here are some not-so-straight lines.

Lines over text and torn edges

 Lines on crumpled tissue paper

 Testing pens and pencils on watercolour paper

 Lines on translucent paper over white and black backgrounds

Oh, and by the end of the week I was itching to get my hands dirty so I finished off with an hour of repeated actions, squishing some clay.

PS I completed this post in a much less embarrassing amount of time. Progress!