Blog 19

Over the last three months, there's three areas / types of drawings that I have done which I would like to pursue in larger format, or make more of them, developing the work further, a series.

I've been piercing paper with a needle, tearing the surface of paper up, and rubbing layers and layers of graphite on and off paper, altering the surface structure and appearance of the drawing.

I'm thinking of ways the work can be presented in gallery format - on the wall, or hanging from the ceiling, or on the floor.

Working postcard size has been excellent for quick response and to gauge development. Some works suit this size, others need to be much bigger.

I've found that I am not writing so much at the moment, and looking at my notebook there are a lot of drawings. Tiny sketches. As I look back at them, I don't know what was going through my mind at that time. It's quite an interesting observation. I am delightfully puzzled by them.

I'm not reading at the moment, which is bothering me, but I can't seem to focus on any particular book or text.

I can feel myself slowing down with a more considered and refined approach to what I am doing. The 'just making' playful phase is coming to the end for a while, and I need to fine tune those experiments.

My most successful work is the piercing of paper with a needle and I have been doing this process since 2009. I'm working on a large drawing at the moment, measuring the time it takes to complete the sheet of paper. I'm putting forward a proposal and I need to know how long it takes and therefore cost etc. I've done 19 hours so far.

Charcoal on pierced paper

Reverse side of charcoal on pierced paper

Graphite on pierced paper

Charcoal pushed through pierced paper

Torn paper

Graphite drawn and rubbed off paper fifty times

Blog 18

"What is the function of the studio?
1. It is the place where the work originates.
2. It is generally a private place, an ivory tower perhaps.
3. It is a stationary place where portable objects are produced."

"... it is in the studio and only in the studio that it (the artwork) is closest to its own reality, a reality from which it will continue to distance itself. It may become what even its creator had not anticipated..."

"If the work of art remains in the studio, however, it is the artist that risks death... from starvation."

These extracts come from the beginning part of an essay called 'The Function of the Studio' written by Daniel Buren in 1979.  Some of the text seems quite dated now.

I'm starting to think about the future, for in the next few weeks I will have to leave my temporary studio space at An Tobar and re establish a working arrangement for making artworks without a 'proper' studio space to do it.

It has certainly been a success this summer renting a space and I have been most productive these last few months. I hope that I can organize studio space at future locations we travel to.

It's time to take stock of what I've made, as well as keep making until I have to leave. I am continually thinking of ways to present my work beyond the 'studio' walls. Size of work (small or mammoth), number of pieces (one or a series), framed or unframed, location where the work could be presented, installation, cost etc. etc. I also mustn't let the constraints of possible presentation hinder the creative process.

Sarah, a colleague at the arts centre gave me an impromptu critique the other day. Not knowing me that well, and besides saying that I was mad, she commented on how I deliberate over my work and spend hours and hours meticulously mark making and then the work is done, over, finished. I cringed. That is me. Which does reiterate that the making of artwork is important to me, with the finished piece being as important, or not important at all. It can be either / or.

Which then links back to my creative process and the importance or unimportance of where the work is made. The studio, or other place of creativity, or in my head (the conceptual). The sense of performance really.

I've been thinking about Annette Messager 'The Messengers' show that I went to at the Hayward in London in 2009. She presented a number of collections of drawings, framed or unframed, spread across the walls. There was a room with sketchbooks and memorabilia, writing and drawing directly on the walls, and what I called 'clutter' - piles of bags, books, toys etc. All the art work had been thought out in terms of presentation and the show demonstrated to me that Messager's work is about making art. The practice of making art. There was loads of it.

So what do I do with what I have made, and how do I continue once I leave the studio.