Sophie Ashdown

In week three we did more introductions of ourselves to each other.

I don’t mind saying that Josh’s work is both disturbing and beautiful in equal measure. There is something so raw about his pieces that give them a ghostly other-worldly feeling, but when Josh explains how and why he creates his work, then it makes sense and becomes more beautiful. It is brave of Josh to put himself out there for the world, and I hope it brings him some inner peace.

I feel like Cat is a young person with an old soul. She clearly has the ideas, vitality, and vibrancy of a young person but the wisdom and presence of someone much older somehow. I love the punk dystopian fairy-esque feel to her work, and can totally see how she would be very popular in the rainbow techno scene. I’m also interested in her clothing that she makes from deconstructing charity shop finds and then reconstructing them into new and unique pieces. There is a black hoodie I have my eye on that is in her instagram feed!

The images that Lyberis creates in his exploration of the concept of memory result in some unique combinations of images. His explanations of how the pieces came about, particularly the old reel he found of his ex-girlfriend really gave poignant meaning to them.

I had never heard of the term “psychogeography” before hearing about Pritish’s work but now I feel more informed. He took us through his final work that he produced for his BA in Fine Art and I was interested in the combination of video and canvas pieces. I liked how the canvas pieces look like buildings reaching up into the sky and then forming an overall image. It must be the constructivist in me!

Despite Kate feeling that she doesn’t yet know who she is as an artist, I would say that her sample images are some of the most professional pieces or work displayed. She has been trying various different styles through guided courses, which have obviously been very successful given the quality of the work she is turning out.

As soon as I saw Debbie’s pieces, I knew I had found a kindred spirit. I connected immediately with her monochrome pieces. Like me, she uses patterns in different ways in her practice. I like how she has repeating motifs in each piece. It was also interesting to hear the different ways she produces her pieces. I will be watching with great interest to see what she creates.

Zoe does beautiful watercolours of birds of prey that are very striking. She also does printmaking and has been doing some new works in this .

Fatemah is really talented in her figurative work. Her images of people and animals are excellent and have a wonderful slightly cartoon-ish but realistic style to them. I love the pieces where she combines animal traits into people.

After the introductions we discussed the topic of “surprise, puzzlement, or confusion” which came from this quote:

The practitioner allows themself to experience surprise, puzzlement, or confusion in a situation which they find uncertain or unique.
They reflect on the phenomenon before them, and on the prior understandings which have been implicit in their behaviour.
They carry out an experiment which serves to generate both a new understanding of the phenomenon and a change in the situation.
(Schön 1983: 68)

We were asked to discuss how we respond to this statement. Everyone contributed their thoughts which led to some interesting discussion. This is what I wrote on the studio wall:

Surprise, puzzlement, confusion…

Admittedly I felt all three of these things when approaching this assignment, which I guess proves the point that this situation is uncertain and unique to me!

It does not feel natural for me to seek out these three states of mind, but I’m learning quickly that my normal ways of thinking are going to be challenged, changed, and expanded on this course.

So now I welcome this opportunity to widen my horizons.  I recognise that I need to let go of constraints and allow my mind and creativity to be free to explore new thoughts and ideas, even if it doesn’t always feel comfortable.  This is how artists in the past, present, and future approach their work, and I need to get with the programme.

I imagine that the great well-known artists of our time have followed this same path.  It is important, as artists, to be curious, embrace our trepidation, and let the creativity flow freely, even if it doesn’t feel natural at first.  I’m looking forward to doing more of this and seeing how it affects and improves my practice.

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It was interesting to hear everyone’s perspective on this topic. I was relieved to hear that I am not the only one that found the concept challenging but not unfamiliar.

One of the things that Kate said was that “confusion leads to huge bursts of exploration and investigation.” That really struck a chord with me that already in this course there is a feeling of doing things in such a different way to normal that there is a level of confusion, which has led to new pieces of work for all of us.

Towards the end of the session we broke into groups as part of the “accountability” chat to discuss what we did last week and what we’ll work on next week.

I was in a group with Kate and Zoe which was fantastic because we have a lot in common outside of our art. We are all mums as a start so that brings an instant connection.

We had a great conversation about our art practice, what we’ve been working on, what we want to get from the course, and more. It was almost a shame that the session was ending because we could have chatted for ages.

I’m really enjoying getting to know my coursemates!