Sophie Ashdown

To start the session we had a brief review of the Study Statement which everyone had submitted by the previous day.  Jonathan assured us that it’s a “moment in time”, but it will change.  There will be more opportunity to refine it as time goes on.  He recognised that there can be an element of frustration during the research process to put into words what we’re doing when we just want to be creating instead.

Jonathan revealed that the title of the Interim show is “Perhaps We Should Reconsider”.  I didn’t realise that there would be a theme to the show, and may have decided to do something different had I known earlier.  As it is, I’m well on my way to preparing my piece for the show, which won’t reflect the title of the show at all but I assume that’s okay.

Then we got into the details of what we would be doing.  Jonathan announced that today we’re going to do something quite different to usual.  There would be a tight structure about how we’re going about things.  It creates a safe space to do the work that we need to do.

The plan was to break into groups of three to do group tutorials with each other where each person would be focussed on for 30 minutes whilst the other two asked open ended questions.  Then we would each write up what our experience was and share it with the others.

The tutorials are based on the belief that

Community is a place that helps us hear the voice of our inner teacher.  Gives us an opportunity to quieten the other voices and hear the inner teacher.

Before moving into the groups we reviewed what were Open and Closed questions:

Examples of open questions:

We then wrote on the Miro board some examples of open questions we could ask.

I contributed these questions:

• How do you feel about your art practice currently?
• What worries or concerns do you have?
• What are you excited about?
• What makes you happiest about your work?
• What could happen to make things better or different?
• What can you let go of to help you progress?
• What could you do differently?
• What are you finding the most challenging?
• How would you describe success with your life/work?

We then broke into our groups.  I was with Lyberis and Alex.  Lyberis went first, then me, then Alex.

Notes about Lyberis:

He says he feels a bit lost as to his true direction with his art practice, but I think there is more direction and purpose than he thinks.  He admitted that he thinks that he needs to translate his ideas into a big piece of finished work, and yet talked a lot about “glimpses” in his work that are inspiring.  Through the discussion he said that if he can translate these glimpses or other ideas into smaller pieces of work, then that is still progress.  He could potentially then stitch these small productions together to make a larger project.

We talked a bit about his Study Statement which at first he said that he didn’t feel that he got any further with how he feels about his art practice, but actually I think he got more out of it than he thinks.  He clearly spent a lot of time writing and re-writing his Study Statement, and is happy with the outcome, so it must have helped him to spend time thinking about and considering his art practice in that context.  Even if he didn’t come away with big changes, he learned about himself in the process.  He mentioned that the work plan in particular was helpful and will be helpful going forward.

Lyberis is clearly a lovely person who thinks a lot about his work and how it relates to himself.  He has a lot of ideas and maybe having so many ideas is what is holding him back.  I hope that concentrating on the smaller outputs of work will lead him to where he wants to be.

Notes on myself:

I am happy with my direction being tied to Constructivism, but I’m not sure whether the medium I’m going with currently (ink drawing) is sustainable, although I really enjoy  it.  In some ways I miss making the big paintings I used to make (and which sold well) but they take so long to make.  I’m finding a lot of pleasure in the more immediate joy of ink drawings that take less time, so I can make more of them and explore a lot of new ideas.

I’ve really been enjoying the 30/30 project to create a new piece each day, which is all ink drawings because they are possible to make in a shorter amount of time.

However I’m concerned that my ink drawings of patterns are not unique enough.  Many of the styles and patterns I have been doing, have been done before.  In fact some of them are directly inspired by other patterns I have seen.

I’m also really enjoying making things only in black and white, but is that sustainable?  I suppose that comes down to the question of who I’m making the art for, and that should really be myself. 

I said that I want to be the “Bridget Riley of Constructivism” if I can.  I want to be an advocate of Constructivism and make it more widely known about.  I can use it as a platform to launch my own art in that style and context.

Alex and Lyberis asked some great questions and were very supportive.  I felt that they listened well and understood my perspective.

Notes on Alex

Alex is making a big change for her in her art practice from making her very successful horse sculptures to making collage pieces, some of which include horses but also there are houses and even self-portraits.

Doing the Study Statement was really useful for her because it helped her to hone in on what she wants to make and more crucially why she wants to make it.  She is keen to make ethereal, “other-worldly” pieces that would be worthy of going up in art galleries.

She is a really successful artist making and selling her horse sculptures for the past 20 years, but feels that they are seen as designer accessories rather than art pieces in their own right.  Recently she spoke to an art consultant from ArtLadder who advised her that she needs to be able to tell a story about her horses.  This was quite a surprise to Alex but I think she already has those stories within her.  She has written about horses in her Study Statement as celestial beings that transport you from reality to fantasy worlds, so maybe that concept has been there all along.

I admire Alex and her art practice.  She creates beautiful pieces and I’m excited to see what else she makes.

Summary thoughts: this was a very interesting and thought provoking exercise.  I liked getting to know Lyberis and Alex better.  It was comforting to know that we share some similar challenges and concerns.  I think we did well with asking open questions, and being caring and considerate to each other. 

I intend to use more open questions when having conversations with others, and particularly with my boys.  Hopefully I can elicit some more interesting information from two teenage boys than I usually get!