I haven't had time to photograph my work and get it up on here, but I will in the new year, once I get back to Uni, as I'm home for Christmas now!
much has happened since my last entry back in November, so I guess i'll just dive straight in!
I feel like my art work is moving along quite nicely, even if i haven't yet had the time to do anymore painting or research for my painting work. I've had some great ideas and have been fortunate enough to come across some very inspirational people. Have had to do a presentation on a contemporary artist, and we have had lectures since reading week where we've been shown the work of hundreds of artists to help us find someone whose work we're interested in. After being shown the work of so many artists the one person who really grabbed me way above anyone else was an Australian print maker called Kim Westcott, so I chose to do my talk on her.
Kim uses the dry point print process on large copper sheets. She responds to her surroundings and to the music she is listening to, and she is interested in the visual possibilities of the process. I felt a real connection with her work - it spoke to me, although initially I wasn't sure why, I just knew I really liked its simplicity and depth. Once I started to research her and I began to understand more about her as a person and the events that had informed her work and helped her to develop as an artist I felt the connection to her work even more deeply and in a way I never thought I would.
5 years ago I lost my Mum to Cancer and since then I have struggled with quite severe depression. My art work suffered as my Mum had been one of the biggest influences and supporters of my work. I couldn't bring myself to create anything, I wasn't feeling very inspired and felt like all sense of purpose in life had been lost, I reached the bottom of despair and tried to take my life. Looking back now I find it an interesting juxtaposition of the 5 years prior to her death, as they were perhaps the most productive and happy of my life so far. I was really enjoying my art work and felt I knew who I was and where I was going with my life. I had a big plan and the drive to get there, I had my Mums support.
Kim Westcott's early work is all black ink printed onto white paper and she talks about gouging into one copper sheet so much that she couldn't print it as it would've just come out completely black. She had experienced something similar - the untimely death to cancer of the brain of her close friend and mentor Neil Leveson, whom she worked for at the Australian Print Workshop. she attributes the blackness of her work at this time as a reflection of her circumstances. These early works spoke to me about my own experiences with cancer and the death of someone close, they reflected how I remember feeling at the time, and how I feel looking back on that time now. So much blackness and the appearance of all hope slowly being lost, but there is hope - the white paper in the images appears to be forcing its way back through the black lines - the re-emergence of hope. I don't think I'd have seen this if I'd seen the images when i was at my lowest, but it is a nice marker for how far I have come.
A quote by Kim Westcott which I find to be very inspirational, as it sums up how I now feel about life and my art. If you would like to see more of her work or find out more about her please visit her website www.kimwestcott.com which is where I got the above image from.
I am looking forward to Print now, as I can't wait to try out some Of Kim's Techniques. one that I can use more immediately - perhaps with a view to translating it into print in the future is to work to music and draw paint etc how the music makes me feel and the journey it takes me on. this is particularly appropriate as my art work has been inspired by The Cat Empire - an Australian band I also feel have helped me through the darkness of my depression. I plan on doing some work over the Christmas break to explore how their music makes me feel, where it takes me to and the messages it sends me and see where this takes my art - I'm not yet sure how i get his down onto paper, but I'm excited to see if I can.
until next time.
Ciao
xx
