It has been a very busy month. I’ve had an intense intensive teaching week at Newlyn School of Art, which went really well. I was teaching a workshop on drawing meanings, methods and materials. The next one there will be in August. Here are some photos of the work made…
and some life drawings….
I have also been working on new pieces for my show in Edinburgh, and getting excited about my journey to York to install my work there.
Mother Artist
Rebecca Baillie has invitied me to submit work, and thoughts, responses to questions, for her show on perceptions of motherhood due to be shown in london at the APT Gallery later this year.
Here are some of my thoughts on the Artist as Mother, Mother as Artist:
1. To me the term and concept ‘maternal’ implies the womb,bringing to birth, nurturing, being watched over, warmth, warm colours, red, but also white; being able to speak the language of trust, intuition, empathy.
2. Notions of ‘the maternal’ are made visible in my work in various ways: through the warm earthy colours I use; through the forms, the arcs of embrace and protection…
3. ‘Mother artists’ to me are those who are able to display certain characteristics; maybe true mother artists don’t achieve fame or recognition, there is a humility which goes with it, the absence of ego, wisdom, strongly centred and grounded within themselves. A mother artist would pay attention to nurturing her own creativity and she may also pay attention to nurturing the creativity in others – the mother artist teacher.
4. ‘Children’ might not be human offspring, but animals, works of art, thoughts and actions shared, the nurturing of nature. A mother artist would hold a space, the being, void, to allow the becoming…she is the generative space, her energy the generative energy…
Becoming a mother has deepened my sense of being alive and my son is one of the most joyful aspects of my life.
5. Yes I do see myself as a ‘mother artist’. All my works are birthed in a bodily way, always felt first inside my body in a deep and inchoate way.