November 2014

This month was the first in our new bimonthly schedule (meeting once again in MadLab’s temporary home at New Federation House) and it seemed appropriate that our conversation focused on the idea of getting back into the swing of things following a change of pace or circumstance.

Renate, who explained she has recently experienced a loss of confidence following an accident, shared some drawings she has been making recently under the project title ‘An Apple a Day’. Aside from the obvious associations with physical health, this has been a process she has enjoyed as she steadily returns to a regular creative habit. The drawings, despite sharing a common subject matter, are varied in their use of materials and her love of simply engaging with practical technique is evident. She also shared a photograph that she plans to develop into a painting, however it interested me that she felt a need to immediately justify this aspiration with the promise to add another element ‘so it is not just apples.’ My own gut reaction to this was what a shame that would be, and that this risked the honest clarity of the current series of drawings. What, after all, is wrong with ‘just’ apples? 

Annabeth Orton - Youngzou Lotuses - Acrylic on Canvas Board

This question linked very closely with the discussion last meeting on my own recent paintings, outside of previous investigations into a Social Practice. I also had a new piece to share in this body of work (Youngzou Lotuses, left) that continues under a working title of The Serenity Series. Developed from the Peaceful Places collection of photos that I took in Asia during 2013, I have discussed feeling quite self-indulgent as I work on pieces for enjoyment, rather than attempting to provide a function as with the socially orientated projects. Interestingly, Renate had been one of those who challenged me on this last month, asking why I felt a demand to produce ‘functional’ work as opposed to art for its own sake.

Again, we discussed the source of these pressures, be that expectation from institutions or the wider art world, or whether they come from a more personal, self-driven perception of value. I thought how funny it is that we can apply different questions, principles and clarity to the work of others that we find it so hard to bring to our own. This, I suppose, underlines the importance of placing your creative practice within a wider context of peers and accepting the questions or challenges that they bring to such debate.

The conversation eventually swung back round to changing focus or direction, and how sometimes it can be that in the long term, taking a break from practice can in fact be the most productive thing to do. We do not always have to be at our most prolific and pausing, reflecting, rebuilding energy levels and exploring other interests or expressions of creativity can be vitally important in giving a practice the time and space it needs to grow and flourish.

A seasonally relevant observation as we parted with best wishes for the winter festivities. The next CRITgroup meeting will be on January the 28th, 2015(!). We may, or may not be back in MadLab ‘proper’ for the start of the New Year, though I have every confidence it will be full of spring promise, regardless of the location!