Caroline Fraser - an ordinary life: July 2016

Thursday, 21 July 2016

Time to learn art speak.... in which I start a new chapter

from 'Revealing Something new' by Anita Carnell

what do you see here?

raindrops from heaven?

a broken sun?

beads on black?

gold thread on leather?

It is by Anita Carnell and represents 65 hours of work. Anita's work is an abstracted reimagining of the historic traditions of gilded leatherwork.

'Revealing Something new' by Anita Carnell

I only know this because I talked to her and she explained her processes and ideas to me.

Which gets me thinking about how we interpret art, and different levels of meaning.

I spent an hour or two at the MAVA (MA visual arts ) show at UAL, Camberwell this week, and inside my head a little voice kept saying

what would OH ( my other half) say about this?

There were no artist statements and there was nothing in the catalogue to explain any of the work. It was only by talking to the artists that I could understand the work.

If the artist wasn't there, I couldn't ask the questions.

So I thought about what OH would say instead.

First some prints by Grizelda Kitching.

Add caption

'why isn't it finished'?

'no idea what that is'

is it the boiler?

'compost on a book art course?

are you serious?

I can't repeat what else he said.

Recycled coffee capsules by Xiamiao Wu

nouveau

i wouldn't buy it

Printmakers Council Award winner 2016 ....

Fractal series by Inma Berrocal

spotty; is it the seawall in Camber

You get my drift.

Conceptual art is difficult to understand unless you speak the language.

This author of this piece by Lena Wurz (below) has been awarded the London Centre for Book Arts Residency Award.

I would really like to know what it means. I am guessing that it is something about materiality.

I got on better with Charlotte Rimmer's very sensitive series about her grandparents frailty. A few words underneath the title of this work were enough to allow a good understanding of the sense of loss that dementia brings to those still living in the present.

Then there was work about air pollution in China. Not too hard to get.

Printed on beautiful textured paper.

I also had no difficulty with the small and playful book by Ling Li titled

'The person taking the photo is also being photographed'

After all this intense trying to 'get' stuff I went for a cup of tea.

Obviously I wished I was a student.

My favourite work in the show was by Clara Duran.

'Hail Radiates across the Ripple"

I didn't fully understand it until I watched a video about the making of it later in the day.

So much underlying meaning.

And lovely to discover how she works in such a conceptual way.

So lovely that I went home and got my portfolio together and went for an interview to join the MA book arts course.

They offered me a place.

I accepted.

I will learn how to talk art speak.

And then I will try to teach it to OH.

It might take a while.....

Friday, 15 July 2016

photography as meditation - at beaver lake and beyond

Beaver lake, Vancouver

Everyone seems to be talking about mindfulness and meditation. Quieting the monkey mind - that inner voice that is so keen to comment on what we are up to in an often unhelpful way.

I tried drawing for mindfulness, but kept cheating by looking when I was supposed to be keeping my eyes closed.

I can concentrate on my breathing for about 3 seconds before I get distracted by my inner monkey.

I have been unable to write due to unhelpful thoughts about what I should or shouldn't be writing about. I am more interested in children's stories than fine art right now.

A poem written but not shared.

And then I remember Beaver Lake in Vancouver where I walked with my grandson and realise that these repetitive walks that I take, both at home and abroad, are indeed a form of meditation.

As I make images, even with my phone, I think only about what I am seeing and all other thoughts are quiet.