Disaster at Perth College
forthcoming workshops AIR
Artist in Resident Graham Hay had a very successful string of creative disasters during his 11 day artist in resident at Perth College.
Why this emphasis on creative disasters?
While it is not immediately obvious, visual art is a "performance" based activity.
While we, as viewers, focus on the final finished artwork, really it's just the residue of the ongoing private performance by the artist in the studio.
Apart from viewing the representation aspects of an artwork (what it looks like), it's often just as interesting for viewers to unravel how the work was created. A little like looking at a book cover or summary, instead of actually reading and "living" the actual story.
Errors and corrections, made by the artist, add a delightful trail of clues to follow.
Beginning artists often mistakenly try to remove marks and mistakes.
While those more experienced have to work hard not to produce "slick" work, which lacks any clues as to their human impulses and detours and adventures.
So when artists have to make art in public, often while teaching, or during a residency, it can be tempting to recreate a previously successful artwork. While the result may be attractive and a useful trophy for the teaching collection, it often is very discouraging for the students, because the work appears so removed from their own efforts.
"I wanted to lift the hood on my private studio practice for the students" said Graham Hay. " I wanted to show the dozens of physical and artistic mistakes that must be made first before an artwork comes alive. The easiest way to do this was to set the bar really higher for myself."
"The idea for the work actually started just before Christmas, when a work returned broken from the 2015 Chianciano Biennale in Italy. Because the work came from a set, I set about making a replacement. As often happens, ideas came to me as I was making hundreds of its small clay parts.
One thing led to another, as you can see by these pictures. Unfortunately my ambition is to create larger and taller works, so, so far it all have collapsed or broken.
I had to remind myself, art making is like windsurfing, if you don't fall off, you're not learning!"
The slideshow below will illustrate this process.
Why this emphasis on creative disasters?
While it is not immediately obvious, visual art is a "performance" based activity.
While we, as viewers, focus on the final finished artwork, really it's just the residue of the ongoing private performance by the artist in the studio.
Apart from viewing the representation aspects of an artwork (what it looks like), it's often just as interesting for viewers to unravel how the work was created. A little like looking at a book cover or summary, instead of actually reading and "living" the actual story.
Errors and corrections, made by the artist, add a delightful trail of clues to follow.
Beginning artists often mistakenly try to remove marks and mistakes.
While those more experienced have to work hard not to produce "slick" work, which lacks any clues as to their human impulses and detours and adventures.
So when artists have to make art in public, often while teaching, or during a residency, it can be tempting to recreate a previously successful artwork. While the result may be attractive and a useful trophy for the teaching collection, it often is very discouraging for the students, because the work appears so removed from their own efforts.
"I wanted to lift the hood on my private studio practice for the students" said Graham Hay. " I wanted to show the dozens of physical and artistic mistakes that must be made first before an artwork comes alive. The easiest way to do this was to set the bar really higher for myself."
"The idea for the work actually started just before Christmas, when a work returned broken from the 2015 Chianciano Biennale in Italy. Because the work came from a set, I set about making a replacement. As often happens, ideas came to me as I was making hundreds of its small clay parts.
One thing led to another, as you can see by these pictures. Unfortunately my ambition is to create larger and taller works, so, so far it all have collapsed or broken.
I had to remind myself, art making is like windsurfing, if you don't fall off, you're not learning!"
The slideshow below will illustrate this process.
Postscript: After another six months of failures, and minor successes, the technical challenges were finally overcome and I created a 2.5m high sculpture, which was exhibited in the 2nd International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Argentina.
No artist is an island:
A Big thanks to the Perth College Art Committee for inviting and funding my AIR, and Jessica Marantelli, Heritage Officer, for managing the administrative paperwork.
A special thanks also to the welcoming and very professional Tennille Baker, Head of Visual Art and Design. slides
Plus the very accommodating Art Teachers: Lynn Mudie, Dianne Good, Kathy Carlton, who invited me into and allowed me to disrupt their busy classes.
Then the quietly capable Art Administrator/Technician Marijke Loosjes, the even quieter Lucy exchange student from Italy, plus the lively Technician Grace Hummerston, all for whom no request was unreasonable.