Objects for a Studio

The future

2009-05-22T13:10:00.003+01:00

The 10 previous postings show the final images that I exhibited at the end of the Kunstenaarslogies residency programme.

In addition to the objects I made in the studios and the photos I took, I also made a series of video pieces which are yet to be edited. Once they have been edited I will post them on this blogsite. I also amassed a large amount of research, mainly in the form of physical sketches, which I aim to turn into new work now that I have returned from Amersfoort.

I am now embarking on the organisation of Objects for a Studio: Berlin.

Day 1

2009-05-19T12:35:00.002+01:00

Day 2

2009-05-19T12:34:00.004+01:00

Day 3

2009-05-19T12:33:00.003+01:00

Day 4

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Day 5

2009-05-19T12:27:00.005+01:00

Day 6

2009-05-19T12:22:00.002+01:00

Day 7

2009-05-19T12:14:00.002+01:00

Day 8

2009-05-19T12:12:00.002+01:00

Day 9

2009-05-19T08:57:00.004+01:00

Day 10

2009-05-19T08:51:00.002+01:00

The Exhibition

2009-04-21T21:21:00.002+01:00

Day 10

2009-04-21T20:33:00.003+01:00

Friday 27th March 2009

Without exception this space is the studio most imbued with the spirit of the host artist. The walls are adorned with portraits of my host, painted by numerous other artists. Although other artists also work in this space, the character is most certainly that of Gert. This was a joyous space, filled with colour and light – it is also the first studio I’ve been to with its own fully stocked bar!

And this is the end. The last studio day!

Day 9

2009-04-21T20:27:00.003+01:00

Thursday 26th March 2009

Another social day, accompanied by too many glasses of wine and lovely Dutch cheeses. An international day - my host had several visitors during the day and had to constantly translate between Dutch, French and English. I really should learn another language, being in Europe really puts the British to shame.

This was the studio of a classical sculptor, and I was thrilled to find a store of stone and marble pedestals and lots of bronze circles that have or will be part of his work.

To my great relief, at the end of this studio day, my host introduced me to an artist whose studio is across the courtyard. This artist agreed to be my 10^th and final host.

Day 8

2009-04-17T13:36:00.004+01:00

Wednesday 25^th March 2009

Just being in a studio with 3 boats, for me, is exciting.

Today was distinguished quite early on by a thunderous crash, as a piece of work I had just made, collapsed. Even though I was expecting it, it still took some time for me to stop shaking. No damage was done, I must add.

Day 7

2009-04-17T12:41:00.004+01:00

Tuesday 24^th March 2009

Today I was working with the artists I know the best in Amersfoort - my two fellow artists in residence. It is the studio I have visited the most often and the artists I am the most familiar with – as they are also my flat mates.

There is a danger of loosing concentration when I feel at ease within a space. This is not because I am being distracted by the artists, but because when I am comfortable, my mind wanders – to mundane things, such as what I am going to cook for dinner, but also to what is preoccupying my mind at the moment and that is what I am going to present next week and whether I will actually be able to have an Opening.

The comparative ease of this environment highlights the stressful nature of the situations I have been placing myself in. To enter another artist’s domain and proceed to make work, isn’t something I undertake lightly.

Selection

2009-03-30T17:38:00.004+01:00

I am in the process of selecting my 10 images to exhibit on Thursday.

It is a frustrating process, mainly because the way I have been thinking about the project has evolved over the last 3 weeks.

Following Objects for a Studio: Manchester, I felt the camera played to dominant a role in the project. Each studio day resulted in hundreds and hundreds of photos. The problem seemed to be creating a piece of work which was photogenic, rather than simply making work.

For this reason, I wasn’t even sure whether I would use a camera at all in Amersfoort. Despite having again proposed to document each studio day with a single photograph – I wondered if there was another way of doing this. I toyed with ideas of using a Polaroid camera, so that I could only take 1 photo per day. I also thought of filming the whole day and then choosing the most appropriate stills from the footage. With all this in mind, and no decisions made, I started my studio days in Amersfoort.

Something that became apparent on the first day was that the sculpture I was making was the most important aspect of the day – and that it wasn’t necessary to make any definite decisions as to whether to take or not take photos; to video or not video. Making the work was paramount, and the documentation was a secondary decision that could be left until the end of the day.

So this is how I began, but as I mentioned before – things changed.

Almost done

2009-03-29T18:40:00.006+01:00

On Friday I did the last of my studio days. I managed to do 10 in total, finding my final artist at the last minute.

It was a tough week; doing 5 in a row was necessary, but exhausting.

Yesterday I travelled to Rotterdam to visit the studio of Lieke Snellen, an artist whose work shares certain parallels with my own. She showed me round the studio complex in which she works and introduced me to the current artists in residence. One of the artists I met was Axel Reusch.

Rotterdam was a welcome relief from the intensity of Amersfoort and this project. The city, apart from all the boats and lighthouses, felt very much like a British city - it is certainly nothing like anywhere else I have been in The Netherlands.

Day 6

2009-03-25T19:43:00.003Z

Monday 23rd March 2009

One of the first things today’s artist told me about the studio was “this is where they used to bring the cows…for slaughter.”

This history was not apparent in my host’s studio, it was fairly typical: very cold, damp, leaking roof, full of standard workshop equipment, obscure furniture and intriguing pieces of machinery – but on the occasions I glimpsed any of the dark adjoining rooms, their white tiled walls, and drainage points in the floor, were an unsettling reminder.

Irrespective of these neighbouring rooms, Leo and I worked very happily side by side – him bringing an old electronic organ back to life and me stringing chairs up from the ceiling and balancing cymbals on planks of wood.

Day 5

2009-03-25T18:59:00.004Z

Thursday 19th March 2009

Today was quite a different experience as I was working in the studio of someone who has been described as a choreographer, but whose performances tend to be multi-disciplinary, also incorporating video and text.

This was the first day when making work from objects didn’t seem appropriate. At the time this was because the few objects around the place were evidently personal items belonging to each dancer; each one having their own area in which to rest between rehearsals. Though looking back, it is quite an obvious response given the fact that I was in the studio of an artist who did not use objects themselves or create objects. The space itself was enough for me to work with.

7 down, 3 to go

2009-03-24T19:13:00.001Z

This is going to be an intense week. I am trying to do 5 studio days this week, to leave the final week free for me to decide what I am going to present.

It is only Tuesday and I am already flagging.

The blog

2009-03-24T19:03:00.002Z

I'm finding it so difficult to blog, it definitely doesn't come naturally to me. However I feel it is really important to document this project as it happens, as each day varies greatly and not everything is captured in the photos I take or the work I do.

Writing reflectively while I am still making work is virtually impossible for me - It's like two different parts of my brain working against each other.

Despite this, I will try and stay up to date - as once I get home the moment will have passed.

Today

2009-03-23T18:24:00.000Z

Phew, today was a good day in the studio. It is Day 6, so I won't go into too much detail, as I want to recount the days in order - however today this residency made sense. The work that happened today went beyond Objects for a Studio - and started to suggest where this project might take me once I return home.

Day 3

2009-03-20T20:02:00.005Z

Tuesday 17th March 2009

This was a difficult day, and writing retrospectively after Day 8, this was the most difficult day so far.

A veritable Aladdin's Cave. This studio comprised of 2 spaces; the store room: A former food colouring factory (with red powder oozing from the ceiling, dripping down the walls, staining the floor, staining my shoes) and the studio/performance space/workshop.

Hours of looking and watching and finding and seeing. Tantalised by drawers labeled Solenoids and Microfoons. Boxes of tubes, stacks of boxes – cases, containers, pots and pans all overflowing with Things. Drawer upon drawer, compartment on compartment. Materials materials, objects objects. This is a wonderful place to visit, a common vestige for artists and students, searching for uncommon objects. One of those spaces where a week, a month, a year, wouldn't be enough to explore all it has to offer.

However, as a space to make work, this has been the most challenging. A space to make work distinct from the objects that surrounded me – virtually impossible. In this studio, there was no escaping the object; in all its many forms and with all its seductive powers.

Day 4

Wednesday 18th March 2009

What a relief. A huge, open, virtually empty space. Flooded with natural light from the panoramic windows, which over looked the river. This painter’s studio, mainly contained paintings. The few objects within the room were all specifically related to the process of painting. But the space…so much space…

Day 2

2009-03-20T17:30:00.006Z

Saturday 14th March 2009

This space appears to be the social hub of Aimsijht; table tennis, poole, open studio planning meetings, coffee, cigarettes....

In, out; backwards and forwards; to and fro.

Day 1

2009-03-20T16:53:00.004Z

Friday 13th March 2009

The first residency. I think it always helps me if I start the day on my own in the studio. I haven't sought to engineer this, as I wouldn't want to dictate what the host does in their own studio; but the days when I have had the opportunity to assess the surroundings for myself, I feel the most as ease. Of course this isn't a project about feeling at ease, quite the opposite at times - but to have those initial moments to myself sets the tone for the day.

Once I had found my feet within the space, I had several visitors. The studio I was working in is in a very large empty factory, which is now occupied by about 10 artists and designers. Most of these artists already know about the project I am doing, so came to see what was happening. Due to these (welcome) interruptions, it was well into the afternoon before any work was started. However once the work was started, the day became quite simple. I made one piece of work.

The only thing that complicated the day was trying to document the work. This is a situation I am constantly tying myself in knots over; thinking about it has taken up so much of my time recently that I can hardly bear to write about it. However it is an issue that is bound to crop up frequently during this blog.

2009-03-17T07:51:00.002Z

Virtually no time to write at the moment. I'm doing my 3rd studio day today, I only have 2 more booked in at the moment, which is a little worrying, I'm very conscious about running out of time.

However, tonight my help the situation. I have been asked to give a presentation to 'Boo' which is a group of creatives from the Amersfoort and Utrecht area, who come together every other month to solve the cultural dilemmas of it's members. My problem being my search for host artists.

Beginnings...

2009-03-12T21:18:00.002Z

The project will begin properly tomorrow.

I set up this blog in May last year, but quickly abandoned it. I felt it would be an invasion of privacy for the artists involved. I didn't want the blog to form some sort of surveillance of studio practice in Manchester; poking through peoples studio cupboards and stumbling across work that was never intended to see the light of day. This was the main reason that I decided to document each studio day with a single photo - to take the emphasis off the studio and help me to focus on what had happened that day.

For this reason, I will not be announcing on this blog, which artist I will be working with on each day. All artists, however will be acknowledged on the right hand side of this page in the section: Associated Artists: Amersfoort.

2009-03-12T11:15:00.003Z

The project is slow to start. Lots of interest, but little commitment to dates. In the meanwhile I wait and read Perec with peppermint tea.

This afternoon I must make some more forthright phone calls.

Kunstenaarslogies, Amersfoort

2009-03-10T18:15:00.005Z

This is my 3rd day in Amersfoort. On Sunday one of the other Artists in Residence, Gregory (there are 3 of us) took me to the building where he has been allocated studio space. It is in a large abandoned factory, which now houses about 10 artists. I was stunned by the size of each studio. The smallest was approximately 10 times the size of my studio in Manchester (which I share with another artist!) - some studios were twice the size of this. At least one of the artists I have contacted and has agreed to let me spend a day in their studio, has space in this building. So I know part of my project will take place here.

Objects for a Studio: Part 2

2009-03-02T19:09:00.004Z

I am about to embark on the 2nd phase of Objects for a Studio. This will take place whilst I am Artist in Residence at Kunstenaarslogies, Amersfoort, The Netherlands.

Between the 7th March and 4th April I intend to spend a day working in at least 10 different artist's studios in Amersfoort.

Unlike last time I do not already know the artists I will be working with. I have contacted a small number of artists who have either been suggested by my hosts, or found through Google, social networking sites or local studio websites.

I have no first hand knowledge of their work and little second hand knowlege - making the outcome of each experience impossible to predict.

2009-02-24T19:08:00.000Z

2009-02-17T09:32:00.002Z

The following photos document the 10 residencies undertaken during Objects for a Studio: MANCHESTER and are titled Day 1-10 respectively.

Introduction

2008-06-17T16:04:00.006+01:00

The first in this series of projects, Objects for a Studio:MANCHESTER took place between May and August 2008 and saw me working for a single day in 10 different artist's studios across the city.

I brought nothing with me to each 'residency', other than a camera and the intension to create work within another artist’s space.

The artists were chosen from my social network, and my relationship with each, varied. With some artists I knew their work well, having studied together during our Masters; other artists were lecturers on that course - so they knew my work but I knew little of theirs. Sometimes I knew the artist better than the work and other times, the reverse was true - in some situations it was the studio which to me was the most familiar. In each situation, the character of the space, the nature of the host artist's practice and the relationship between me and the host, all impacted on the work I did, or did not produce on the day.

At the start of the project the structure I set myself was to document each 'residency' with a single photograph. In practice I tended to take many photos during the day - so this single photograph was selected from many for its particular significance. At the end of the project I opened my own studio to the public, as part of Arttranspennine 08 and presented an installation along with 10 documentary photographs.

The reason I have chosen the studio as the focus of this project, rather than another highly personal space, such as the bedroom or the living room, is because of the unique personality this space carries for each individual artist. A personality that not only changes from artist to artist, but also for each individual artist, day to day; a place which can, not only be, as Duchamp describes, a utopian haven - but also a prison cell. Placing myself within this highly charged atmosphere, accelerates and intensifies my creative process, and forces me to look at how and why I make work.

I would like to thank the following artists for taking part in the project: Pavel Buchler, Tracey Cartlege, Nina Chua, Julie Del’Hopital, Bec Garland, Hilary Jack, G. Leddington, Andrew Lim & 100th Monkey Collective, Carolyn Curtis Magri, Daksha Patel, Ed Pien, Ian Rawlinson, Joe Richardson, Sarah Sanders, Mandy Tolley, Johannes Zits.

2008-05-01T19:36:00.000+01:00

Objects for a Shared Studio: Foam. 2008

2008-05-01T19:33:00.000+01:00

Objects for a Shared Studio: Twin. 2008

Objects for a Shared Studio

2008-04-28T19:54:00.000+01:00

Pipe, 2008

The project begins...

2008-04-28T19:48:00.000+01:00

This project is a smaller version of one I want to complete next year. The idea comes from a series of pieces that I have been working on called Objects for a Shared Studio which I've created in the studio in Hope Mill that I share with Sarah Sanders.