Repeats: Artist Research

Since developing my lino prints I have become increasingly interested in repeats. This is something has has always been in the background of my practice, as I have often talked about collections, multiples and originals. The use of a print plays into this notion perfectly.

As is increasingly so with my artist-teacher practice, the development has been informed by my art teaching. As I began to put together an 'Intro to Pop Art' course I was reminded of the classic repeats of Warhol and of other that I had come across over the years.

My practice feels as if it is playing into notions of Pop Art, accidentally, as until I started writing a course on it I cannot say that I had given it much thought within or outside of my practice. However, if Pop Art relies upon the use of popular or everyday objects*, then my use of road signs fits that characteristic. The movement also gives a nod to mass produced items, thinks cans of soup...but again this is a parallel I can make with the road signs (and something that I have talked about in previous blog posts).

*On reflection I am surprised that I had not looked into Pop Art before in relation to my own art practice, given that it has always drawn on the everyday.

Abbie Cairns, 2020

One of the things that draws me into the repeats is the intention of them. The process and the decision making behind deciding to make many, rather than one. What does there being more than one add to the piece? And what does it take away? Is it part of the story telling? Or done to fill a page?

This is something that initially drew me to Andy Warhol's Marilyn Diptych, as the repeats are used clearly to depict the narrative of Marilyn herself. While the repeats may not all be identical the subject matter is clearly one of the same.

Andy Warhol, Marilyn Diptych, 1962

Looking at the effect that this has on text is interesting as the text used is drawn from shared public language  (Wittgenstein in Kripke, 1984) and the instructions given fall into social contracts that we know to follow (Rousseau, 1998). However, by repeating those words they are then read differently - it is unexpected and gives them a different context. Repeated words can become order like, or mantra like, depending on the tone used and how they are interpreted by the reader. Word choice too will play a part. With the repeat of 'end' for example, the quantitation to that word are already quite negative and so seeing them over and over can make it feel quite daunting. In the print itself there is little context or reference to what it is ending, however the arrows suggest that it could be a certain direction. However, this direction could be real, or imagined, or conceptual. 


The text originally comes from The Road Sign Collection and while already part of a 'popular' culture item, taking the text and repeating it gives it a propaganda edge - like when the circus comes to town and you find whole walls plastered with the same poster promoting the same event, over and over.

Abbie Cairns, 2020

These outcomes reminded me of an artist that I had come across previously, Scott Myles. This print highlights a lit of the characteristics that I have been exploring and enjoying. The use of the repeat, but with each still as an original. 

The use of recognisable text from 'real life' and a colour scheme which nods to the gestures and conventions of signs (Judovitz, 1998), but created as an art object, rather than a fictional sign - and should never be exhibited above a door (Tate, 2020b). I find this playful and enjoy how it elevates the text into the art world, this is what I am doing with The Road Sign Collection. My signs will never make it onto a path or motorway. but they should not anyway, they should be viewed in an art setting away from their original context to allow new readings of them to be undertaken by the audience. 

Scott Myles, Double Exit, 2004

The use of multiple can mean that the reproductions produced lack something that the original has (Benjamin, 2015), however these prints (and hopefully my own too) seem to eschew this as each print is slightly different and original. 

References

Benjamin, W. (2015) Illuminations. London: Penguin. 

Judovitz, D. (1998) Unpacking Duchamp: Art in Transit. University of California Press. 

Kripke, S. (1984) Wittgenstein Rules and Private Language. John Wiley & Sons; New Ed edition.

Rousseau, J. J. (1998) The Social Contract. Wordsworth Editions.

Tate. (2020a) Andy Warhol: Marilyn Diptych, 1962. [online] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/warhol-marilyn-diptych-t03093. [accessed 14/04/20].

Tate. (2020b) Scott Myles: Double Exit, 2004. [online] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/myles-double-exit-t11902. [accessed 28/04/20].

Developing a Peer Support Programme: Part Two: Creative Practitioner Support Programme

Need to catch-up? Read part one here.

Expansion came in the form of moving to work with SPACE to develop the idea of a peer support programme.

Many of the same principles stood from Colchester Crit Collective, including the importance of it being something that happens outside of traditional arts education, with a much simpler structure (Vidokle and Rosler, 2008). We wanted to create a respectful environment in which peer feedback could be shared to help develop the practices of our attendees (Hattie and Timperley, 2007). Having SPACE as a permanent location for the sessions allowed us to develop this environment, as attendees start to become comfortable and accustomed to the room that sessions are held in (Davila and Waterston, 2009).

The Graduate and Creative Practitioner Support Programme was officially launched in October 2018 and offered two free sessions a month to creatives and continues to this day as the Creative Practitioner Support Programme. Sessions now run every third Thursday and fourth Saturday at 12-2pm. This along with the regular rooming makes the sessions more welcoming and predictable. 

The notion of building a supportive community (Day, 2012) is at the heart of what we do. Since we moved to the regular time slot, the session attendance has grown and we have started to create this community of creatives who are from in and around Colchester, each with their own practices.

The sessions allow for facilitated dialogues to take place (Lermans, 2018), rather than the sessions being a free-for-all, there is an element of structure. As the session facilitator I will manage attendees expectation and keep an eye on timing. Each attendee is asked if they wish to show work or are just there to observe. Those showing, will be asked to outline what it is they want from the session; do they have a specific set of questions they want answering, do they want their peers initial reactions to work. or something else. This allows for attendees to access the kind of support they require. This is also beneficial to attendees in terms of being able to bring more perspectives to the development and aid problem solving (Latham, 2018). Peers are able to offer critical analysis, allowing attendees to expand their practices and to sharing knowledge (Davis and Tilley, 2016).  Receiving peer feedback also highlights the opportunity for the attendees to become more self-reflective and critical about their own practices (Percy, 2004). 

Our Facebook group has also grown, bringing together our attendees on a digital site. This has allowed us to implement the use of technology into our offer (Wojak and Miller, 2015), allowing all of the elements listed above to continue outside of the meeting room. We currently have around 70 members within our Facebook group. This group is actively used by attendees, to continue conversations and for networking.

The Creative Practitioner Support Programme is currently in its second year. We will be running sessions every third Thursday and fourth Saturday until July 2020, when we stop for the summer break. 

References

Davila, J. and Waterston, E. (2009) Art Quilts at Play: Ignite Your Inner Artist-Experiment with Surface Design Techniques. C&T Publishing.

Davis, R. and Tilley, A. (2016) What they didn’t teach you in art school: What you need to know to survive as an artist. Ilex.

Day. P. (2012) The Are Group Crit: How do you make a firing squad less scary? [online] Available at: arts.brighton.ac.uk/projects/networks/issue-18-july-2012/the-art-group-crit-how-do-you-make-a-firing-squad-less-scary. [accessed 30/01/20].

Hattie, J. and Timperley, H. (2007) The Power of Feedback. Review of Educational Research. 77 (1).

Lermans, L. (2018) Critical Response Process. [online] brooklynartscouncil.org. [accessed 04/02/20].

Percy, C. (2004) Critical absence versus critical engagement: Problematics of the crit in design and communication in Higher Education. 2 (3),

Vidokle, A. and Rosler, M. (2008) Exhibition as School as Work of Art. [online] www.art-lies.org/article.php?Id=1661&issue=59&5=1. [accessed 05/02/20].

Wojak, A. and Miller, S. (2015) Starting Your Career as an Artist: A Guide to Launching a Creative Life. Allworth Press; Second Edition.

Developing a Peer Support Programme: Part One: Colchester Crit Collective

My plans to start a peer support programme started in 2018 while completing my MA Fine Art. The Professional Development module prompted me into action.

The rationale behind this decision was that after completing my BA Fine Art in 2016 I felt something of a creative isolation. Suddenly there was no-one to talk to about my practice and I felt as a result my work stopped progressing. In creating a creative support network, I hoped to develop my own art world (Tilley and Davis, 2016), of like-mined creatives. 

My focus was on the ‘art world’ rather than the ‘art market’ as I am more interested in the exchange of thoughts and ideas, than brute wealth (Thornton, 2009), as I felt that this would be more beneficial to my art practice and continued development - albeit, not as beneficial to my livelihood. However, the art world is larger than just the art market (Thornton, 2012).

I felt that there was a gap in the market for this kind of set-up based on my own lived experience. While Colchester plays host to many art groups, I had not found anything locally which put sharing ideas and feedback at its centre. 

Initially I started to develop Colchester Crit Collective, which brought together peer feedback and tea and cake. These sessions where hosted in a number of different cafes, as finding a free venue proved impossible. As the sessions where free to attend, there was no money to pay for venue hire. At this stage my lack of interest in money was doing the development of the sessions a disservice, as while I am interested in an meeting of minds, businesses are very much interested in the exchange for services for money. 

However, I felt that the groups being free was important and was also a common theme within my research (Thorne, 2012 and Madoff, 2009), just think, The Copenhagen Free Art School (Madoff, 2009).

The intention of Colchester Crit Collective was to create a group which would run regularly and give creatives a sense of stability and at its heart would focus on providing a supportive platform  for artists to show work, test ideas and receive critical feedback from their peers (Day, 2012), outside of an educational context.  Allowing creatives to develop their practices (Percy, 2004) and receive feedback opening the opportunity for development of work and possible collaborations and events (Davis and Tilley, 2016).

The Format 

·       Artists will be invited to join the monthly Colchester Crit Collective sessions–there is no commitment to attend all sessions (but it is encouraged!)

·       Sessions will take the form of an informal table discussion

·       Artists not showing works are encouraged to join and offer critique

Running Order

1. Start-Welcome and Introductions
2. Artists invited to layout work/documentation/ideas on the table
3. Group Discussion
4. End–Networking Opportunity

Showing Work

·       Artist are invited to bring work or work in progress to be critiqued and it is strongly recommended that artist have an aim for the session, such as questions they want answers to (in relation to how their work is developing, intent, content, use of materials, exhibiting etc.

As my Professional Development module came to an end the wheels started to come off Colchester Crit Collective, it had been successful in terms of creating a small community of creatives, attendees were encouraged to bring along their creative friends to expand the network (Bhandari and Melber, 2009). However, it was clear that expansion was needed to create something viable. 

Coming Soon

Developing a Peer Support Programme: Part Two: Creative Practitioner Support Programme

References

Bhandari, H. D. and Melber, J. (2009) ART/WORK: Everything You Need to Know (and Do) As You Pursue Your Art Career. FreePress; Original ed.

Davis, R. and Tilley, A. (2016) What they didn’t teach you in art school: What you need to know to survive as an artist. Ilex.

Day. P. (2012) The Are Group Crit: How do you make a firing squad less scary? [online] Available at: arts.brighton.ac.uk/projects/networks/issue-18-july-2012/the-art-group-crit-how-do-you-make-a-firing-squad-less-scary. [accessed 30/01/20].

Madoff, S. H. (2009) Art School: Propositions for the 21st century. MIT Press.

Thornton, S. (2012) Seven Days in the Arts World. GrantaBooks.

Tilley, A. and Davis, R. (2016) What They Didn't Teach You in Art School: How to Survive as an Artist in the Real World. Ilex Press; 01 Edition.