My Current Artist Statement

My artistic practice explores the use of text and site, examining how the context of a site can change the reading of any given text and provides the cultural frame work for the art work to exist within. The work produced is usually temporary, drawing on notions of time and place, duration and mutability. This is echoed in the use of language, as that too is affected by these factors. Language changes depending on when and where it is exists, and the meaning of words is edited and changed as time passes. Nothing is fixed and my practice focuses very much on nowness.

One of the main processes which takes place within my practice is the playing with language, I will often use synonyms and antonyms. I enjoy breaking language and pushing it to its limits; whether this means the use of repetition or removal of text until the language no longer makes sense. The text used within my work varies: some works use found text, others are created by automatic means – the silliness of Dadaism draws me in. However, in both instances they depend on our shared public language and social facts. The everyday nature of language and its accessibility to audiences appeals to me.

The notion of audience/audiencing and community/communication are important to my practice, as the work exists outside of an art gallery context. Therefore, the viewers of the work may not necessarily be looking at it intentionally. To engage this everyman audience, I strive to make text choices which comment on life, rather than art. One of the main reasons I use text within my practice is because we have temporal relations with it and thus, even if the viewer does not reach the same interpretation as my intention, they are still engaging with it on some level. Time and place come into play here too, as the same text will be read differently by the same person if the text is placed in a new site. The text used within my practice is often vague and embraced the audience’s interpretations of the text and the loss of control over it, echoing Barthes feelings on the Death of the Author.

My practice lends itself to installation work, the usual criteria for sites used within my practice are the Duchampian unchoice. These territories appeal to me due to their usually overlooked presence.

My process swings between two opposing pillars; choosing text specifically fitting to sites and putting text into sites and allowing it to resonate. These are varying processes, however I find the process of both compelling, as either way a dialogical relationship will take place between the art and the site [and the audience]. Working within different sites appeals to me as each has their own specific limitation and these limits help to establish and frame the text.

My practice takes a DIY approach, again infused with Dadaism, as such I use materials which are often inexpensive and processes that are easily accessible. Simplisticity can rule and as such the text is curated into the site carefully.

Reflecting on the Firstsite Collectors Group Bursary Application Process

My application writing processes involves many editing stages. I will look at what the application is asking for specifically and in the first instance will just write. The first editing stage focuses on refining the information and ensuring that I have not gone off on a tangent. I will then look at the word count and edit accordingly, removing anything that is not directly relevant. As an artist I find that I apply for opportunities regularly and like to keep a word document with text about my art for future reference, as part of my art practice I also try to write about and contextualise my artwork which I also store digitally.

Past Experiences 

Completing the application also gave me room to reflect on relevant past experiences, as an artist who find public outcomes central to their practice, I found this activity insightful as I do tend to exhibit widely. However, I was able to pinpoint the experience which have been more beneficial to the development of my art practice and what it was each consisted of. Below are the five past experiences that I chose to include. I made the conscious decision to look back over all past experience, picking the most relevant, rather than the most recent ones. 

2019 Fold, Lewisham Project Space: For this exhibition I have created a set of paku-paku’s which contain randomised wording, these have been designed to allow audience members to pick up and play with these to create nonsensical text patterns.

2019 CAS at the Beecroft, The Beecroft: As part of this I exhibited a collection of plaster playing cubes – styled after children’s playing blocks, each with a letter etched into each side of each cube. These can then be interacted with by the audience to create their own text.

2019 Unfamilaiars: WONDER, The Minories: For this pop-up I installed a floor-based string installation. The installation was designed to be fleeting and by interacting with the artwork the audiences also start to destroy the installation.

2018 Art, War and Reconciliation, The Minories: In direct response to the theme of the exhibition I was able to reposition pre-existing war time text to the modern day. This allowed the audience to experience the text in a completely different context and to view how this changes the reading of the text.

2017 Float: Identity, Firstsite: Work for this exhibition was made up of screwed-up pieces of A4 paper, each with a drawing concealed inside relating to an aspect of my identity. These pieces were discarded onto the floor and could be interacted with the

Examples of Work

The application also asked for three example of work. I chose to include two images of previous work and one image which was the basis of my bursary proposal. I felt that the images I included visually summed up my art practice well and showed how it has developed. It is always at the point in application that you are reminded of the importance of ensuring that you document work effectively and with high quality images - especially if, like me your work is ephemeral.

it’s all over

2018. Wooden Board. 32x194x0.5cm. Installation View.

It’s All Over is part of a larger collection called The Initial Wooden Lettering Collection.

Works in this collection were made at the end of my MA Fine Art degree, which I completed at University of Suffolk, Graduating in 2018 with Distinction. The work is commenting on the context of the MA exhibition and the MA coming to its conclusion with the opening of the exhibition.

The text is direct and to the point. It is self-descriptive to the situation. While the text used is neutral, it can be read as negative or positive depending on the viewers outlook. The intention is to provide closure to the situation. However, by not expanding on what it is that is all over, the work is left open to be interpreted by the audience. There is an air of story-telling within the works, the notion of stories draws me in. What is the story behind the work or the meaning of the work? It’s All Over, the work says, but what is all over? Asks the audience.

The curation of the wooden letters is not fixed, they are easily moved and repositioned within the gallery space; this chose was made to ensure that the physicality of the work echoed that of the context of the work; relating to both the mutability and breakability of language.

These letters have been used subsequently in a Colchester Art Society Exhibition at The Minories. However, the lettering was used to create a new series of words, based upon the limitations of the few letters that I had previously created. Further playing on the notion of mutability of language. By reusing these letters, I felt that they were able to keep their authenticity and aura of being originals.

KEEP GOING
2018. Vinyl. 132x17cm. Installation View

Keep Going was created as a moment of personal reflection for Cairns, made public. It is open to interpretation and will resonate differently to each reader, with the meaning possibly changing on each viewing depending on personal mood. The only limitation to the number of interpretations of the work, is the number of people who view it.

Keep Going: Continue to move forward.

The repetitive nature of Keep Going is reaffirming the definition of the text and becomes mantra-like.

The Road Sign Collection
2019. Digital Drawings. Size Variable.

The Road Sign Collection started by chance after an art walk during an art tutor CPD day run by NEAAT (Network of East Anglian Art Teachers). As a group we were instructed to walk around the Fine City of Norwich and document the walk with; photos, drawings, rubbings. During this walk, I photographed road signs. I was drawn to these due to the nature of my art practice, which is concerned with the relationship between text and site. During this time, I was teaching a short course titled, ‘Exploring Drawing and Illustration’, with one of the weeks focusing on line drawing techniques - something that I am usually guilty of neglecting within my practice. However, covering this topic and seeing my learners’ outcomes – particularly their continuous line drawings, made me want to give it ago within my art practice. 

The intention is that each road sign drawing will be an original, with each only drawn once, in one continuous movement. The use of colour in the signs felt important to their ability to carry out their function successfully. I had to start to consider the readability of the sign and our temporal relationship with them. Without the colouring, there is a sense of unfamiliarity to them.

The more time that I spend with the road signs the more I start to consider placing them into a new context. The text is direct and to the point when it is within the original context. Within my practice, I look to have public-facing outcomes and these signs lend themselves to be repositioned into a new context, away from the road. I look to explore what this does to our relationship with these signs that we encounter every day once they are put into an art context. This starts with turning them into drawings and will perhaps end in a gallery context, allowing this new cultural framework to change the context of the road signs.

Artist Statement 

Within the proposal we also needed to provide a 200 word artist statement. As you will have seen in my previous blog post, my artist statement is lengthy, around 550. This process of condensing text makes you consider every aspect of what you do and what is most central to your artistic process.

This version conveys my artistic practice, but does lack the depth of my current artist statement.

My art practice explores the use of text and site. I often use found text within my work and will draw upon the texts original meaning to guide my practice. The use of our shared public language is essential to the works success.

Within my practice I create site specific installations and work with the concept of text/context to create works which resonate with the site. One of the aims of my art practice is to create situations in which dialectical relationships can take place between; the art and the audience/the art and the site.

My practice takes a DIY approach and I strive to use materials that are inexpensive and readily available; such as electrical tape and ready mixed paint and processes which are easily accessible. I feel that this also links into my interests surrounding things that are ‘everyday’ – such as my use of language.

My current research interests surround my dual role of artist and teacher and how these two roles inform each other. I would like to explore further the benefits of being an art tutor who also has an active art practice, both for myself and for my learners.

The Firstsite Collectors Group Annual Party

Friday night (7^th February 2020), I attended the Firstsite Collectors Group Annual Party, hosted at Firstsite to celebrate the 2019 bursary winners. The event was attended by members of the Firstsite Collectors Group, bursary winners and members of the Firstsite team, including director Sally Shaw.

The evening was a great networking opportunity and to meet others involved. There was chance for the bursary winner to display something of their art practices. For this I decided to show my three artist books and my current sketchbook. I presented the artist books as they fully document the last two years of my art practice, with images and short art essays. While my sketchbook documents my current ideas and the start point for what it is that I will be using my bursary for.

Each bursary winner had the opportunity to speak about their art practice and what it is they are planning on doing with their bursary. It was really insightful to listen to the other creatives talk about their artistic processes and ideas; from artists drawing and painting from across rivers, on trains and from Instagram to artists print making and attending research trips.

Within my speech I spoke of my general art practice being based around text and site and how historically I have utilised very DIY, hands on methods and materials, such as; wood, plaster, string and paper. I went onto to discuss how with the bursary I would explore digital outputs to develop The Road Sign Collection. The end goal being to create an artist book, or artist colouring book, wanting to have an outcome which could be interacted with by an audience.

Within this time, I also explored some of the aspects of The Road Sign Collection that compel me to continue with this project. Touching on their everyday nature and our individual experiences with them and how they exist both as mass produced objects, as well as originals, with each having their own history which is documented in their visage.

The opportunity to talk about my art practice in an environment such as Firstsite, is unique and a valuable learning experience. There are few other situations in which to flex and develop this skill set.

Attending the Firstsite Collectors Group Annual Party prompted me to reflect on my experience of the process of applying for and receiving the bursary.

I found the process of applying for the Firstsite Collectors Group bursary useful in that it made me articulate myself and my ideas in a more coherent way – having to write within word counts also helped. I was conscious that those reading the application may not have encountered my practice before and wanted to ensure that I did not overlook any aspect of my practice.

Receiving the bursary is a great vote of confidence and goes someway to externally validating what it is you are doing. From a practical point of view, it offers much needed funding to allow artists to continue to develop – from a personal viewpoint I would not be able to justify investing in software such as Photoshop without the bursary. However, it also comes with some pressure as there is a slight feeling of being accountable to others with reference to what it is you are creating. Something that I have mot felt since leaving university. This is an exciting position to be in and I look forward to seeing what it is i create and develop by December 2020.

You can read more about the Firstsite Collectors Group and the 2019 bursary winners here.