LIKE A TONGUE TO WATER

In the last few weeks in Studio Sem I panicked a few times at the end being in sight.

It made me realise how inside the process of developing the pieces I was. It felt like a very unnatural stopping point, a large road block when you are hurtling down the road on a long trip.

                  


I had to suddenly think about all the practicalities of display, finishing, shipping etc.
I wanted to resolve and complete the pieces I was working on, but also didn't want to leave Pietrasanta with any unfulfilled experiments/ideas in mind.

Talking it though with some of the other artists in the workshop was really useful. I decided the residency's main gift was a chance to experiment, so I grabbed a friend and took a trip to the river (close to the quarries) and went boulder hunting. In no time at all we found two lovely marble boulders that had a good shape for the ideas I had in mind.

I wanted to continue to explore the ideas of internal/external surface, the results of working with the stone and juxtaposing geometry/lines.

With one stone, I experimented with carving it in a way that suggested un-peeling, and the other I have brought back to the UK to be skinned in parts without affecting the overall fantastic natural form of the boulder.

                         

I'm so pleased with the outcome of the robot cut skylines project but I have to wait to resolve this work till I return to the studio as I don't have enough energy or time to engage with it as I want to. I decide to leave all of the finishing of this piece and some other sanding/finishing of other work till August or September when I hope to come back to Studio Sem. The contrast of the natural contours colliding with the cut quarried line creates a charged form. I look forward to being able to work the stone and put human touch energy into it.

Now that I'm back in the UK, I have struggled to write a final blog entry about my time carving in Italy. It has only just happened, and was my day to day life until a few weeks ago, which is one reason it's hard to reflect.

The experience has definitely given me confidence, I am really pleased with the work I have produced and I feel glad people who have seen it have a really strong reaction to it. 

A close friend (who is also a fantastic painter) came to visit the studio and saw the largest piece I had just finished (the boulder) and cried! (This is unusual! She is not the sort to well up easily!) From knowing me and my practice (we shared a studio for two years) she said she could see an enormous respect, harmony and understanding achieved in this piece between the stone and me. 

This was very moving, as I guess it is what I was (subconsciously) intending. I wanted to really meet the material on this residency and explore (with energy and dynamism) how I could start a conversation with the stone. I also wanted to open the debate up to others who saw the work, as well as talking about environmentalism and our connection with the things around us in a wider sense, as I feel much of my artwork discusses. 

 

I will return to Studio Sem in August or September to reconnect with the pieces, finalise mounting and finish some elements before the show at the Royal British Sculpture Society in November.

I would like to continue working with stone as part of my practice and using modelling in clay and plaster too. I have lots of ideas I want to develop.

I will investigate stones available close to the West Country, where I will be based while I finish my MA. I would also like to continue investigations into the emotive impact of line. I will do this through drawings primarily. I have brought one small marble boulder home which I will start work on too.

A sculptor who I met in Pietrasanta, who became a close friend, spoke one day of an Aboriginal proverb that used the metaphor of our bodies as boats in the world and our tongue as the oars. This image has stuck with me so strongly over the last few months. I really enjoy the idea that we attempt to navigate with our tongues (using language) the world around us and it will take our bodies in and out of certain situations and places but we are also continually at the mercy of the world around us/the seas, currents and changing tides, the unexpected.  All we can do is be sensitive to that which is around us, sometimes succumbing to the situation and sometimes trying to steer our boats.

I felt that the sea of Pietrasanta and my time in Studio Sem has taken me on a really big journey and to a new destination, realising the value in being sensitive to an environment and attempting to find harmony between intention and the friction of realisation. 

It has been such a privilege and gift to be working in Studio Sem and Pietrasanta for the last three months. All the incredible characters I've met along the way, incredible art, new friends, skills I've seen and conversations had will not easily be forgotten.

 

I have felt a real profundity in being able to just "be an artist", to work really hard all day in a supportive environment, surrounded by other people doing the same, making work. Not being too distracted by the administrative, reflective, promotion and funding processes around the practice of a contemporary artist has been a joy. 

The thing about Pietrasanta, and in a sense Italy in general, is that they accept and support art and craftsmanship to such a huge extent, as it is so ingrained in their history and culture and they seem to still see and celebrate the integral value of it to a thriving society/culture.

This has not only had a big impact personally on my art practice, but also has made me really want to continue to support and create space and openings for creatively collaborating with, developing and supporting others. It's a very progressive and beautiful thing, to integrally accept the value of creative exploration and aesthetic beauty in a community.

I am excited about continuing this body of work started in Pietrasanta as well as exploring new avenues.

Thank you to the Royal British Sculpture Society, Studio Sem, Keara, all the artists I met there, and to friends and family who, through their loving, make anywhere feel like home.