Week Eighteen | Indexical Drawing and Copic Binding
Squeezing in the big words this week. I have realised with my early explorations of Long Stitch Bookbinding that what I probably should learn is Copic Binding instead, as the likelihood it seems is that my hanging books are unlikely to be folded. So round we go again. I am not even sure I will bind them but I am finding the process of looking into a new skill appealing.
Progress
Six A1 drawings on watercolour paper for the MA interim show
My erasure drawings are well under way and I feel really good about the paper explorations. Materiality feels like a rich area for me to explore my ideas and I am hopeful there will be some newness to my drawings there. I am looking at my drawings more and more and trying to observe what it is that I am finding appealing in my vertical slashes and the rhythms of self, time and place resonate most. Indexical traces feel relevant and I am called to review the idea of ‘occurance’ drawing or incidental streams of drawing in action. The act of drawing/tracing. Signs of self, signs of place, signs.
The drawings are making me nervous as I’m back to ‘outcome’ thinking - it’s been such a nice break to not worry about that for a while. That said, I do need some finished work for the interim show and also for my own sense of direction in my work but it’s nontheless making me a bit twitchy as the drawings need to be able to stand on their own without all of this explanation going on around them.
I found this artist Stuart Smith on Instagram who works in an in-situ manner using found forest debris as his tools and bashes printing plates and paper to create somewhat indexical drawings and collographs on site. After the interim show I would like to consider some form of experimentation with drawing in the forest and see if I can develop my own ideas around traces in context. Antony Gormley’s indexical traces are of interest too, as are Mona Hatoum’s drawings and Olafur Elisson’s Salt Water Observatory creating evidence of happenings in place. I also found an artist some time ago who makes wind drawings and correlates them to shipping news - Meg Roger. Her wind drawings speak to me about surrender and happenings - her work feels gentle and gives quiet voice to the landscape. Helen Booth’s excursions to frozen places such as Iceland here where she observes small occurrences or happenings such as small bubbles being caught in the ice, which can be seen melting. My old drawing School tutor Lindsey Sekulowicz’s journeys to Jamaica fascinated me when I met her at the RDS in 2021 and her delicate, Jamaican lace bark was fascinating to me then. It feels relevant to me now.
This book ‘Art and Climate Change’ is having a profound effect on how I see the landscape in the Anthropocene as I build up a basis for contemporary attitudes to climate chaos. I am finding internet based research more reliable as events move so fast, print is outdated so quickly. I have particularly enjoyed the chapter post-glacial landscapes and the work of Irene Kopelman whose recent body of work ‘Drawing Regeneration’ feels poignant and highly relevant. I like how her work is so field based (as is Helen Booth’s above) and seems to blur the boundaries between marine science and her role as artist and observer. Her work includes drawings, paintings, glass works and ceramics and I admire the fluency with which she moves between media in response to the laboratory work on species of delicate marine invertebrates.
Above: A selection of Irene Kopelman’s work
Reflections on the above:
I notice how artists who do work in the field interest me greatly. I wonder whether I should remain receptive to the idea of traveling to places or whether the landscapes of Wiltshire around me genuinely fulfil the needs of my explorations fully
I am drawn to how delicate so many of these drawings and traces are and I feel attracted to working in this way - since my writings about ugly art (following discussions on Iain McGilchrist’s writings) I feel liberated
Mark makers seem important to me but I haven’t got very far outside of art shop materials
My horizons feel broader. There are many steps between where I am now and the sorts of visions of these artists but the steps feel fewer than they did six months ago.
I need to look more deeply into the land and mine its marks and listen carefully to what it is telling me. The frottage work is where I must continue once the interim show is completed.
Materiality
Material District is an amazing resource for finding creative materials and I am waiting for a response on the Light paper and it’s given me an ‘excuse’ to return to the idea of fairy lights… I feel certain they are stupid and low art but I am dispensing with unhelpful and limited thinking and ruling everything in until I have a reason to rule it out. So fairy lights. I had another look and found this paper based textile that expands and contracts depending on the humidity and I thought that might be an interesting substrate to consider for an in-situ or outdoor based drawing and it supports the idea of a free moving trace.
Non-adhesion collage seems a new development in my thinking as sticking paper has been a feature of my painting for years and I think the hanging idea has moved into a free movement way of thinking about layering paper - interesting that I immediately dive into bookbinding as soon as the pages become free... How could they be completely free? Is there a performance piece emerging here??! Oh God, I hope not.
Note to self: ongoing interest in Mona Hatoum’s indexical drawings and Self Erasing Drawing, 1979.
It’s definitely proving part of my development to simply find materials that might work and go with it. I have always liked Mark Bradford’s approach: “the most important imperative to be questioned is the one that tells you to go to the art store to be a painter”. I think this is a major area for growth for me and my more traditional ideas will only thrive if I experiment more with the materials I allow in.
I like the idea of indexical traces emerging and I like that materials might support that. I have a box full of bulldog clips just arrived so I can start to hang and experiment with drawings outdoors and I am wondering if the textile paper described above might be a good way to experiment with trace ‘happenings’ or rather a here and now drawing where the piece changes and grows depending on the surroundings.
Drawing Practice
I am continuing to draw a lot with the Drawing Room and also take classes as a student including NEAC courses in life drawing, which I am finding enormously beneficial. Honing my drawing skills seems to be supporting everything I do. I am beginning to see these drawings as happenings too rather than static observation drawings, so it’s all related after all, it seems.
Time Planning
I am not doing enough painting… I am doing a bit too much in general and need to consider priorities once more. I would like to revisit my Study Statement Work Plan with a view to a closer look at how I might fit in the various aspects of my work. I am heavily prioritising drawing at present, which feels the right way to go. However it is my hope to bring my painting and experimental channels of art making together and I also have obligations to galleries. I would like for my work to be rooted in one solid practice with a range of expressions and lines of enquiry. They sort of are at the moment but I am working towards improved clarity and focus.
Next Steps
Consider going back to earlier starts in the studio or later, evening studio sessions - although this is just more exhausting…
Another day of fun club per week for the children, possibly Fridays
I am keen to keep weekends for family life but a small sacrifice of Saturday afternoons may be necessary
Look into more car pooling options for the children’s after school clubs
Establishing a better home studio for when I can’t get to my studio. I feel this is the best plan and I will focus on that this week - clearing out the garage and putting all my materials in there so they are easily accessed. I can draw in the dining room.