Informal Artist Interview

I recently was interviewed about my practice and attitudes and experience of making art and my pursuit of being a practicing artist. It was a good morning, I was in writing form and I really enjoyed giving some honest opinions on things I had thought about before but hadn't ever put on paper. I was encouraged to post it here...and so....nervously I do.

What is the most important idea, issue, dilemma or thing that you want to address in your art?

Science, living things, life, urge, nature, instinctual drive, inability to control our greater actions and movements, questions of mortality, cycle of living things

Why do you make art?

Sometimes because I need to make things – at times I feel 'hungry' for a period until I create and feed that need. Sometimes because I want to feel I have produced something successful or beautiful or interesting (this is the superficial egotistical side to my practice when I find myself concentrating on the result and reaction rather than the process). Sometimes because I feel like a have to - for example from a personal pressure I put on myself to continue my career as an artist.

Do you find yourself more attracted to work that is not like your own, or work that has similarities to yours?

At times I am attracted to work that is similar to my own. I know that certainly in college I used to search out artists who made work that looked like the stuff I was doing at that time. More recently I think I find contrasting styles interesting. I am now more open to areas outside of fine art as a direct influence. Contrast in imagery and form interests me. In particular in the design world, the teaching world the world of science and the architectural world - I find myself picking up ideas and visual reference which may not directly influence what my work looks like, but it certainly influences how I talk about my work, and how I approach my practice time and how I see myself as an artist, educator, and person. Interior design websites and simple child-like processes of creation interest me. Clever three dimensional work using natural materials makes me want make things....simple ideas make perceptive art and astute design.

What are your methods of visualisation? How does the process of creating an art object begin?

I think I work quite similarly to a sculptor or installation artist, I think in three dimension mostly or I should say I plan with a specific space in mind...and my greatest urges to make involve installation ideas, and sculptural ideas. I do not sketch or draw a lot, I write down detailed descriptions of installation ideas, along with simple drawings. I visualise overall exhibitions and their layout before even making work. I love the presentation and installation side to exhibiting. My exhibitions have all been very much about the space I show in so I see making a body of work as one big project rather than making individual pieces. My individual pieces need each other to create links and develop a collective communication. When making mixed media paper pieces, I again work on a collective and usually have several on the go at once. I love working with collage and mixed media and feel really confident when making paper works from several tools and materials. Editing is another tool in my process of 'drawing'. My 2dimensional work could be compared to layout or desktop publishing. I studied web design for a year and so I work with photoshop every week and this process of using photoshop has definitely influence how I conceptualise and create drawings. Layering, transparencies, layout balance, colour balance, contrasting line quality and imagery...

What are your expectations?

My expectations were once great and vast and unrealistic but now they are very much contentedly small scale! I am more comfortable when thinking about small scale micro effects and experiences that my art practice has the potential to elicit. My aspirations to become a 'famous' artist have been flooded by a realistic awakening that slow and steady is the only way to progress honestly or genuinely as an artist.

Genuine interest, persistence, personal challenge and the urge to document are only a few of the ingredients I now know I need to achieve the kind of results which will satisfy my own expectations.

Do you think about the audience in the process, finished piece, exhibition and beyond that?Who do you imagine your audience to be?

This is something I have blogged about a few times. Andy Goldsworthy once siad,

The relationship between the public and the artist is complex and difficult to explain. There is a fine line between using this critical energy creatively and pandering to it." The audience can kill creation... I went through a year of fearing what critical eyes would be judging my upcoming solo exhibition and what their opinions about my work would be. This self consciousness driven by the notion of the 'audience' almost paralyzed my making for some time.

Two years ago I cared a lot about my audience, in a negative way, I mean I was self conscious about my audience. But recently, I am feeling more and more confident about what I do. Everyone is different and all are entitled to their opinions, as long as they are their own, and they are their honest opinions. It is the pretentious side to the art world audience that I have trouble with, and I know there is a pretentious side to all scenes but this used to effect me since I was working alone on my stuff, and while I am making I don't communicate what I am doing much to anyone until I feel it is concluded to some degree and then it was exposed for the slaughter! I guess your audience and who you think 'they' are really reflects what kind of person you are yourself - how you react, how you prepare and how you defend yourself from a critical audience. Notice how all those things I said were negative. I also blogged about Ken Robinson - he champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity. He defines creativity as “the process of having original ideas which have value.” If one has a fear of being 'wrong' or 'critically analysed' they will not have the scope to come up with anything original. Its a simple teaching philosophy, without a safe environment no one will have the courage to speak out. As a practicing artist my aim is to allow myself the oppotunity to invent, create and express original ideas.

The positive side to audience is the interesting feedback I receive regularaly from people about my work, ideas, approach to art making. And i have learned more about my work through others and their reactions and discussions relating to my work. I realise now looking back on my blog that I do write about this topic a lot....heres a link to an experience at my art installation at electric picnic in 2008....http://www.paulahenihan.com/blog/2008/09/listening-to-words.html

And also... here is a link to my comments on the experience of being the artist at the opening to my own solo exhibition.... http://www.paulahenihan.com/blog/2009_06_01_paulahenihan.html

What do you think galleries can offer as places for experience?

I have broken my answer into descriptive words that come to mind when thinking about different types of galleries.

White cube space.

insight, enlightenment, silent, shock, inquiry, confusion, anger, inclusion, exclusion, white space, escape, false importance, investigation, awkwardness, hostility.

Arts Centre

(although I do resent that some arts centres have forgotten that they are providing a cultural service for the entire community and not simply a select few)

inclusion, confusion, comfortable, community, social space, learning, involvement, participation, discourse, communication,

Arts collectives

activity, involvement, inclusion, exclusion, clique, social, interesting, engaging, inviting, inventive