My challenge...During my time at Site Gallery I wanted to learn to better understand the world of art in Sheffield. I chose this as my challenge as I felt quite naive as to what I know about my local art scene and was very intrigued to learn more about it, especially as I am thinking of studying Fine Art for a degree. To achieve this I made notes on everything I have experienced, like trips to galleries and talks and advice from artists and the staff at the gallery. At these galleries I asked questions to try and get an insight into the life of local artists and other related jobs. I also recorded the information that I learnt each day in my blog as a daily dairy.
After my two weeks of work experience I have learnt just how vast and v\aired the art scene is in Sheffield. During this time I counted ten exhibitions within the city all displaying a wide range of art forms. I visited four of these during the two weeks; the first exhibition I went round was by Haris Epaminonda, which is currently at the Site Gallery.
It was a surreal experience consisting of four different videos being played in one room with very subtle music in the background. It certainly wasn’t very self-explanatory and I wouldn’t say that I could relate to the artists’ thoughts behind this work but it was definitely an experience, which in itself highlights how her work had an effect on me. From this exhibition I learnt that you have to be very opened minded about different forms of art because even if you don’t think you understand it, it may still affect you in some way.
I then went to Emilie Taylor's ceramic exhibition in the Yorkshire Artspace (which also houses artist and maker studios). Her use of decorative patterns and line drawings give her work a very contemporary feel. I was interested to find out that her inspiration in her work was based around different aspects of the forms and functions of the places we live, particularly housing estates and their relationships with the British. She emphasised that in her work she felt that it was really important to start with a subject that you know, not a statement that you want to convey because by starting with something that you know it will subconsciously have a message behind it anyway. I was also intrigued to find out that after she had completed her Fine Art degree in fine art she had no idea what she wanted to do and ended up becoming a drugs worker. She then felt the need to learn a creative skill and started to attend a course in ceramics at a night school. Now she works on her ceramics for half the week but still has her day job. I thought it was really eye opening to learn that she has two completely different jobs but I have since found out that many arts survive like this. For example they may freelance across several jobs like Vicky and Ben do at the gallery. Emilie highlighted that this has a real positive aspect to it because she does not have to conform her ceramics to sell them.
The third gallery I visited was the Archipelago Gallery, which is what I chose to write about as my Part B section of my Arts Award. I didn’t realise there was a gallery in Sheffield that reproduces artists’ work in the exhibitions to sell via limited edition prints. And that they make and sell on it own premises. I was shown around the workshop used for the silkscreen prints and I learnt how they produce each individual print, which I found out was a very time consuming and skilled job. It made me realise how cheap the silkscreen prints were in relation to how much time was spent on each one.
The final gallery I visited was Bank Street Arts (which also houses artist and maker studios). I was interested to find out that Bank Street Arts runs a unique residency program for local artists and holds exhibitions. Currently Susannah Gent's work is being exhibited, which contains film, sculpture and taxidermy. I had never seen taxidermy in real life before and found it very fascinating but shocking at the same time. I'm not sure how I feel about taxidermy but I now appreciate the skill that is needed to preserve an animal and I agree with the concept that there is no point of throwing a dead animal away when you can make art out of it. I was interested to find out that Susannah in her work was exploring the craft of taxidermy whilst re-contextualizing the traditional focus of animals. Her work represents the dead rather than trying to preserve an essence of life in the animal, which creates a contemporary aspect to her work. She also looks at how we as humans personify animals in human ways.
All the galleries I visited operate in different ways so it’s good to know there is something for everyone. Both in the work and in what support and services they may be looking for in a gallery.
My interview with Andrew Hunt was also eye opening, as he emphasised how determined you need to be if you want a career as an artist because it is so competitive. I also thought it was interesting how Andrew chose to settle in Sheffield, as it’s not a place I would expect an artist to move to. However, where he lives is crucial in his artwork because he uses the people around him and their characteristics in his paintings and Sheffield is a friendly and down to earth place with lots of history and character. I found in fascinating just how much the area he lives in effects his artwork, highlighting that Sheffield could be a perfect place to become a successful artist.
No comments:
Post a Comment