Reflective Practice Questionaire

Reflective Practice Questionnaire

Introductory questions

What do you call yourself?

I am a moving image artist, using drawing, digital and hand-made processes. I sometimes make works which I call art contraptions, which are mixed media sculptural devices.
I also write and review books, art and cultural events, and am an occasional tutor and arts mentor.

What was your initial training?

I initially trained as a classical musician, playing the viola in orchestras and later the bass viol in early music ensembles. I always drew and made things, and retrained in Fine Art in my 30's.

What kind of work do you currently make or do?

Currently I am making larger scale moving image pieces - my last work was one hour, and my current project is a 24 hour piece. Larger scale projects allow me to bring in more layers and to immerse myself in the work. I think of it as writing a novel rather than short stories. I still like short poetic works.

How long have you been making/doing this kind of work?

I have been making moving image in various forms since my first adult art class when I made a film using slide projectors in 1997-8. Before I have only occasionally incorporated sound in work, but now have grown to embrace my musical background and make sound for the moving image also. I had some resistance, as I had a great awareness of what is missing in my knowledge of musical theory and composition, etc. Now I accept that my knowledge is a sort of informed intuition, blissfully free from precise details, and can get on with it.

Reflective questions

Why do you make/create work?

I make work so that I can fully know and understand my ideas, to fulfill an internal aesthetic quest, and to give meaning and form to my creative impulses.

How do you generate ideas? 

I wouldn't say I generate ideas, but rather that I allow ideas to emerge. There are many ideas that make internal connections, and are appropriate for different projects. The way I generate or choose which ideas are right for now is focus. I really focus on an idea until it begins to truly form into words, images or concepts to start a piece with. Usually there will be a cluster of ideas which relate to each other, which I focus on and filter over and over until they are expressed into a potential form. Often this form is a direction to follow and process, and in the making of the piece I aim to find a form that incorporates, satisfies and answers those ideas. If that sounds rather nebulous, that's actually quite a true representation of my thinking process. It often feels like I come up with a few ideas and images I would like to express, and that there is a puzzle or emigma, a series of connections through experimentation and getting to know each element thoroughly, which will come up with the solution - the artwork.

What do you do when things go wrong or don't work out?

If things go wrong or don't work out, I assume that I have asked the wrong question, or that there is more to think through about what I am trying to achieve. I assume that I have come up with the right answer to a question I didn't know I had, and I will reframe what I am searching for.

When have you learnt the most?

I have learnt the most from showing work publicly, especially when I witness someone I don't know or didn't invite to the exhibition experiencing my work. Every aspect of showing art and setting up exhibitions informs work, but there is something deeply magical about witnessing a stranger having a relationship with my art.

Have you ever changed the kind of work you make? Why?

I have certainly adapted work for different conditions, but that is more of a learning of what might be appropriate for different settings. Work changes all the time until it is finished. I have made work specifically to adapt to different opportunities, but as to the question, have you ever changed the kind of work you make, apart from being adaptable, I clearly don't really understand the question.

Do you have any regrets?

That is really a philosophical question, and in life I choose and aim not to think like that, and to embrace even difficult parts of life as valuable. Of course there are things I wish I'd have known sooner, and things I wish I knew now that perhaps I will eventually learn. Truly I probably regret most the things which have been outside my control, all the hundreds and thousands of rejections I have accumulated over the years which may have made such a positive effect on my practice by giving me so many more opportunities to make and show work in different circumstances.

What makes you get up in the morning?

Life.

What would you tell someone setting out on a career?

I would tell them that all jobs and skills are relevant in an art career - it's all about how you present skills as transferable. Many years ago I turned down a couple of opportunities because they were not exactly what I wanted to do. Well, I wouldn't do that now. A creative career is often that of a multitasking freelancer, and so picking up all sorts of skills and qualifications along the way equips you for when the opportunities to show work or make money come along. I'd also remind that they will often be competing with people who work within organisations, who have done the more boring but essential aspects of work such as health and safety and equality and diversity courses, without which employment even as a freelancer is unlikely, so I would value those opportunities to train when available.

While these practical things in life naturally intervene, above all, I would share with someone to invest in truly developing their practice by giving themselves the time and space of an art degree or equivalent, and then, once they have built a practice, that they treasure and nurture it and consider themselves a practicing artist at all times, even when time and opportunities seem scarce. An art career is like flowing water, it may be a stream or a trickle, a mighty river or a quiet backwater. It will be all of those things and more at different times. It's not about size, it's about circulation and clarity, dealing with where you are now, and preventing stagnation.

14th April 2013