ARTISTS TALKING

# 19 [21 May 2011]

I've been exploring the potential of solarplates; I like the relief quality that they can give to both paper and to clay. I've been very focused on the image to the point where I stopped thinking about the prints as being objects in their own right. I want to really exploit their sense of objectness and make the print and the material that it's printed merge together more and almost be the same thing.

# 18 [7 March 2011]

I had a tutorial with David Ferry the printmaker which was really good because he was looking at the work from a different perspective. He highlighted the significance of the object and the handmade which, I can sometimes overlook because ceramics is the discipline that I'm trained in. I had become very focused on the image and the print, forgetting that the prints on clay were also objects within their own rights. He also highlighted for me the fact that I was dislocating the impact of the photograph by the use of the grid.

I've been looking at work by Andreas Gursky, Dieter Roth, Louise Nevenson, Antoni Tapies, Gerhard Richter, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, and Vito Acconci.

# 17 [15 February 2011]

Several questions have arisen within my practice that require exploration. The first of these is: ‘How can I enhance the visual experience of the viewer?’ I am going to explore further the layering of different halftone shapes and frequencies of halftone to create patterns or optical disturbances. I can explore the grid further by creating differences within the components of the grid through their size or the shape of halftone that is used. Other approaches to the creation of a visual experience include: CAD to create a low relief pattern, resist processes or a flexiograph to create texture. These processes could be used to explore the pixilation and dispersal of the image.

Another question is: ‘Is the frame as important as the concept of the frame?’ Perhaps the manipulation of perspective could be employed by using different sizes of the same image as in slide nine or playing with the perspective of the frame . 

This issue of the use of perspective relates to another question that I wish to explore which is: ‘The room, the wall, and the way in which the image is used within this context?’ This relates to installation art, but also to architecture as it is possible for my work to be built into the fabric of a building.

# 16 [20 January 2011]

My dissertation has now been handed in so, I have until the beginning of September to focus on practical work. The dissertation examined definitions of creativity from different fields and looked at approaches to understanding the creative process within artistic practice. It's really starting to feed into my practice, I'm using it to improve the content on my website.

http://www.elaineflannery.com/#/table-of-contents/4547548999

# 15 [30 November 2010]

I am a problem finding artist as opposed to a problem solving one. I pose questions to myself that I don't always have the answers to. My current question is: How can I make the image move or create a sense of movement? It's a more interesting way of developing work as you have to look at your area, set out your criteria, identify the problem and then look at ways of tackling it. Reading about creativity research led me to think about this and by chance I came across a quote by Chuck Close which sums up the benefits of this approach quite well.

"Chuck Close has described himself as "an artist looking for trouble, because pushing the limits of a technique gets him in trouble, and extricating himself from a technical corner becomes an essential catalyst to his creativity."

# 14 [24 October 2010]

It's certainly been interesting being involved with The Table of Contents exhibition, it's been quite a democratic exhibition, unknowns have been welcome as well as students. I've been really impressed by the hard work and dediction to the project by the LSAD staff: Roisin Lewis, Peter Morgan, and Alan Keane.

http://www.limerickcoordination.ie/2010/10/19/lsad...

This has been my first time exhibiting my new work, and I'm pleased with it's developments so far. The porcelain prints seem to invite interaction with the viewer. The viewer has to stand back at a certain distance to be able to take in the whole image and has to move closer to examine the details or just try to figure out what the image is that they are looking at. I'd really like to make an audio recording of the viewer's thoughts and views as they try to figure out what it is that they are seeing and the differences that their proximity to the pieces makes to their perceptions of it.

# 13 [30 September 2010]

Finally, all of my work for The Table of Contents exhibition is finished! I just need to make arrangements to get myself and the work to Ireland and buy the materials necessary to mount the work. Working, doing my MA part time and making work for the exhibition has been really wearing. On a more positive note though, I don't think I have ever been so concentrated or so immersed in my work before. I feel like I've been in another place for the last two months.

In becoming so immersed in my work, I've become more aware of my interests and concerns within my practice:

I am concerned with the materiality of the materials that I employ; their potency or potential as mediums. Whether it is the pooling of ink as it dries on cartridge paper or the print left on raw clay as the print is registered upon it. I am interested in how my actions can suggest an encapsulation of an action or event.

A recurring theme within my practice is the use of multiples, structures, and repetitions. I find myself continually revisiting previous work, taking new elements and relocating them by putting them back into my points of origin.

The role of memory and the central role our body plays in our understanding of time makes it possible for us to simultaneously experience the past and present in the same moment. This can facilitate the reliving of a sensory experience. The ambiguity of the marks and images I'm using allows the viewer to project their own subjective experiences and memories onto the artwork, thereby reliving a particular moment in time.



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# 12 [22 August 2010]

Working with an image has definitely helped me to push my work forward even though I felt uncertain about what the end results might produce compared to my results so far. Producing work for an exhibition has accelerated my development and it's made me make decisions about my work. It's helped me to realise that my work is ongoing and that what I exhibit is just showing my progress at this particular time. My early pivotal drawings were about capturing or encapsulating a particular moment through the pooling of the ink on paper and the image that I'm using is also of a particular moment that I am capturing but in a sense also abstracting to a small degree for the viewer. There will I hope be a sense of weight in the ceramic pieces that the drawings have. I would also like to allow the viewer to experience the artwork in a more phenomenological way, so I don't want it to be too literal.

# 11 [17 July 2010]

It seems that my practice is continually evolving and changing. I was quite enjoying that feeling of knowing what I was doing for a little while. It's a cyclical process and once again I feel that I'm back to square one so to speak. It's not unlike snakes and ladders, where you feel you are progressing and then land on the snake and go back a few places. I need to add something new that is fixed to my work. Perhaps an image or a trace of an image that is barely glimpsed amongst the interplay and alchemy of materials?

# 10 [3 July 2010]

I've had some really good news, I'm going to be taking part in an exhibition back home in Ireland in October. I feel both apprehensive and excited at the same time. It's a really good opportunity for me. I work quite a lot as I'm doing my Masters part time and I'm self funded, so this is going to make me extremely busy.