I love this quote by Joseph Campbell in The Power of Myth
“People say what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive…”
These words struck me. With my artwork I am exploring this experience of being fully attentive to the everyday experience of What Is. This reflects my interest in meditation and Taoism. I have begun the practice of making Chinese ink drawings in the woods of boundaries, paths, the marginal and in between. I think this could be a rich area for me to cultivate. I’d like to make 52 drawings!
I am making the drawings on site then re making them in the studio adding colour. This is an experiment in memory and mark. By re-making the drawings am I adding to them in any way? What is added and what is lost?
Can’t believe I haven’t blogged for so long! Just returned from a camping, seminar weekend near Zennor Cornwall, organised by Bos Arts at NT Treveal Farm. Great fun and food for thought. My interim college show work reponded to the site too.
My “Making the Bed” work sprang from conversations with Jon Brookes (country side manager at NT Treveal Farm). He spoke to me about the reintroduction of grazing to the coastal cliffs, which allows light to the soil, bringing biodiversity and wildflowers to the clifftops. However the issue has polarised local residents who share the landscape.
Making work on site was an interesting take on a college show, bringing its own particular practical and emotional stresses. The main one being I was relying on other people to help make the piece happen, and it all had to happen at the last minute. A farmer friend near home was called upon to come up with friends near Zennor who could provide the small bales that can be lifted by hand, and the National Trust provided help with the trailer etc.
It all worked out beautifully on the day and the weekend was glorious which meant I could site the work in the milking yard where I wanted it. If it had been a bad forecast it would have been in a barn, or the bales would have been ruined and the calves would have gone hungry! The joys of a rural practice!
