College, 20th February

The main part of the day was taken up with continuing research for my Confirmatory Stage, i.e. final, project.  I had done quite a lot of thinking over the half-term break, and had drafted a Statement of Intent which I discussed with Abi.  I think I am clear about my intentions.  I am going to work around the idea of change from my old, working life, of writing reports, essays, briefings, committee papers, speeches.  All those words, all that paper, all that thought and argument and analysis.  But my new post-work world has very little of that.  Instead of words and arguments, I'm dealing with images, textures, things.  Both are about begin creative, but creativity on terms of art and drawing, making, designing things is so much freer, mre satisfying.

So my project is going to take apart the physical evidence of my old world, and break it up, de-construct it, and transform it into something new.  I've been influenced by all kinds of artists and images, including Cornelia Parker's work with words (throwing them off the cliffs at Dover back in 1992) and her work of deconstructing, separating out the parts as in Cold Dark Matter

• Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View, 1991
• A garden shed and contents blown up
• Dimensions variable

Image copied from The Frith Street Gallery website here.

 I think that approach, of physically tearing apart and scattering around, is what appeals to me most.

But I'm also interested in the possibility of mashing paper up into pulp, and either making new paper (on which to draw or print or paint new and hopefully hopeful images) or to make new 3D objects, although I'm not yet sure what they might be like.  Probably not representational.  I might suspend these in a group, creating a kind of maze of objects and textures.  Some of these ideas have been influenced by looking at pieces by Marian Bijlenga and Jaume Plensa, who I've blogged about previously.  Also by some of the objects I saw at the Lost in Lace show in Birmingham last week.

There is a mass of material on line about working with paper, as well as the research I did on a number of artists for the Writing - or Not pathway project.

I want to experiment and play around with paper and paper pulp for a while, to find out what feels right to develop further.

I might also use some stitch, and I have not ruled out the option of making some books.  I have liked the idea of books which cannot be read:  Anselm Kiefer's lead books are inspiring.

Alternately, I did think, a couple of weeks ago, about making a sort of book from enamelled metal.  But these ideas take me in the wrong direction, really.  The written words I used to create didn't end up in books, but normally in sheaves of printed white A4, sometimes bound into loose-leaf folders and ring-bound files.