Untitled (Fragmented Memory)

This end of level 6 artwork at Staffordshire University continues to explore how memories change over time. It utilises the action words 'fragmentation' and 'fading'. I picked out a past photograph from a trip to Ilam Park depicting a casual moment/event with people walking in a landscape. These are the peaceful moments I like to depict sometimes. On ninety-nine MDF panel pieces, I painted the photograph and one piece, in colour, on a bigger panel, with the rest painted in blurry tonal colours. That represents a 'ghost' of the memory with one piece out of a hundred remembered, while the rest are scattered forgotten and lost. Some have even been placed in new multiple formations, creating new forms, as blankness in memories can form fictional thoughts. Use of levels represent status of what is remembered or forgotton. The layout of the paintings make the work 3D as well as 2D. The scales of the pieces make the work to be viewed from both a distance and up close, both looking straight and downwards.

After this exhibition, I was asked to exhibit this artwork again in the DR19 exhibition, later on in 2019. Only the fragmented pieces were asked for, without the large MDF painting. This put the artwork in a slightly different perspective. The pieces can work alone in expressing the loss of memory. The outcome of this work was more 3D which made the work more needed to be examined closely and far away again, as I hoped. It connects with the old, weathering layout of the exhibition space, including the temporary white walls that won't last, like the small details in memories. I continued presenting the pieces all level-headed to represent pixelization in photography and the loss of memory with the different statuses.

Application pack: Cover Letter, Proposal, Artists Statement and CV

Contents of Application Pack for ‘Wirksworth Festival - Lodge Project’:

1.     Cover Letter 

2.     Proposal 

3.     Artists Statement 

4.     CV 

5.     10 artworks

The Maltings (Formerly The Parish Room),

Church Walk,

Wirksworth,

Derbyshire,

DE4 4DP.

Dear Carol Taylor,

I have been once to Wirksworth in the Derbyshire Dales briefly before, but I haven’t explored the area thoroughly, so I am curious to explore it some more. As a soon-to-be graduate artist from Staffordshire University, I would like to have a residency to start after I graduate, and when reading about the opportunity to explore a new area, my first thought was to physically walk the area, which is my favourite part about my methods in the research of my projects. To create an exhibition from this would be amazing. What will be included in this application pack is a proposal for the project, my CV, my artist’s statement, ten pages of images of my chosen artworks and my website. 

When it comes to exploring new locations, I always start with the method of walking the trails, while taking photographs with my camera to view later when I’m working in a studio. I may also work outdoors in the area producing art with materials I find there, leading to site-specific artworks. I communicate with the public of who has more experience in this area than I, to find out more information. Also, I learn and use the history of a location in my works sometimes. I then use the photographs I’ve taken and any other public info to influence my research and possible outcomes of my artworks for an exhibition. Because I’m currently working with memory in my practice, it would be interesting for me to think back to that one time before and what sights I might recall when I see it.

As a fine artist studying at Staffordshire, I have the skills of producing artworks in many mediums like drawing, painting, ceramics, photography (editing through photoshop), printmaking, installation, canvas making, found and natural objects. So, my use of mediums is flexible and a widened range. I also have organisation, researching, exhibition planning, communication, problem-solving and IT computer skills as an artist.

I look forward to meeting the community of the festival upon my suitability for the opportunity.      Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Best regards, Rebecca Shaker.

The Lodge Project - ‘A New Land’ Proposal

This residency will allow me to explore a new area which is what I love doing as a starting point in my studio practice. I walk the area while taking pictures, doing quick sketches and finding out information about the history of the area. Depending on what I find, I’m considering producing site-specific works that could be made as well as the artworks I create in studio work. There will be a rich variety of ideas leading to artworks that will be made from this starting point.

I am visualising in creating an art exhibition from an outsider’s point of view who thoroughly explored Wirksworth, as a public event. If I still have time to organise it, replicates of these artworks could be sold in a sale, unless someone makes me an offer for the original artworks, after the exhibition ends. The artworks outcomes will depend on my exploration of Wirksworth. Because I’m not sure of what I will find I like the idea of working with improvisation and chance as well. I hope these artworks will encourage the audience to explore new areas around them.

As a fine artist, I can produce a wide variety of mediums in art, such as paintings, drawings, (edited) photographs, sculptures of natural materials (depends on what I find) or installations, etc. If there are any other artists in this project, and depending on their practise and ideas, I would be happy to collaborate with them.

I will take part in as many of activities as possible to gain as much research for my produced works. For example, walking the trails while taking photographs myself; using the land materials for artworks if I get permission; communicating with the public and taking part in available public activities I find in the community. For example, the Art & Architecture Trail weekend. I’ll also be learning the history of the area and looking for artefacts while walking the trails, such as limestone quarrying. This, in turn, relates to my exploration of how time changes landscapes and memories in my studio practice. I will be working in a studio space when producing artworks or out in the countryside.

The residency will take place from July to September 2019. The festival will take place from 6^th to 22^nd September 2019, so the exhibition will be during that time. I might come to Wirksworth sooner than July only in visitation for a day or 2, because I prefer to have all the time I can get, to produce artworks, make and change my decisions in planning, in being prepared.

At this stage and judging on my studio practice, I think paintings and drawings will be my outcome for the exhibition but as a fine artist who is a stranger to this area, the investigation and research will lead to a more conclusive idea about what will be produced. The work itself may contribute to preserving the industrial history of Wirksworth.

I will most likely need an indoor gallery space and plenty of wall space for my 2D artworks. I still have yet to see the venues, but I think it will be in the Maltings and St Mary’s Church venues. The £3000 fee I will receive should be enough for funding. With this, I will pay for: paints, paper, MDF boards and any art materials I will need. If there are any other artists applying, I would be happy to work with them working towards a duo exhibition. I usually bring my own equipment in producing artworks. If you have any computing or printing equipment, that would be very helpful. I will need white and cartilage paper, canvas, acrylic/oil paint, which I will buy from the nearest art shop or online. If I were to fundraise, I would do cake sales and ask the volunteers of the Wirksworth festival to help at their events.

If I work with panels and canvas’s, there may be risks in using drills and nails putting the artworks up, in the gallery space. Apart from that, there are no risks. If I use photographs of the public, I will use permission slips. Until I see the venues of the festival, I will not be able to predict where I will be displaying them. Most likely in the Maltings or the town hall.

Artist’s Statement (2018)

My practice currently explores how time changes memory, using my own personal memories as a starting point and example. I’m also exploring the space between memory and photography because photography records a high level of detail while memory is economical, but you might remember enough to recognise something. The outcomes of the work are often paintings on paper or canvas, or drawings that come from photography. The other mediums I also use are: video, edited photography, found objects, cheap objects, mixed media, installation.

I always start with photography as my research source, taken during my walks or travels. I change these photographs to other mediums to develop towards final outcomes, because that is how I make the events/memories of these photographs more ‘human’ and no longer ‘digital’. This is because today, a photograph takes only a few seconds to take, that lasts forever, whereas mediums like paintings or drawings take longer to complete, therefore I’m spending more time in remembering the moment/event of when this photo was taken. It also is an interpretation of how memories shown in these photographs change through time. The change from photograph to another medium gives me the opportunity to manipulate the outcome of them. Also, by travelling and taking photographs, I’m exploring 2 different perspectives; through a camera’s lens and the 360 degrees understanding of lived experience.

I have a desire to record and document my travels. I use those photographs as a recall of memories. I come back to these memories to express connections and narratives like a visual diary. 

CV

Rebecca Georgette Shaker

rebecca.shaker@yahoo.co.uk,

https://rgshaker.blogspot.com/

https://beckyshaker.blogspot.com/

Education/Qualifications

2016 - present, Staffordshire University, BA (Hons) Fine Art, Stoke-on-Trent

2015-2016, Sheffield College, Foundation diploma, Art and Design – Merit, Sheffield

2014-2016, Bilborough College, A-Levels – Art and Design - D, Dance - C, Drama and Theatre Studies – D, Extended Project – D, AS level – Media Studies – D, Nottingham

Exhibitions

‘Equivocal’ - End of Level 5 Exhibition Degree Show – As part of a group exhibition, I produced an installation of a fabricated and temporal studio space which shows the experiments and artworks of a project of me exploring and documenting the changes of Hanley Park through time. You see the behind-the-scenes of this project – May 2018, Stoke-on-Trent, Hanley City Centre, Airspace Gallery

‘Phoenix’ – In a residency placement in Hanley Park, I produced a solo exhibition of my artworks in documenting the changes the park was going through in its restoration combined with my own studio practice – March 2018, Stoke-on-Trent, Hanley Park

‘End of Level 4 Exhibition Degree Show’ - I did a collage of what I pictured Greece to be since I’ve never been there before, using found google images. It was frozen in the process of being 100% complete – June 2017, Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire University Campus

‘Samara’ - A group of 4 artists doing their individualism in the themes of the stages: Birth, Life, Death and Reincarnation. Mine was life in a collection of found objects describing a fictional person’s life - March 2017, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire University Campus, Cadman Building

Sheffield College, ‘End of Foundation Year’ - At the end of the foundation year at college we selected our theme; mine had been Greek mythology and found objects and symbolism of these myths. The exhibition was carried out in a public space with audience participation - June 2016, Gage Gallery, Kelham Island, Sheffield

Skills

As a fine artist at uni, I’ve had experience in painting, drawing, Photoshop, ceramics, wood work, plastic work, canvas making, photography, surface pattern and film. I have research, organisation, problem solving, and teamwork skills in creating an exhibition. I am always currently developing my own artistic practice. Currently, I am focusing on my personal memories of travels in photography and how time changes them.

Voluntary work

August 2014 – National Citizen Service, Nottingham - assisting at Nursing Home

2^nd November 2017 – 4^th November 2017 – British Ceramics Biennial, China Hall – exhibition assistant

June 2017 – Sheffield Care Fertility, admins office - organising folders and helping where I can

25-29^th June 2013 - Bulwell Crabtree Primary School - Teaching assistant work experience

Employment

Leaflet distributor – Nottingham Building Society, October 2011

References on request

Gallery of Artworks (Part of Application Pack)

Images of Artworks

(Two collages layered)

(Final exhibition outcome)

 

‘A Desire Stuck But Not For Long’, found google images and plastic glass, collage, 2017

This is what I visualise Greece to look like in my mind, which is where I’ve never been, but I’ve always wanted to visit. The presentation of the layers being frozen in its slightly spread out state reveals the construction of the collage, like a behind-the-scenes of a film, coming out of its final outcome appearance.

‘Hanley Park Project’ – installation (mixed media, found objects, acrylic and oil on panel, text notes, pencil on paper, table, shelf, chair, books, photography) 2018

At the End of Level 5 Degree Exhibition, named ‘Equivocal’, I produced an installation of a fabricated and temporal studio space. It showed the research, experiments and artworks in the process of a project exploring and documenting the changes of Hanley park in its current restoration. The changes of the park were merged with my studio practice of painting, photography and how time changes things like natural forms and architecture. It’s the behind-the-scenes of a project. The work is inspired by Mark Dion’s ‘Harbingers of The Fifth Season’. The scene has been recently touched and has now been paused in the process, but not frozen. The installation is also accompanied by a small drawing and key of everything listed there in its fabrication.

 ‘Step in Time’, acrylic paint on paper, 2017

In my Hanley Project, based on documenting the changes of Hanley Park, these paintings came from exploring the park multiple times, while taking photographs of some of the architecture and how it changes through time, like the stone banner beside the steps. Like these three small paintings in levels, they’ve changed through time and I’m going back in time.

(Full painting before turned into collages)

	‘Colosseum’ and ‘Lights in the Night’, acrylic paint on paper, 2017 These paintings come from landscape photograph’s I took on my past travels in Italy. I used cubism and fragmentation, as a method, to represent how memories change through time. Memories themselves become fragmented. I used my personal memories as an example when exploring ‘memory’.

‘One Life’, Collection of found objects, 2017

When working with three other artists in a small exhibition, we produced an artwork individually in the cycle of life: Birth, Life, Death and Reincarnation. My section was life and this artwork represents the life of a fictional individual person, made of found objects as left behind clues to who that person after that person died. It’s not specific in terms of names, dates or family photos to remain anonymous but shows only objects that were owned by that person in life.

‘Park Run’ and ‘Birds Behaviour’, acrylic paint on MDF panel, 2018

In my Hanley park Project, I painted two panels of movement I saw happening in the park, such as the volunteers running at the weekly park run and the behaviour of birds flying around and over the pond. Jackson Pollock’s action painting inspired these as well.

‘Graffiti’, mixed media, 2018

In my Hanley Park project, I saw a lot of graffiti drawings all around the park, which left me thinking what the narratives behind these stories were. I gathered some graffiti by photography and drew miniature versions of them in different mediums. I tried to stay loyal to the material that was used to create them by their creators. I thought it would be interesting to see the reactions of people who created them, in the exhibition.

‘Myth and Reality’, acrylic and oil paint on two MDF panels, 2018

In my Hanley Park project, I combined two different paintings that I thought would fit nicely together as one artwork.

At first, I wanted to paint something inspired by my interest in Greek mythology. The painting of the swan came from the animal life I found in Hanley park and how the swan is a symbol of the goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite. I also included the changes from winter to spring in Hanley park, which in turn reminded me of the Greek myth of the abduction of Persephone, because when she is on earth, spring and summer awaken, but when she stays in the underworld, the world changes to autumn and winter.

The smaller painting again comes from my exploration of the park, when I saw a love lock on a bridge. The symbolism between these paintings are quite similar, so I put them together for the lock and swan to be interacting.

 

 Collection of ‘Natural Forms’, photography, 2018

In my Hanley Park project, while exploring the park, I found natural material’s (leaves, twigs, stones, etc) and improvised with them in creating abstract sculptures and then photographed them to place in the exhibition. I then left each sculpture to their fate to most likely be destroyed by the weather and I was hoping the audience, after seeing them as photographs, they would go to see the places where I created them and see if they are still there or not, which is why I displayed a map of where I made them in the area. To see how time changes them. This collection of photographs was inspired by Andy Goldsworthy.

 ‘Right On The Tip Of My Tongue’, oil paint on paper and text, 2018

This mix of paintings and text represent what I have brought back from my holiday travels of the last 4 years. It includes the written info of where and when these memories took place and what I can remember of the events when I took the photos. The separated text represents how memory has gaps (forgetting) in remembering small details. The postcard-size painting come from photographs I took of these travels which I blurred out precise details to represent the fading of memories. The artwork shows opposition of photography vs memory.

Start of late 2018 Studio Practice

In the summer of 2018, I have been on a number of holidays/travels that I would integrate into my studio practice. Continuing from my experience in the Hanley Project, I would like to continue exploring how time changes things, so I will see how time changes memories. What U bring back from these travels are mostly photography of landscapes, family photos, objects, or anything that catches my eye in my path. It's mostly holidays I've been on that I am fond of, to work from.
It gives me two perspectives to look at from personal real-life experiences and through the lens of a camera later on in time. I have been working in photography as a research source, and change those into paintings as my main method so far. (Will insert works later on).