FROM CLARE THORNTON - JUNE 2011

Hello, My name’s Clare Thornton & I’m the recipient of the Laura Ashley Foundation Residency Award.I’ve been in residence here since the beginning of May 2011 and will be so for another 4 weeks.


The studio's here are great spaces to work in and I've been jamming with some incredible people in the past weeks.By way of introduction I’d describe my practice as interdisciplinary and collaborative and I work across performance, visual art and craft to create performance events, print/book works and mixed media installations.

A key part of the Laura Ashley Foundation’s support for my residency here at Aberystwyth Arts Centre was to encourage local engagement with my practice. With the aim of creating the right conditions for that engagement I developed Materials Matters - a social, participatory installation in the gallery space which I hosted from 28th May-9th June with collaborative support from Aberystwyth based artist Ali Matthews, who is a Ph.D. student at the University and researching participatory performance and relational practices.

In the lead up to this event I established a small network of community contacts guided by the Arts Centre team and the call went out through its diverse networks for local residents to bring me an object to the gallery space that might tell me something about them or their local area...

So Material Matters was an invitation to join in.
A way of opening up of a creative research process.
A process that involved a good deal of chat (dialogue plays a key role in my work), as in fact does Collecting/examining objects and the memories we tenderly fold into them.

Material Matters was curious about people's interaction with each other, their physical and emotional relationship with objects and with place or context/situation.

The proposition was to create a 3D landscape of Aberystwyth, an emotional, biographical landscape if you like, shaped through the objects shared with me by local residents.

It was a kind of mapping process. A shifting, sculptural installation transformed daily by the participants active contribution and transactions with the artists and the objects displayed.

This activity works alongside my interests in revealing the processes of production and inviting people into discussions around contemporary art production.




So now that installation has been de-installed and the objects returned to their owners, its time to move out of the gallery and back into the studio. I'm using this part of my residency as reflection time and using the studio space to begin to consider how I might transform the materials I have gathered through this social, public research process.

I would like to work with these encounters: with people, objects, gesture, conversation and explore how I might transform these 'fragile materials' into performance movements (to camera), sculptural forms & works on paper.




I'm excited to use the studio space here to work more physically and try out some movement ideas. I'm really pleased to have met Louise Ritchie, a Ph.D. student here, as I like to engage with her research around the 'In All Languages' movement vocabulary. And look at how I may introduce that into my studio practice.

I’ll let you know how I get on...

I believe I could fly.....and mop the sky

Playing with the wind here in Aberystwyth and surroundings

little start

Sai Hua Kuan and David Cushley leave.

Well these three month residencies fly by so quickly.

Sai Hua Kuan and David Cushley who arrived at the beginning of March have just left and have been replaced by Zoe Childerley and Claudia Borgna.

Sai Hua Kuan: “My work often explores the dynamic void between space and time. To break down and transform a space and to dismantle and reconstruct materials and objects, are the important relearning processes in my creation of art. This playful yet adventurous making process provides an opportunity for me to revisit my social and cultural memory and experience.”

David Cushway: “For over twenty-five years, I have been fascinated with clay as a material, and how it is intrinsically linked to all aspects of our lives. From birth, day to day living, and to death, clay and the ceramic process has been fundamental to our cultural existence since the first human beings developed the skills to use it. The history of ceramics is the history of humanity. It defines humankind’s aspirations and cultural development; it is the material that binds us to the earth that we inhabit. It is what we come from and what we ultimately return to.”

Clare Thornton, who is on a residency funded by Laura Ashley also arrived here in May for three months. She currently is in the middle of a 10 day project in Gallery 1, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, where she has been inviting people to visit the gallery and bring along an object that says something about them. These objects can be large or small, something you might use for work or an interest or hobby. Clare has been placing these objects in the gallery, creating a 3D landscape, unique to the people and place of Aberystwyth..... photographs will follow!

The Second Half of my Residency

(I meant to add this at the end of February)

The second half of the residency flew by! As the weather got milder I spent some more time around the coastline which in turn steered the direction of the work. I was drawn to the experience of looking into haze or mist and not being able to make sense of its landscape – was it big, small, far, near and so on. I made charcoal drawings and tried different things out with photos and text. The work was focussed on pictorial space and I wanted to suggest a form to the blank page or white canvas, or perhaps make it seem heavy and thick.

It soon became time to leave Aberystwyth and say goodbye to some wonderful new friends. Towards the end we went on two trips to North and South Wales and also held an open studio day. Looking back it was such a productive time and I left with the exciting feeling of having ideas for new work which I’m currently working on and developing further.

After my aberystwyth residency..

Images will follow shortly but in the mean time please visit Chapter between May - July 2011 at the Chapter gallery in Cardiff a Selection of work to be shown at the Assembly - Art in the Bar.

Some of these works reference my times in Aberystwyth. Will be back later with more news...

The first half of the residency

15^th of January 2011

The residency began with the feeling of being slightly overwhelmed and wanting to do everything at once. I was mainly torn between spending time doing various things at the studio but also wanting to go out exploring Aberystwyth and the surrounding area. It took a couple of weeks to settle in and arriving at a sense of balance. My most memorable day so far was the first day of heavy snow when me and Kate went for a walk along the beach. I had never seen snow on the beach before, and it seemed quite surreal. The snow looked like a frozen wave running towards the sea.

In my work at the residency so far I have been exploring ideas to do with the way that space is represented in pictures. I usually work in paint on canvas but was keen on using the time here to work with other media. Amongst other things, I have been making collages which occupy a three dimensional space, based on the idea of the panoramic view. I’m not sure where they will lead – I’m using the time and freedom at the residency to experiment rather than trying to reach a definite conclusion.

Kate Street 'Mererid's Duty', 2011 - looped animation

New animation now available to view at:

http://www.vimeo.com/19005675

Half way through my residency....

At the start of my residency I began to research the local myth of Cantre’r Gwaelod. I first came across this on an initial research trip, and was also told about the submerged forest at Borth that probably initiated the legend. The idea of a land lost to the sea is cross-cultural and the structure of the story is relative to the deluge myth that exists in nearly ancient culture – such as the lost city of Atlantis.

There seem to be several different versions of Cantre’r Gwaelod that exist. One of the oldest tales is of a well-maiden called Mererid, who was distracted from her duties of closing the sluice gates and thus causing the flooding of the lands, and destruction of 16 noble cities. I was drawn to this version because of it moral warning to young women everywhere – don’t neglect your duties!

My initial trip to Borth was quite awe-inspiring and frustrating at the same time. Being a Londoner it’s not often that I encounter vast stretches of sand, sky and mountains, so equipped with my wellies and a camera I set out to find the submerged forest. I kept thinking that I could see it rising out of the sea on the horizon, but alas it turned out to be a mirage! I did however find a small section, which gave me an idea of how such tales must have circulated around these ancient petrified trees.

After what seemed like hours of walking, everything started to look like the illusive submerged forest!

It’s not my intention to create a piece that is a direct illustration of the myth, but rather is suggestive, with a looped, rather than linear narrative.

My aim for this residency is to develop my basic animation skills, and to consider how best to show them. Last year I started trying to animate some of my drawings and I hope that some concentrated time here at Aber might help me to resolve some technical issues. I’m hoping to create layered animations that convey the handmade and drawn aspects within my practice. So far I have been filming and photographing myself enacting unusual domestic chores, such as cleaning the floor with my hair (as being a good maiden I wouldn’t want to neglect my duties) and then turning these into a series of drawings.

I have also been observing waves and trying to replicate them with chalk.

And also creating monotypes of sections of beach.

With a little more tweaking I hope to get all these elements working together by using Photoshop and Quicktime.

Once I feel that the looped animation is working I intend to try various presentation options. The great thing about the studios here at Aber is the versatile space. I’m hoping to create several animations and then experiment with split screen projections – to create an immersive environment for the viewer.

Just seen the videos that Melanie from Culture Colony made of Annabelle and I during our residency......They're posted on culturecolony.com

Would love to see what the current residents are up to.......