Dwelling - affective concentration
My approach in exploring and making art relates to methods of concentration and meditation. It
is a silent absorption in a process that doesn’t claim to be pretentious or representational. The
objects created are not precious though the process and experience are.
Dwelling - affective concentration
My approach in exploring and making art relates to methods of concentration and meditation. It
is a silent absorption in a process that doesn’t claim to be pretentious or representational. The
objects created are not precious though the process and experience are.
My fingers are moving and rotating across a surface. I want to touch - to get close and to become one with the immediate space around me. Paper as my preferred material supports a responsive directness onto which I and my collaborators, the pen or charcoal stick, can experience the ‘touch-ness’. We are taking a walk to explore the surfaces that are offered to us. It is a relational, a social process of attuned movements of my body with materials that bring forth interwoven lines and images. It is also a process that requires my attention and a heightened sensitivity to my body movement. A conversation between my moving acts and the material’s responsiveness evolves where I am co-responsible for the walk we take. It is a process of intensity, and through my durational efforts, I become aware of my feelings and the physicality of the materials and my body. The making is often a workout demanding the need for negotiation for a resolution. At times, things stand in the way; something cannot be done as intended or planned. Moments of disruption or failure may lead to frustration or dignity. These are magic encounters of wonder and moments of aesthetic experience and empathic correspondence.
In my practice, I am exploring the dynamic field of vibrating encounters. Through my acting and
making, I cross and blur boundaries where things and I join in negotiating the in-between-ness.
Here, a potential space opens up when I feel attuned to my environment and its materials. In that space, an exchange of affect and effect may occur, informing my making and works. Making is a constant dialogue with materiality and moments of serendipity. Touching the immediacy of materials and touching the ground that supports me is a visceral and kinaesthetic experience of making sense of the environment in a non-verbal way.
I am throwing myself into the making, the evolving picture as a process of becoming through
creation. Throwing myself means to shift my perception and to experience the otherness of
myself. I reach out and touch the limits of materials and space.
Education
2021: BA Fine Art, University for the Creative Arts (UCA)
2020 Diploma Expressive Art Therapy (Kunsttherapeut IHK), Institut für Humanistische Kunsttherapie (IHK), Switzerland
Professional Development
2021 – present Lecturer and artist at art schools (Kunstschulen Niedersachsen)
2019 – 2021 Editor of student led online zine edge-zine, UK
2019 – 2021 Founding member of the UCA/OCA Regional Group Europe, Switzerland
Publications
2021 ‘Dwelling & Tarrying - a moving artistic practice’, BA action-research thesis, unpublished
2021 ‘Sowohl, als auch - unterwegs’, printed documentation of artistic project, Kunstschule Zinnober Papenburg, Germany (together with Editha Janson)
2020 Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize 2020, London, Shortlisted Artists, p.49-50
2020 Art Eindhoven, Catalogue 12-13 September 2020, p.47
2020 Failure, edge-zine, issue 10, Sep 2020
2020 ‘Ein gemeinsames Kreativ-Projekt’ in: Das Buch vom Wasser (Book about Water)’, Rhauderfehn: co-buch, 2020. pp.188-197 (with Viola Tallowitz-Scharf)
2020 On Collaboration, werareoca blog, The Open College of the Arts, Aug 2020
2020 On Self-Care - Creative learning in an online world, werareoca blog, The Open College of the Arts, Aug 2020
2020 Geologic Sensibility, Art calendar August 2020, Kulturring and Kunstkreis Rhauderfehn, Germany
2019 Ambiguity, the disembodied Self, and the Performative - How medical imaging techniques inform embodied artwork, essay, Sep 2019, researchgate.net
2019 Underground Poetry, edge-zine, issue 8, Sep 2019: 46-47
2019 Water, edge-zine, issue 7, Jul 2019: 14-17
Collaborative Projects
2021 Inhabiting Space – Becoming Space, a collaborative and intra-active project, artist in residency at Kunstschule Zinnober Papenburg, Germany
2021 Transformation, art-based action research, aesthetic encounters and social practice, together with Kunstschule Zinnober Papenburg and Kunstschule Lingen, Germany.
2021 Sowohl, als auch - unterwegs, an artistic postcard project with Editha Janson, Kunstschule Zinnober Papenburg, and many people from the region, Germany
2019 Mindful Resonance Interaction (MRI), audio-video installation, Toynbee Studios, London, UK (in collaboration with Vicki Downey)
Awards and Grants
2020 Shortlisted for the Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize 2020, UK
Exhibitions
2021 Sowohl, als auch - unterwegs, together with Editha Janson, Kunstschule Zinnober, and many participants, Städtische Galerie Papenburg, 27- 29 Aug 2021, Germany
2021 Inhabiting Space – Becoming Space, closing event 23 Jul 2021, Städtische Galerie Papenburg, Germany
2020 Art Eindhoven, 12-13 Sep 2020, The Netherlands
2020 Wasser (Water), Volksbank Rhauderfehn, Sep 2020 – Jan 2021, Germany
2020 Werden – Vergehen / Becoming – Passing, Aug 2020 - Mar 2021, Rigi Hotel Weggis, Switzerland (with Marion Gregor)
2020 Raum – Ort - Begegnung, a site-specific project, Aug-approx. Sep 2020, in and around Kunstgalerie des Müllerhauses, Rhauderfehn, Germany
2020 Shortlist Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize 2020 Exhibition, Jul – Sep 2020, Ashurst, London, UK
2019 Material Transformation (solo exhibition), Nov - Dec 2019, Museum Gut Altenkamp, Germany
2019 250th anniversary exhibition, Mar - Dec 2019, Fehn- und Moormuseum Rhauderfehn, Germany
2018, 2019 Annual Exhibition, curated by Kulturring und Kunstkreis Rhauderfehn e.V., Rhauderfehn, Germany
2018 Showcase with OCA, @oxowharf, Jul 2018, London, UK
Media and Bibliography
2021 ‘Sowohl, als auch - unterwegs’:
- Newspaper Ems-Zeitung 01 Sep 2021, Lingen, Germany
- TV Ems-Vechte-Welle 23 Mar and 26 Aug 2021, Lingen, Germany
2020 Hungerford, Peter ‘Study event review: OCA Europe’, weareoca blog. The Open College of the Arts, 17 Mar 2020
2020 Schneider-Berents, Christine ‘Oft hinterm Ohr: Der Bleistift feiert Geburtstag’, General-Anzeiger, 07 Jan 2020, Leer, Germany
2019 Wright, Caroline ‘Study event review: Virtual studio day’, weareoca blog. The Open College of the Arts, Oct 2019
2018 one drawing from the series ‘Absence & Presence’ featured in social media channels and college website, The Open College of the Arts, UK, Nov 2020
2017 featured in printed materials of The Open College of the Arts, UK
2015 Interview, radio-nordseewelle. Leer, Germany, 07 Jun 2015