Exhibition of Award Winners 'The Artist Makes the Work' pencil on watercolour paper. First Place Drawing and Pastel. Exhibition dates 22nd August to 17th October 2024. City Hall Chamber Gallery 495 S. Main St., 2nd Floor.
Each drawing represents specific stages in my life and career; there are many moments that reflect the actuality of being an artist, these are unlimited and can be invisible if left unvisited. The moments I have chosen to represent are not necessarily the most important ones but the ones that I have found the most emotionally powerful when defining myself as an artist. I have found it hard to say ‘I am an artist’ whilst at the same time doing nothing else of value, so it is interesting to explore what an artist might expect as they spend their days working their trade. The first and most powerful element of being an artist is to produce a body of work, a body that represents your expression of creativity, and if possible, a recognizable theme or ‘seam’ of fascination or interest. The ‘Artist Makes the work’ drawing represents this very action. Without my central presence, I do not exist, I don’t have a factory that innovates and produces work; if I am not doing it, it isn’t happening. The piece represents the incredibly compelling state of production and action in the exploration of my craft and areas of interest; to be an artist you must ‘make the work’, execute the idea, formulate the concept or theory, and so on. It is about achieving an autotelic state in which I can truly say, I lose time, I am doing what I am doing, and doing it without external or apparent purpose other than the purpose of personal need.
