Music has been my main source of art, at the same time on the path of trying to understand myself, art and music, people and the outer world. In addition, I have taken an interest in things like counselling ,taking an introduction course and one in basic counselling . Prior to this I have been a vocalist for various electronic tracks, working with a music producer, writing songs from the personal and external perspective . I understand that for me, I need to tap into an authentic part of me. My approach to my work is taking the task and asking myself what does that feel like? What does that look like? I see things in layerS, and this layering of things is both chaos and clarity. Multiple layers details fragility.
When given opportunities with projects such as song writing and vocal performances
for both recording and live shows, I can hear the layers of vocals in my head, harmonies to where the other instruments may go . This is so clear in my mind. To do this sometimes the sound is in the right place, doing the right thing, but it is the wrong instrument. These parts of me have contributed towards me developing both a skill towards my use of multi mediums, sculpting forward through lyric and voice.
I will start with music in relation to inspiration Imogen heap Is a British singer-songwriter, electronic producer and artist-inventor who pushes the boundaries through her use of the traditional piano. She pushes forward using the music program known as Abelton Live.
In recent times she has been working with scientists and engineers to create a musical glove called the mui mui glove. This is a musical glove that allows you to interact with your music in a closer way, bringing the physical close to the digital. Human expression triggers harmonies and other various parts of a track.Her work is sensitive, playful and childlike, displaying vulnerability and honesty which is endearing, through the utilisation of sound choices and lyrics, the familiarity of what she knows. With a mind of wonder, it casts her forward, taking her to a place in which she continues to explore ways of propelling her as an artist forward, connected to her audience through her music .
Imogen Heap goes beyond being an artist and the pieces of music she produces delves her deeper into creativity and inventiveness. She works in layers utlising looping
Piano electronic music production sampling . https://youtube.com/watch?v=25VGdNU3nrU&si=EnSIkaIECMiOmarE
Imogen heap Just for now 2005
Before I knew what looping was I would recording individual piece on my phone I was hearing layers in my head . Imogen heap was layering and so her work showed me a space I could reach into and develop with my voice.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=zTMT
Marita Metelia Everlasting 2018
Looping video improvisation exploration
Imogen heap has taken this further . Working alongside the scientists creating the mui mui gloves. Which is a glove that enables her to get closer to her work the to sculpt layer to loop in a way never seen before. Using hand gloves with electronic that are connected to Ableton Live. What I take from her work is the looping layering and the openness of hearing sound that are traditional like piano or guitar and create something from that and bring it to the work.
I started my art journey through music as a singer, working with a producer artist, celebrating working as a team to create music. I would write the lyrics bringing personal perceptions of external life experiences into my work. Along with phrasing melody and tone, this is something I have developed over the years . With the more work I do and the more I get to know the tools I choose, the further I push forward in trying new things to bring to the music or execute previous approaches to the material better.
Working close with a music producer is a give and take process sometimes their vision is brought to me and I take on that role, making suggestions to add to the picture. Sometimes the producer has placed a piece of music and found themself unsure of a direction to take. So, sometimes I will freestyle over the music working impromptu rather than listen first, and instantly write working on the influence and feel that is being provoked by the music. This can be sculpture that works both on a thought process of not knowing, singing sounds or words allowing myself to be open and to sig .
However, I gravitated more towards music and although I studied both popular music and performance and art and design separately , merging both worlds is something I wanted to do as an artist. I had interest in art in the wider sense. I can say through my studies of art, I began to accept what I could bring to music through engaging with the idea of things being more fluid and open up possibilities and being less critical in a way the disrupts the process and the use of materials at such an early stage of the work. It is like a dance or a sculpture coming together through s singular material or multi layers. For me, I must move through my practices with my instincts to create. Looking at the work, sitting with it, thinking, and reflecting on my thoughts on what is coming up.
This links to the complexity of me and the complexity of relationships and communities. I like to add textures which when added to an image adds to the story and it gives me the freedom in developing my artistry and the union of my two interests. Music is the sense of familiarity for me and what I know, tapping into a connection. It gives me a freedom of expression. The music in my installation piece added the sound of a woman crying which gave depth and sensitivity and a sacredness.Art expands the expression I have with music , giving more depth and layers to the outcome and expression of the concept.
My Traces project is an example of this also using layers to explore the ideas .
https://youtube.com/watch?v=7QJDkQtvz7o&si=EnSIkaIECMiOmarE
Marita Traces 2022
Fabricated Nature was my first project on the course and it looked a particular position of women, that is the progression of moving forward but also how I was see many women longing to be traditional women and how feminism has kind of chewed off its hand because from what I know feminism to be, we want women to choose. I want to show the complexity and sensitivity of this conversation through the materials for example, using fabrics such as cotton and using sound. This process works personally for me, feeling this push-pull as a young mum being a home to being a working mum . The subject was about expressing the conversations of women and researching the change in women’s role from 1970s to present day – the idea that women ‘have it all’ now.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=uDvJsnaP3ZI&si=EnSIkaIECMiOmarE
I often struggle to know how I am feeling, I am not sure if this is because of my ADHD and how it baffles me, it is as if I can not reach the words .
Considering some of the artists I take inspiration from and feel akin to I looked at:
Anthony Gormley who is a British sculpture artist. His work looks at the human experience within spaces with a minimal colour to his work. This potentially draws the person looking to the internal and bring you to a stillness. If the work was bright and vibrant it would potentially distract from the ideas he touches on. His work is purposeful within the environments he places them. My work connects to this for example, in my work The Human Relationship with Water, the materials I used, the fabric, the bits of sewing, the way the material felt, commanded you into that peaceful space of water and with water, the sea, the ocean brings you to a still reflective place. Placing the material in a canal and filming it, reflected the ideas, the space and the connection of the human to the water.
In this work, I used the materials to try and understand the inner person and the environment. In Gormley’s work he links his studies of anthropology and archaeology with his art in portraying the human form and then linking this to nature.
Antony Gormley Lost Horizon 1, 2008
Jenny Saville
Initially, when I look at an artist’s work, I look at ideas in relation to art rather than the outcome. I look at ideas that lie in the social structure of the world, philosophy and everyday life. However, when I look at Jenny Saville’s work, I am taken by the discipline of how she knows her craft but also the destructiveness and imperfection of her work in relation to the people that she works with and their bodies and this travels through into the marking.
This echoes in my work when I sew materials together, when I do mark making through painting, I dislike things looking stereotypically perfect. I seek to create perfection through imperfection, through the use of materials and through my approach. This seeps through my music and my visuals, so there is a sense of knowing the tools but at the same time allowing myself to step into a part of myself that will do something different. This keeps it fresh, an acceptance of things that do not necessarily look OK being OK, driving forward with that and seeing where that takes me. Sometimes I gain from this and sometimes I rest the work aside and move on. For ne it is about silencing the mature adult part of me and allowing the inner child to come forth, following my intuition.
I think I find it difficult to look at an artist and say I like their work although I can look at a piece of art and see the beauty, I search for meaning.
Jenny Saville Chasah 2020
In the future
I want to continue my development between my music and visual art be it textiles paint sculpture etc and draw these worlds closer. Moving into performance art. And working sometimes solo or with community and with other artist.
Traveling researching in unfamiliar places documenting researching to bring my work to audience. I am open to it being traditional and non traditional when presenting my work and thinking out the box. I also see myself teaching and intend to look at opportunities for volunteering to develop to see my self further in this space.
