Time to play

 

Gabrielle Hoad | Time and motion - work in progress | Screen-print
2023

2022 was a gruelling year, both personally and professionally. Making work became a bit of a chore and a much of the joy and energy faded from my practice. I began to lose sight of why I was an artist.

So I decided to allow myself to play, to make without purpose. To leave behind my 'brand' as an artist (such as it is) and just go back to some of the activities that initially inspired me.

First up, I decided to 'dabble' in an activity that I had never tried before and would probably never do again, but which offered me a chance to be a beginner. I joined a three-day class in Chinese landscape painting. The tools and materials were unfamiliar - I didn't even know how to hold my brush properly. So I had nothing to prove and nothing to lose. 

Being a beginner is a precarious and yet comforting place to be. You feel vulnerable: you don't know what you're doing and you make lots of mistakes. At the same time, there are no expectations apart from participation. The tutor structures your time, has all the materials to hand, tells you what to do, solves your problems, suggests ways forward. No wonder some people fall into the habit of being perpetual students.  

Then, at the start of this year, I signed up for a screen-printing course at Double Elephant Print Workshop (DEPW) in Exeter. This got off to a bad (ie non) start when I contracted bronchitis but I am now underway. I'm rusty rather than a complete beginner, having first encountered screen-printing during A-Level Art. More recently I commissioned George Barron at DEPW to help me make some text pieces for an installation at Hestercombe House and later a limited-edition print.

I saw a process that I wanted to use to pursue my longstanding interest in movement and sequence. Working with found imagery, I'm exploring ideas around motion, repetition, layering, and transcription from one medium to another (and the traces that leaves). Just working with colour and physical processes again is incredibly liberating. This is the happy medium between play and professionalism.  I feel refreshed.