STATEMENT OF WORK

ARTISTS STATEMENT

Roselyn Cleary

K00132412

“My work is primarily based on memory and identity. It is a personal exploration and documentation of both. It is built around my Father and his workshop, particularly his woodturning tools. People, places and objects can hold and trigger memories. Stripped of their function places and objects are in danger of being confused with the ordinary and the banal. For me it is important for the viewer to associate facets of their past with my work, hence conjuring up a unique experience for each individual.”

In the last couple of months I have continued to work on creating a solid body of work. I have also been researching and thinking about how I shall put my work together as a collection. I am interested in the idea of the ‘archive’ and the ‘artifact’; I want my work to evoke the preciousness and importance that it means to me. Susan Hillers ‘From The Freud Museum’ is particularly influential as a way of displaying my wood turned pieces and my work as a whole.

I have completed more intricate, detailed pen and Indian ink drawings, two being of larger scale A2. One of these is on display in the Church Gallery for ‘The Drawing Awards’ along with a smaller A4 size one.

My large-scale drip drawings are obscured images of my father’s tools. They emulate the sense of time passing and act as a metaphor for things fading, disappearing.

Using my drawings as inspiration I have continued to expand and transform my work in the print room. I made more plates for etching and I am currently working on another one. I have experimented in etching, aquatint, screen-printing and mono printing

Inspired by my lessons on the lathe I am still turning individual pieces. Based initially on the design of the chisel handle they are all uniquely different and made from American Oak wood and left unpolished.

Based initially on the design of the chisel handle they represent an isolation them from thee original functional context.

My lens-based work has developed too. I have been collecting recordings of my father telling me stories of the past. These are a work in progress. I am also experimenting with ‘stop motion’, recording myself drawing and making short little clips.

I am also working more in the dark room, developing my own negatives and experimenting with my different analogue cameras- Sprocket Rocket, Medium Format, Diana Mini and Polaroid Instant. I am also continuing my digital work.

My work for ‘The Gathering’ consisted of a juxtaposition of images from my workshop video with one of my pen and ink drawings overlaid on it. I created it on photo shop.