Touch and Trace

Kate Smith

Touch & Trace Mark & Movement

Kate Smith Touch & Trace Mark & Movement

Published to coincide with the exhibitions: Touch and Trace 13th August - 30th October 2011 Derby Museum and Art Gallery The Strand, Derby DE1 1BS Mark and Movement 1st September – 30th October 2011 Gallery Déda Chapel Street, Derby DE1 3GU ISBN 978-0-9569506-0-4 First Edition limited to 100 copies Designed by Kate Smith Artworks & Text © Kate Smith www.kate-smith.co.uk All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior permission of the publisher Published by Spirit, Summer 2011 LCB Depot, 31 Rutland Street, Cultural Quarter, Leicester, LE1 1RE

Contents

Notes On A Decade Of Drawing

4

Touch And Trace

7

Mark And Movement

17

3

Notes On A Decade of Drawing.....

The work shown at Derby Museum and Déda has developed over the last ten years. It is in part an attempt to arrive at a personal definition of drawing but also explores process, documentation, time and space. During 2002 - 2004 I was working on a series of drawings based on worn fabric – hand cutting large stencils and then drawing through them – thinking about issues of originality and repitition. I exhibited these hand cut stencils alongside the drawings/ prints and also threaded all the cut-out pieces. Really I was exploring the relationship between drawing and printmaking - thinking about quite formal issues of duplication and difference, line/ edge, surface and space.

As this work developed I began to recognise that a recurring theme was the human presence – how the fabric had been rubbed and worn by the human body – the implied presence of human contact and I began to think about how drawing could also be defined in terms of gesture, mark and trace/ imprint. Around 2004 a number of things happened. When printmaking you take a folded piece of paper of newsprint and use this to move the paper you’re going to print on. Any inky finger prints are then on the newsprint rather than the print itself. I was really interested in the smudges and marks transferred onto this small piece of folded paper. I’d produced a series of ‘ink blot’ diptychs where I’d drawn through hand-cut stencils with ink and then blotted on a separate sheet. The blotted piece looked liked hundreds of tiny fingerprints. In 2004 I did a residency in Nottingham. Every day I walked across a high glass corridor which linked the main building to my studio and one morning there was a perfect impression of a pigeon on the glass – from the impact of the bird flying into the window. All of these things contributed to my starting a series of drawings based on marks which are made as a result of contact – but which are temporary or invisible marks – and the body of work has developed from this.

The large pencil drawings, (Grasp, Turn, Squeeze 1-3) are recreations of actual marks made. I ink my hands or feet and then pinch, twist, squeeze, spin etc. on small pieces of paper or fabric - which take seconds to produce - I then use these to recreate the marks on a much larger scale and in a very detailed way. The drawings can take up to 400 hours to produce and I always work from the original. The wax and pencil drawings are produced by actual marks being made on paper with a cold wax applied to hands or feet. This wax is revealed by pencil being applied on top. They came about almost by accident – I’d been doing some recordings of drawing – literally the sound of pencil on paper – intending to then draw from the recording. I’d imagined this would be relatively easy – play 4

the recording and draw in response – but in fact I couldn’t do it. There was a time lapse between me hearing the sound and making a mark – what was intended to be an unconscious response became contrived. I tried closing my eyes, drawing with both hands – implemented all sorts of strategies to enable me to do this – but nothing worked. I then started thinking about how I could make a mark in response to a sound without this ‘gap’ or delay and the only thing I could come up with was dancing – the marks of feet in response to music. I chose to use wax as it’s clear, invisible until revealed by the pencil – the temptation to create a specific series of marks is removed and I have no idea what it will look like until it is finished. The idea of conscious/ unconscious mark-making has been further developed in the I.D. and Scribble drawings....

The manipulated tissue pieces were a result of thinking about gesture and action….I wanted to explore the physical nature of twisting and squeezing and to represent in some way the movement of the hand - but in an implied rather than explicit way. I really like transparent/ translucent materials as not only do they have a fragile, ephemeral presence, they also allow marks to show through – a three dimensional aspect; representing something which takes place in a space as opposed to on a surface. I took 6 inch square papers – a size which fitted my open hand and then squeezed or twisted, covered it with pencil marks and then opened it again - as if the hand had released it. I did 600 of each as I wanted to have an impression of constant repetition – but also difference.

I wanted to invoke the impression of throwing the paper into a pile – tossing or discarding – again a gesture implied.....

I only use monochrome for the simple reason that I don’t think colour would add anything. In fact it would probably change the meaning of the mark. I have used blue and red in past work but haven’t really developed this. I did an ‘ink blot’ piece where I drew through a hand cut stencil with dark red ink – the blotting looked like bloody fingerprints and this was too specific- it became about the medium, or maybe suggested too much of a narrative rather than that moment of contact which results in a mark. I think there is intentional anonymity about who makes the mark in my work– it could be made by anyone (apart from the wax dance drawings when I specifically wanted the relationship between the dancer, the mark and the music to be different depending on who did it.). I have a theory that everyone is familiar with the act of drawing with a pencil or biro – whether it’s intentional or doodling, scribbling or even writing - there is a natural connection between the making and viewing. The audience recognises 5

the physical experience of making a pencil mark on a surface and this informs their viewing and understanding.

Once colour is involved this relationship changes....

The scale of the work is also important – some (I.D., Twisted and Squeezed) are literally hand sized – there is an intimacy evident through the scale. The recreate and reveal drawings are much larger - on the same size paper/ panel but there is a difference in the scale of the marks, (and I think the large scale also suggests an intimacy in a different way). The recreated marks are magnified and represent a split second of time, a frozen moment whereas the revealed are actual size – marks which are made on a 2 dimensional surface but which signify a literal movement of hands and feet through space. All the work is intended to draw the audience towards it - to work from a distance but also to be examined up close....

The digital drawings are a recent development and have come as a bit of a surprise! I’d had some conversations about why I didn’t produce prints from my recreate drawings. I resisted this suggestion – mainly because to print these drawings would remove that connection between the making of the mark and the viewing of the mark. Of course then I started to think about how a print outcome could be acceptable and began to consider digital drawing. I have used a pressure sensitive tablet and digital pen instead of a mouse for years – I think because it feels more familiar. Since October 2010 I have taped a piece of paper and a piece of carbon to my tablet every day and then used the computer as normal – surfing, opening emails, using the word processor etc. At the end of the day the paper is removed and shows that days activity as a series of marks (or if I haven’t used the computer it remains blank). Activity 1 is the result of October 2010 – October 2011 and Activity 2 is still in progress. Draw 1 is one of the first drawings I’ve done exclusively on a computer –the same size as the pencil/ ballpoint drawings, 1016 x 1372 mm - on a single layer. I use Corel Painter software and one tool/ one colour – the pressure sensitive tablet allows variation in tone in the same way as a graphite pencil does – and the finished drawing is printed out at the same size it was drawn. It is early days – but what I’ve found really interesting is that I’m now considering the relationship between print and drawing again – almost a complete circle - and I think there are all sorts of really intriguing questions about process, surface, terminology and value inherent in working digitally.....

Kate Smith, July 2011

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Touch & Trace 7

Squeeze 1 - 3, ballpoint pen on aluminium panel, each: 1016 x 1372 mm 8

Turn 1, pencil on paper, 1016 x 1372 mm Draw 1, digital pen and tablet (scale 1:1), 1016 x 1372 mm Grasp, ballpint pen on paper, 1016 x 1372 mm 9

Kate’s Dance, wax and pencil on paper, 1016 x 1372 mm Natalie’s Dance, wax and pencil on paper, 1016 x 1372 mm Rachael’s Dance, wax and pencil on paper, 1016 x 1372 mm 10

Activity Year 1 (in progress), 365 x carbon transfer, laminate and stitch, dimensions variable 11

Twisted, 600 x marked, manipulated tissue paper, dimensions variable Squeezed (detail), 600 x marked, manipulated tissue paper, dimensions variable 12

I.D. (selection), media various, dimensions variable 13

Graphite and Shavings, (in progress) 14

Test Tubes (in progress), media various 15

Samples and Tests (selection), media various, 250 x 250 mm 16

Mark and Movement 17

Dance 1, wax and pencil on paper, 1016 x 1372 mm Dance 2, wax and pencil on paper, 1016 x 1372 mm Pitter-Patter, wax and pencil on paper, 1016 x 1372 mm 18

Spin, wax and pencil on paper, 1016 x 1372 mm Smear, wax and pencil on paper, 1016 x 1372 mm Stroke, wax and pencil on paper, 1016 x 1372 mm 19

Scrub, wax and pencil on paper, 1016 x 1372 mm Scrape, wax and pencil on paper, 1016 x 1372 mm Scour, wax and pencil on paper, 1016 x 1372 mm 20

Scribble 1, ballpoint pen on paper, 1016 x 1372 mm Scribble 2, animation pencil on paper, 1016 x 1372 mm Scribble 3, pencil on paper, 1016 x 1372 mm 21

Drawings # 15, 16, 18, digital drawings (edition 25), 300 x 300 mm Drawings # 20, 21, 22, digital drawings (edition 25), 300 x 300 mm 22

Residues 1 and 3, pencil on paper, Residues 2, digital drawing (edition 25), 300 x 300 mm Tip-toe 1 - 3, wax and pencil on paper, 300 x 300 mm 23

Activity Year 2 (in progress), acetate and carbon transfer, dimensions variable 24

Acknowledgements With thanks to all my family and friends for their support and encouragement and with particular thanks to Louise Dunning and Khyati Koria-Green at Derby Museum and Art Gallery and Stephen Munn at DĂŠda.

www.kate-smith.co.uk www.kate-smith.co.uk