EMA442 Sharyn Raggett Upload 2

EMA442 Sharyn Raggett Project Upload 2 1

Following on from upload 1, my egg beater investigations have taken me on a journey that I hadn’t really expected (isn’t this what you most love about art!)

The more I spend time with the egg beater, the more I’m developing an interest in ways to imbue it with meanings that are non-representational.

I’ve never made an abstract artwork before – this is something that is completely out of my comfort zone – and for this reason I’m keen to pursue it. As a teacher I am going to be constantly confronted by students with talents, skills and interests that are different to my own, so I’m going to try and embrace this unknown, and learn a little more about abstract artmaking in the process.

I love the idea of removing the eggbeater from it’s original purpose, and thematically, I think there’s lots of scope to explore several themes. Having spent so long now as a commercial artist, I am going to approach this in the same way that I approach any new project, and brainstorm 3 possible directions the work might take, in the hope that there is one strong contender among them: 2

mind map

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< PLAY https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=ZDtA9pE6Cfg Cameron Robbins, Shadow Phase, 2017, solar powered and time-based drawing instrument.

To learn more about Cameron Robbins, visit: http://cameronrobbins.com/ > My early experiments with the egg beater as drawing tool. I’ve modified a modern handcrank egg beater and attached 4 graphite pencils. When I turn the handle and hold the beater in close proximity to paper, the pencil catches and drags on the paper at random intervals.

Theme 1 Time and place: Harnessing natural forces and representing the landscape Egg beater as drawing instrument I’ve mentioned a previous interest in the fact that my eggbeater was in relatively close proximity to Elizabeth Chifley’s during the 1940s and 50s. Mine is now removed from it’s original location, and therefore it’s original context. My works could explore this near/far dichotomy, and might take the form of abstract drawings emulating aerial maps of Molong and Bathurst. I can see that my early experiments with the egg beater as drawing instrument are giving me results that, if nothing else, have the same abstract 4

quality as aerial maps.

I’m fascinated and inspired by the work of Cameron Robbins currently exhibiting in Dream Machines at Hazelhurst Regional Gallery in Sydney. Robbins makes drawing instruments, with the intention of “giving nature a voice, but not telling it what to say”.1 Above is a video I made at Hazelhurst on 29/717 , just to give you an idea of his recent work. I’m inspired to try remodelling the egg beater as a drawing instrument – see over for more early attempts >.

Medium/Technique: Charcoal/pen/ink Frame: Subjective/Structural Inspiration: Cameron Robbins, Camera Obscura, Abstract drawing Conceptual framework: (Artist/AW/World/Aud) 1

Foreword, David Walsh, Exhibition Catalogue, Cameron Robbins Field Lines, Published by Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania 2016

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Details of drawings made with modified egg beater with 4 graphite pencils attached.

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Theme 2 Biography: How do you tell the story of a life?

Abstract photographic images of material (eg paint or cake batter) the eggbeater has mixed How far can you push the portrait genre? Is it strictly a portrait if it doesn’t contain a human representation? These issues were raised recently with the announcement of Justine Varga as winner of the Olive Cotton Prize for Photographic Portraiture with her ‘spit and scribble’ portrait photograph of her grandmother, Maternal Line. The image is made without a camera, and without, strictly speaking, a grandmother.

She asked her grandmother to spit and scrawl over a sheet of 5 x 4” photographic film, and then made a large format print from the negative. The image essentially contains ‘traces’ of her grandmother. Interesting article here: http://www. smh.com.au/nsw/olive-cotton-award-is-it-a-photo-is-it-aportrait-should-justine-vargas-grandmother-be-given-theprizemoney-20170726-gxj8n5.html I think this is a great place to take inspiration and to begin exploring in relation to the Chifley’s. I have some clear 8

Justine Varga Maternal Line 2017 Tweed Regional Gallery To learn more about Justine Varga, visit: http://www.stillsgallery.com.au/artists/varga/

connections to Elizabeth Chifley in the similarities to my own grandmother, but in many ways I am so far removed – I have never been to the Chifley home, I don’t know the sound of Elizabeth Chifley’s voice, I don’t even know what she looks like in colour! I could focus on the shared interests, in this case, baking, and make a series of portraits using the eggbeater to mix paints, or even different coloured cake batters. The resulting photographs would contain ‘traces’ of these women – see over for my early attempts >.

Medium/Technique: Photography Frame: Postmodern/Subjective Inspiration: Justine Varga, Photographic abstraction, photograms Conceptual framework: (Artist/AW/World/Aud)

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Close-up photographs of the inside of a mixing bowl after mixing pink and grey paint with the egg beater.

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Here I am experimenting with beating paint!

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve kept the colour palettes fairly restricted at this stage, as I can see how using several colours will probably just result in mud!

< This, and the images on the previous spread, are close ups of paint thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s marbled in a mixing bowl with the use of the egg beater. I can see how the same technique might be used with coloured cake batter, which might be a good direction to explore in regard to Elizabeth Chifley.

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Theme 3. Coincidence/Concurrence Eggbeater as painting tool What was happening in the art world in the 1940s and 50s? In Australia, the Archibald Prize for 1948 was won by William Dobell for his portrait of Margaret Olley. John and Sunday Reed’s home at ‘Heide’ became synonymous with the modern art movement in Australia, and artists such as Nolan, Tucker, Hester, Perceval and Vassilieff worked or lived there during the 40s and 50s. Ernabella Indigenous Art Centre was also established in APY Lands in SA. By contrast, in the USA, Abstract Expressionism was in its infancy, and Jackson Pollock was making his first drip paintings. Number 5 is also from 1948.> I was intrigued to learn that Jackson Pollock (were he still alive) and I are currently the same age! I think there are avenues here to explore concepts of simultaneity, coincidence and synchronicity.

The Chifley eggbeater, and my use of it as a painting tool, could stand to represent this. See the video on pg 15, and images on pg 16/17 for my early attempts at ‘Eggbeater Expressionism’ >.

Medium/Technique: acrylic Frame: Subjective/Structural Inspiration: Jackson Pollock, Action Painting, Abstraction Conceptual framework: (Artist/AW/World/Aud) 14

< Here I am using the egg beater as a painting tool. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m glad to say that I gave it a go, but short of emulating Jackson Pollock, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not sure I bring anything new to the genre of action painting!

Jackson Pollock, Number 5, 1948

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Images of my attempts to use the egg beater Jackson Pollock style.

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