painting practice

Compulsive Objects

LAURA MCMORROW REFLECTS ON THE IMPULSE TO DECLUTTER DURING LOCKDOWN

I ARRIVED IN Connemara in late February to begin a month-long residency at Interface, a residency programme run by Alannah Robins. My studio was located in an old salmon hatchery. It is in an isolated location in the sparsely populated Inagh valley, surrounded by dark forestry. More than once, it was described to me as a scene out of James Bond. The building is no longer used as a hatchery, but as a scientific research laboratory that was strictly off limits to nosy artists. This led my imagination to run wild. It was the perfect backdrop for my new video piece.

The studio was chilly but I was forewarned. I enjoyed the daily ritual of lighting the furnace and seemed to have a knack for it. Alannah considered adding ‘fire-starting’ to the residency application criteria. I soaked up the dramatically changing landscape on my daily commute through the Inagh Valley. I spent rainy days in the studio painting and drawing. Using my macro lens, I filmed the building and the forest to reveal hidden aspects.

I researched filmmaking techniques for building suspense, including the ‘drone of dread’ and the Dutch angle. I spent long dark evenings relishing the fact that my research involved watching science fiction films in which nature strikes back. I was still in Connemara when the restrictions began. Shops and pubs closed and the drone of dread got louder. Alannah and her family kindly let me stay on and I became part of their household. I have yet to edit the footage I recorded at the hatchery. I’ve been saving it for a rainy day, but so far we haven’t had many of those. I find myself outside a lot, walking the dog or listening to podcasts while endlessly weeding the garden. The new video piece will be shown at Clifden Arts Festival in September.

Since returning to Leitrim, I have assigned a bedroom in my house to be my new home studio. I installed plywood on the walls and learned how to fit lino, using YouTube. Was it Matisse who would go for a morning walk and return, as if to a different place, to start working from home? I will go one step further and leave by the front door and return by the back door. I only need to fool myself. The studio is set up so that I can make a mess, but I have the same apprehension I feel when starting a new sketchbook. It is too new, too clean. I have always enjoyed the juxtaposition that comes about from being surrounded by objects I have collected.

This leads me on nicely to the ultimate lockdown activity – sorting through artworks that have been stored in my

Laura McMorrow, Silver Forest, 2020, oil on found frame; courtesy of the artist

parent’s attic for years. I never considered my hoarding to be a problem, because it was my parent’s problem. Now, faced with three carloads of stuff, I begin to question why I kept these “masterpieces”, as my Dad calls them. He offers the use of his fire pit and suggests my new motto should be “if in doubt, burn it”, which he later softens to “if in doubt, throw it out”. I threaten to give the artworks back to him as Christmas presents over the next 20 years.

My favourite find was a collage I made on a sheet of lasagna that surprisingly stood the test of time. I have really pushed the boundary of what can be considered a surface to paint on: a cake tin, a cat flap, a wooden toaster. With so many objects existing in the world already, it makes sense to rescue and reinvent objects from charity shops. I even painted on the greasy sheets that separate sliced cheese and brought them back from Erasmus in Spain. They are in a heap, stuck together like melted Gorgonzola. A step too far, perhaps.

With the wave of nostalgia that seems to have hit everyone, it is a good time to rediscover ideas, look through old notebooks and then start anew – all the while reflecting on the humour and innocent compulsion to create. With the recycling centre closed, I have an endless supply of materials to work with. Leitrim lends itself well to lockdown life. There is plenty of space to self-isolate and we are well used to a bit of social distancing here.

Laura McMorrow is a visual artist based in Leitrim. lauramcmorrow.com