process: Research Day 1 - back in the studio!

So, its been a quiet 2015 on the blog mainly engaged with course deadlines and timetable madness which has subsided thankfully. But onto the next deadline - the research project which will be the focus for the next few months

As a 'maker' with materials in the primary, most of the year has been of the contrary mainly been amongst text based stuff, books, journals, academic writing basically tons of reading, (though I hasten to add, I cant remember very much). Although the material itself is 'hard', I've found the  process of reading easy to do. You can pick up a journal/book or any reading material anywhere, anytime, anyplace - digesting and application is another story but the act of reading is fairly easy to start. 

Through my eyes - literally

Then theres the making....I found myself in this curious position today of reverting back to the making/creating after a fairly long hiatus. I have done a little bit but not on a consistent basis and really getting into it shall we say with a subject/idea. Its actually quite overwhelming and almost like you doing the process for the first time. I was actually suffering from anxiety when returning to the so called 'studio space' - the space where your genius creations are supposedly conjured up from conception right through to this beautiful finalised object - all in a matter of a few hours (thats what your brain is thinking it should be doing)....process being something of a long gone, ancient fossil, sitting in the far flung dark reaches of your mind. 

The process of re-engaging with your own creative process is in itself an interesting one and one that will I be sharing in edited form alongside my process of studio work in conjunction with my research project. 

So what were the steps of todays rehabilitation:

• tidying studio desk space, declutttering 
• re-arranging space objects, materials, pots and other bits n bobs  - this re-arranging seems to work not just on a level of aesthetics and tidying/organising but also the act of physical interaction with the objects around you and refamiliarising with your ideas and work through materiality, which is also a key part of the creation process. 
• consolidating all the different materials etc scattered around the whole room - eg extending my studio space into others spaces 
• creating another studio space in the same room but which is more box like and contained - this may seem like a small thing, a table anywhere should be fine. However if I want to really zone in, i find that i need my own little area preferably closed off in an open plan space with others where its easy for others just to chat as and when. As my work is crossing art/science, I almost wanted to create a lab type space with different areas.
• Im still not overbawled by the Tontine Building which GSA has moved most of the students to for studio space since the fire. Partly because of the nature of it, though the light and space amount is great. Something doesnt feel quite right and I don't feel compelled to go there and make. In this vein, architecture of space, materials of the space, construction, flow of energy and also even the forensics of the building I feel are all important to the creative process.