We went to Alicia’s home studio near Clapham junction for the first day. It was really great talking to Alicia while getting some work done for her new project. At first, she talked through her ideas with the collage / photos she produced in the darkroom with various objects. She also showed us the last set of her works on her website, showing us exactly how this next one could look like. It was mixed media, a lot of different materials and textures within the paint as well. Our main task was to help her cut out neatly the many sheets of printed acetate pictures for her to collage later. We talked about a lot of things, how she became an artist (did take time off after BA, moved around countries, difference between france art school back in the day..), what jobs she had (tutoring spanish for the sports team in the us university, english for a vietnamese family, librarian for an art library, advertising etc etc), responsibilities and balancing between family and being an artist, teaching...
might have some details wrong but from my memory, what we talked about:
chisenhale studios one of the cheapest in london, mark fairnington's studio being really organised (she said she's messy like me), when she first started had a teaching job out of london and had to wake up at the crack of dawn to get there, she did take time off after her BA, did her own work in the bedroom and worked part time not art related, how she'd be sanding in her bedroom and got asthma, moved around countries - mexico, france, london etc, fluent in french, lived in paris for 10 years, didn't get into the art university there the first time even though at uc berkley she was in an art course (though they also taught things like sociology theology etc), slowly built a portfolio on her own before applying again and got in, went to goldsmiths here also (but did not have a good experience, they were forcing people to change their styles and even got a notice to change by which time, felt like she had to be a different person in two weeks, did not enrol because felt sick to the stomach), but then went to the RA and had a much more pleasant time, she is 52 and as she grew older she finds there's more curiosity to branch out and experiment - so the dark room right now, and also ceramics that she signed up for (which is three hundred ish pounds for like nine weeks or so, okay prices), has a son, motherhood brings different realisations, also makes friends with more people that are not artists in london - a sense of being included in the fabric of society, thinks its sad that children dont come out the neighborhood to play anymore, used to knock on each other's doors and play together anytime anywhere, currently preparing for a residency/show in france? mexico? leonora carrington, also currently exhibiting in london with three other female artists...
