March 19, 2015 | Mariposa Hall, Room 1001, California State University - Sacramento
A few weeks ago, I had poked my head in to the Robert Else Gallery while both Julia and Ellen were working on their installations. The diverse amount of things they were working with had me completely intrigued. Ellen had piles of twigs and Julia was sitting at a table sewing fabric around bricks. Seeing these artists while they were working was awesome, since so many gallery shows only have the completed work on display, and I felt that I HAD to go to their scheduled talk.
Professor Elaine O’Brien introduced both the artists and gave a little bit of background on both of them as well as a little bit on the installation on campus. She explained that these two artists had never worked together before but both of them had a long history in the art world. The whole idea for the installation began about a year ago with Elaine conducting an interview of Ellen and then the two of them subsequently going through some of Ellen’s old photographs of her work from back in the 1970’s.
 |
| Ellen Van Fleet, giftwrap and chicken wire sculpture |
After the introduction, Ellen took over and went through her history and a handful of her works. She said it all started when she worked at a store as a gift wrapper; she became intrigued by the different media and began creating large-scale sculptures out of giftwrap and chicken wire. I loved how she described that she was mostly curious and created things that were fairly simple but had great movement and translucency and seemed to “breathe” within the spaces she put them in (photo of one of her pieces above). She continued to go over a few of her other installations and ended with a little blip on her exploring chicken hypnosis with her piece involving live animals. She had a funny disposition and I really liked listening to her speak about her ideals; she said at one point she wasn’t trying to make any sort of statement with her work, but that she wanted to make things that were pleasing to the eye.
 |
| Julia Couzens, a piece from her "Net Work" exhibition |
When Ellen was done, it was Julia’s turn. I really enjoyed her talking about her creative process (although it also almost made my head explode) and she sort of has to battle her brain as she is working. She is more interested in the journey or discovery to get to the final piece rather than what the end result is and even talked about how she doesn’t really want to know what she’s doing as she’s doing it. She relies a lot on her feelings – being aware of her own tendencies and also listening to herself with regard to what interests or thrills her. Remove “art”, remove “taste” - she wants to really SEE what’s in front of her. Julia spoke a lot about her starting point for most of her pieces: a grid. She is discussed her attraction to linear energy and entanglements, which I could completely relate to as I tend to more geometric and linear qualities in my art and my taste in art.
 |
| One of Julia Couzens' "Bundles" |
I loved her discussion about her “Bundles” (photo above) and the process with those; how sometimes she will be working on one, at a certain point flip it over and the piece has made it self. She emphasized that when that happens, she “directed” it but she didn’t “make” it. Her take on the coherence versus the incoherence she has while working was enlightening and revealing. I found myself looking more inward, thinking about my own process. Her talk was a bit like artist therapy for me. It was overwhelming, motivating, inspiring and a whole lot of mind-boggling all at once.
 |
| Discussion time: Julia Couzens, Ellen Van Fleet and Professor Elaine O'Brien |
At the end of the talks, Elaine had a discussion session with the artists, followed by questions from the audience. This part was a lot of fun and a bit more candid than when the artists were going through their presentations; we got to know them a little bit better, we got to learn more about how they created LUMPEN, it's successes and struggles, and we got to really see how they compliment each other with their collaboration and interactions. I found it interesting that Julia said that she will be reworking her sculpture, that she was not satisfied with it in it’s current state. It will be interesting to see what she decides to keep, change and get rid of! And Ellen made me laugh a few times, clarifying the type of store she was a giftwrapper for (store “for the blind” versus a store “that sold things blind people made”) and making a comment about “not being a &#@$ing artist” all the time. I really loved her attitude!
 |
| Artist Julia Couzens and me |
This was such a great lecture to have had an opportunity to go to; I believe it will be something that I hold on to even after I graduate and as I continue to create things. Ellen and Julia seem like such wonderful artists (and people) and I am happy to have heard them speak.
No comments:
Post a Comment