Energy Mapping - September Seminar 2022
- Linda Gilbert
- Sep 12, 2022
- 7 min read
Updated: Oct 26, 2022
The Oral Presentation
For the past 18 months I have been grappling with complex scientific ideas along with persistent intuition about magnetic energy. At the same time I have been wrangling with the idiosyncrasies of the paper stock and mark making as I attempt to balance materiality, process and intention.
September's seminar was a time to explain myself to my peers and supervisors. Could I do it in a way they understood and that provided insight into my practice? The contextual aspects of this course have been challenging. Although difficult I have found the research and writing to be crucial for clarifying and understanding my own practice. It has become generative and gained momentum as the course went on.
I have become aware of the artistic lineage my work sits within. I described Georgiana Houghton - a visionary Victorian artist who responded to 'messages' she received from the spirit world; I looked at the autonomic art making processes from the Surrealists citing Andre Masson and Joan Miro. Finally I discussed two New Zealand artists, Sarah Smuts-Kennedy and Kathy Barry who also work with unseen energy within their practices.
I differentiated myself. Unlike Barry, Smuts-Kennedy and Houghton, I work with ideas around magnetic energy coming directly from the Earth's outer molten core. Like the Surrealists I am fascinated by the role of the unconscious and how disrupting the rational brain can activate creativity. At times it can feel like I am working with messages directly from the Earth, but I now understand this to be a type of creative dissociation from the unconscious brain that can occur when in flow. It is a type of fugue state. As for my curious attractions to certain places, I suspect these are a sensitivity to magnetic fields in and around the Kaipara area where I live. Magneto-reception has recently been confirmed in some humans. It seems to be some sort of vestigial sense, similar to the more active sense birds such as the kuaka (bar-tailed godwit) use to geolocate. For me, through the research I have done, science provides rational answers for my intuition and response to certain places.
The oral presentation was a relief. The exercise was challenging but it has anchored the work and my practice. I wasn't able to discuss everything that has impacted my practice over the past two years, but the overview helped me to pull all the threads of interest together.
Other influences on my practice
One aspect of my practice that I didn't go into detail about within my oral presentation or my catalogue essay is my interest in philosophy. This is because it is nascent. As a law student, then lawyer I was keen on jurisprudence, the philosophy of law. This interest informed my own critical analysis about the phenomena called law that sets out to regulate society. As a community lawyer I represented marginalised clients who were often at odds with the powers of the State. During my studies for this MFA I have been reading about phenomenology of perception, and eco-materialism. Key sources are noted in the footnotes. Merleau-Ponty's approach to phenomenology of perception has helped me to think about ideas around perception and embodiment. I have discovered John Russon, a Canadian Professor who provides accessible, informed commentary on Continental Philosophy and I intend to continue studying these concepts in future. (1), (2).
Linda Weintraub's book, 'What's next: Eco Materialism and Contemporary Art' has introduced me to artists and ideas about working with the earth itself as a collaborator. On artist Rachael Mellors, Weintraub notes:
“By equating the physicality of the human organism with the physicality of non-human forms of matter, Mellors integrates the locale into her conception of ‘self’. “
“Mellors presents a vivid example of the neglected sensual and perceptual attributes as they unfold in time and space. Because bodily generated exploration is active and personal, information- gathering ceases to be mere data – collection. It is enriched by immersion, connection, and attunement …..and conveys the Eco Material belief that such deepened awareness leads to attending to the vitality of the planet and its inhabitants.” (3)
Phenomenologist, Patrick Howard elegantly sums up my own position and serves as a touchstone for my studio practice:
"Through deepening our attunement for our embodied integration in a living world we may relearn and restore a capacity to dwell more thoughtfully with newfound sensitivity, respect and restrain in the ecosystems on which we wholly depend." (4)
New work
During my solo show at Demo I had the luxury of time to sit with the work on the gallery walls. I was able to reflect and get a sense about which ones were most convincing, and contemplate my next moves.
That led to 4 new pieces being created for the September Seminar. The processes and techniques I use now feel embedded as significant aspects of my practice. I decided to make variations on some of the themes and scale up. I also added 3 works I had made for Demo to the September Seminar.
I included the following statement with my presentation but requested a cold critique prior to sharing it.
Contextual statement
These works contemplate push and pull magnetic energy fields around the Kaiwaka and Waipu areas of the Kaipara region. Through the materiality of paint, they respond to intuitive attractions to these places, ideas about geolocation, and quiet, persistent psychic nudges.
All works are made with a variety of wet and dry media on rock stock paper. This paper is made from recycled calcium carbonate, a material that features in the limestone landscape of the region. Through a process of painting, layering, embossing and inscribing, the work mirrors the way the geology itself is formed by the unseen energies of time, erosion and pressure.
Feedback from the Critiques
I found that learning about the artists' intentions, influences and material approaches helped me to appreciate and gain a deeper understanding of the 2021 cohort who graduated last year.
Similarly, after the oral presentations the two critiques later in the week had more depth. My fellow students comments are below:
- A lot more considered
- Scaling up has been successful
- What about scaling up further?
- Work with pink dashes is considered, restrained, deliberate and graphic.
- The paintings show lots of depth despite their surface flatness
- Good interface/relationship between human ways of picturing the world through maps and diagrams and the natural patterns and materiality of other sentient beings, rock layers, wind, erosion, eddies etc.
- Technology and nature
- Earth but not landscape. Materiality of the earth.
- Real connection to the earth
- Reminds me of Australian aboriginal mark making
- Cave and rock paintings
- Aura, magnetic feeling
- Feeling of material forming itself, doesn't feel too deliberate or heavy
- Enjoying scale shift - quality of mark making and feeling of energy hasn't diminished
- Enjoying the way the work could be a reproduction or print - the way the pigment has gone into the rock paper
- Complex layering
- Confusion about how the 'Godwits in Flight' painting read. Marks reminiscent of birds, but speaking of magnetic energy. Does the semi-signifier of birds confuse the reading and could a different title help to bring the focus back to the magnetosphere?
- Embodied versus representational
- Dynamic 'floating'
- Regarding the statement - my peers were interested in the exact mediums used (which I then explained)
- Shallow space - embossing
- Paint sits in the grooves of the inscribed paper - erosion, geological processes and this helps integrate intention without being so literal.
- Reminds me of Per Kirkeby, painter and geologist - painting rocks and sedimentation. These paintings can invoke that.
- Comes alive the most in the peeling, embossing, celebrating the chemistry of the paper and materials and labour
- If it's a landscape - different materials would be used
- Transitions in each painting
- Translate same flow in larger scale
Comment on Feedback
It was useful to hear that the scaling up was viewed as successful. My intentions have never been to depict 'landscapes', so it was good to hear that they were read as geology and earth energies.
I tend to focus on abstract motifs and more representational colour palettes. These colours give strong clues about the subject matter, but ultimately colour is an abstraction. It is a signifier that depends on a persons brain and eye to interpret. I find it interesting to hear how people interpret this play with representation and abstraction, particularly when I use neon pink within the work. The pink really pops against the earthy tones, but it also confuses people. I quite like that.
In my work neon pink holds several meanings. It can represent any of the following concepts: toxic impact of some aspects of human habitation on the earth, curiosity, and/or resilience. It insists on making itself a part of my practice. These days I feel like I am handling it with more sensitivity and I am clear about why I use it.
Pink for resilience
In the second critique I was questioned by a student about my use of fluorescent pink to represent godwits. I hadn't made the painting with godwits in mind. It was only some days after I had finished it that I realised the marks had come from my unconscious. The painting held the energy of godwits in flight. The finger paintings I had made in pink seemed to have a bird-like symbolism. The grey charcoal horizontal background might be referencing the magnetosphere godwits see and use to navigate with. Some days later I realised that I often use neon pink to talk about resilience. The little bar-tailed godwits show incredible resilience travelling up to 12,000kms to their breeding grounds, then flying non-stop back home.
References
1. Russon, John. “Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of Perception, 1: What Is Phenomenology?” John Russon. YouTube, May 10, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PjbXGFlQFM.
2. Russon, John. “Merleau-Ponty, ‘Eye and Mind’ Pt 1-9-Writing, Mind and Body (Continental Philosophy 10a).” Merleau-Ponty. YouTube, November 12, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az08ENSBes0.
3. Weintraub, Linda. What's next: Eco Materialism and Contemporary Art. Bristol, UK; Chicago, USA. Intellect, 2019.
4. Patrick Howard, "Language-ing the Earth: Experiential Renewal for a Relationally Sensitive Environmentalism," Phenomenology & Practice 16, no. 1 (2021): 40-56.
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