Month: February 2022

Alice Aycock is an American artist known for her sculptures and installations, she has had many international shows and completed multiple commissions across America and the world.

Her incorporation of light within her sculptures is also intriguing to me and gives them a very futuristic feeling, which comes from the elaborate chrome structures, neon glow and contrast between these creations and their mundane surroundings. This otherworldly feeling is contributed to by the use of non traditional materials which are arranged to express something, perhaps a feeling or perhaps a quality of the materials itself.

Aycock also has a good understanding of surrounding space and site-specificity, while she may not engage in the same issue based way she engages instead in a purely material and physical sense, complimenting the surrounding space, seeking to understand the lines and shapes that are there and how to best highlight and enhance the space with her work.

This is shown in Strange Attractor which echoes the Kansas Airport it is located in, it mirrors the streams of neon as planes, signalers and trolleys light the night. It also represents the sounds of the environment with the giant double-ended horn shape, this could represent announcing speakers of terminals or the large turbines of the immense aircraft.

This piece of work, Clay, explores the materials properties and the way it behaves when used unconventionally, instead of making a clay object Aycock makes clay slabs as experiments in how time affects the material. When I saw this piece I found it inspiring as it is such a simple but effective idea, it also reminds me of patterns I have seen elsewhere like chess, synth pads, concrete slabs, petri dishes, hopscotch and Foley floors.

I now plan to make a similar construction but with the hopscotch layout, this frame will then be filled with various materials, similar to a piece of Foley equipment. This structure mimics familiar school games but also intrigues the audience with the variety of the materials, hopefully this coupled with ambient sound and video will encourage the audience to bridge the gap between instrument and artist, creating music.

This links to a thought I had around musicians and instruments, the music doesn’t exist in either of one of them individually, it exists in the space created by their union. This is the same to me as audience members and interactive objects, the art is not solely in the individual or the object, it is in the outcome of their collision and communion. This is an idea I will continue to develop and realise through my planned performances.

I find Aycock’s work interesting because of the way she approaches industrialism and the industrial process from an artist’s perspective; seeing and using manufacturer’s objects as art objects. I am also intrigued by how she draws, there is a clear influence from architectural/construction drawings which are explicit in how they demonstrate form and space. This is likely linked to Aycock’s confident use of space and large scale objects within them, her fundamental understanding of space through drawing (along with her team who aid in the industrial process) allows her to realise projects on an immense scale.

Despite the apparent emphasis on structure uniformity geometry and symmetry Aycock also has and demonstrates the opposite, a playful and asymmetrical approach to ways of imagining objects

I also enjoyed watching this video linked below during which Alice discusses various aspects of her practice and her journey and how this influenced her artistic career. She explains how much of her inspiration comes from a variety of places and how generally she explores the space between magic and science. She also discussed how when she was taught about art history one teacher said ‘Art develops as a system to reflect culture’ which she thought was profound.

I agree with this statement and many of her assertions around what art is and how it can function in modern times, I find her honesty and the freedom with which she seems to communicate and express herself to be inspiring. I also hope to carry forward her sense of structure, construction and space (since I need to develop these things) and incorporate more of this into my own practice, perhaps helping me to realise larger/more stable artworks.

The Artist Profile Archive: Alice Aycock – YouTube

Alice Aycock (aaycock.com)

Honey Williams came to give an artist talk in February and fortunately I was able to attend in person, which was a really great opportunity to interact with a practicing local artist. Based in Nottingham, Honey is a mixed media artist working with collage and painting to create murals around experience and identity but her practice also extends to include music, singing and poetry.

She began by explaining her personal experiences growing up that shaped what her work is about now. Honey experienced discrimination and rejection on a regular basis because of her race and weight, she also explained how not all of this was hateful and instead came from ignorance. Describing how even well meaning people can participate in discrimination if historic bias and judgements are not challenged.

Honey spoke at length about how these experiences affected her art and how she clashed with lecturers at college and university over her practice, which focused on a lack of representation and issues around hair and skin tone within the black community. Growing up with a well educated father meant Honey was well informed about general history and the unacknowledged roles the black community played in history.

She summarised how these early experiences led her to feel like an outsider and like she did not belong. This was reinforced when she attended her first post-graduate interview for a job in Graphic Design; when stating she was here for an interview the receptionist assumed she was here for the cleaning role, not the graduate role. This was repeated when she arrived at the interview where the person holding interviews asked with surprise ‘Are you in the right place?’.

This experience lead Honey to pursue other avenues after university participating in the Gang of Angels choir and an international poetry collective, this led her to start teaching workshops using art as a way to start a conversation between people around issues of race.

After the murder of George Floyd demand for Honey’s work increased which she described as a horrible and confusing feeling. This did however give her the opportunity to raise the profile of the issues she represents and to push back against the circumstances that lead to tragedies like George Floyd.

She spoke in depth about the residencies and commissions she was offered and how these were all local opportunities that gave her the creative lifestyle she wanted. She ended by describing her approach to making work and how it begins automatically and is refined later. Honey spoke about how music and mood influence the type of work she makes, usually starting with abstract influences and marks that then become something else as they are worked on.

Honey advocated that all of us should carefully consider the emotional impact of being an artist, of having to face and tackle difficult and horrific issues yet still find beauty. She advised us all to think about ourselves after the work as well, since there is no point completing a piece or a project only to need weeks of rest or therapy afterwards.

Though this was not the most technically informative talk it was one of the most personable and relatable talks. It was nice to have a developing artist explain their process and journey in detail and to also see an artist that is more integrated in local communities than in a national or international art world. For my own practice I find this comforting and inspiring and the knowledge that unconventional ways of living off art are possible, but also that art can be a community of your own making, and is not limited to a ‘network’ or ‘artworld’.