Assignment 4
- Here's Helen
- Apr 18
- 16 min read
I'm extremely excited to be seeing Part 4 focusing on one body of works. This for me is exactly the kind of briefs I am looking to put my energy on and it couldn't have come at a better time.
To put some perspective on why this excites me. I have recently been asked to host an exhibition at my local library. They are introducing new events in their recently renovated space which is open for the creative arts. They hosted a few different events already, including photographers, and other local artists, with more creative arts set to take over in the diary.
In 2023 I had an idea for a collection of portraits that would focus on shopkeepers along the high street. Given the time we had gone through in the previous years, the difficult times that shopkeepers faced in order to recover, and the desperate need to support local business, it felt like a perfect time to bring attention to them. I was fortunate to have sold the idea to a local galleries who was very supportive. This exhibition was appreciated by locals who knew the people I painted in some way or another, so much so that people are still asking if that was me who had done that. It is with this that I learnt how important this area was for many, I learnt how connected the community was and how much they cared for this town. This is how the Library had come to know of me, as it was someone who had attended the opening night who had recommended me.
I agreed, obviously!
An opportunity to have work on display, no matter the location, is always positive. Exposure in front of different audiences which perhaps you were not typically reaching is great. I like how accessible the place is for everyone, that it is not an intimidating space to approach. My works are community based, and this feels like the perfect environment to showcase some of that. Of the people, for the people.
Here are two photos of the space that I will be using to show works, which is just at the foyer:
The space comes with its limits, but I had been reassured that the area would be cleared out for when I come to setup. So this leaves only 2 minor limits which are, there are no walls I can hang work on, instead, the library have display easels I can use which are large enough to hold work. Secondly, the easels have a maximum size, which is certainly a point to consider when planning the works.
The easels at question. There were two types, 10 small which held up to 60cm tall. and 4 larger that I could fit up to 70cm (perhaps taller but I went with 70cm).
Not one to shy away from a challenge, I had decided in that very moment of meeting them that I wanted to create a new body of works for this exhibition, but realising it gives me less than a month to complete it. In my mind, this is plenty of time, considering I often work my best in the last week to a deadline anyways! The only issue was that I hadn't decided on is the theme of this new collection, which is why this assignment feels to be the perfect excuse to dive deeper and explore.
I love that the theme of the assignment is Place, which again couldn't be more perfect to what I was already plotting for this collection.
The works I would look to produce are Portraits. In a way, I have several sides to my work. I design, I study illustration, and I paint portraits. How those come together in the long run is yet to be discovered, but they certainly help one another. For this body of work, I will produce several portraits and a few landscapes. I am hoping by producing both it will give a sense of place, not only in terms of location, but also time.
So now I had to think what I was going to do. I agreed to do an exhibition. We set dates, it's official.
I began with thinking about the Library itself, what they represent in society, their services and their importance to communities. Yes they are a place you can borrow books, but what else? I’m registered at my local library, and before the recent renovation I had been a few times. The collection seemed more varied, like I was able to find at least one book that was specific to my needs. However since the renovation, I have since popped in with the hope of finding books related to topics I needed and have found the collection to be smaller. The renovation has introduced a larger “play area” for children, a couple of booths you can sit in, open up the foyer to include more books and now dedicated rooms for computers, renting and other. I see chess groups meet up, knitting groups, other art events and talks. It has definitely taken a more community base direction, perhaps reinventing what a library is to stay relevant to the needs of the community. Which, despite being sad of the lack of books that I often hope to find, can see how this is a hugely positive way at keeping the spirit and need of a library alive.
I found this article on the topic:
Highlighting their importance within communities, and in fact, in society, this article was great at discussing what libraries mean, and their need for survival. They offer so much as a free, accessible place for all, making learning possible. It’s a clear mission in shifting the outdated mind set, and whilst I might personally feel conflicted in replacing those quiet reading spaces for children play areas, the overarching mission is good. It would be a shame to lose these spaces, and so supporting their changes has to be done in order for them to survive.
It could be an interesting subject to focus on with this collection. It certainly touches on the theme “place” and could bring forward an engaging collection that highlights their work within the community. Would this be direct portraits of individuals that work in and with the library? Or would I look to create a candid collection that does document the services they provide and the community groups that gather there? It could contribute to the mission of changing the mindset of what libraries were to what they offer now.
I conducted a small brain dump on paper, listing a few of these key points about the library and allowing those to expand a little.
I liked the idea of focusing on the library, but instead found myself still leaning towards nature and finding a community that could connect with this. I thought that I could work on something that was perhaps educational or inspiring for the locals, maybe shining a spotlight on something that locals would value.
One of the great and fortunate things about Chesham is the River Chess, a chalk river that starts at Chesham and finishes at Rickmansworth. Little did I know, the town was actually built because of the river, with evidence showing that Saxons settled along the river from as far back as to the Mesolithic period, around 5000 BC. The river served the town in many ways, most notably for powering the 4 water mills that were stretched along the river. Some of my favourite walking spots are by this river, and as I decided to initiate some form of start to this undecided project, I took a walk around town and by the river searching for the answer on how I could feed this into my work.
How does one find groups in your local town?
The answer? Facebook.
In this area there are many different groups that exist within the community. Groups I didn't really know existed until taking a little dip into Facebook. I had seen a couple of groups such as a Repair Cafe, a group of people that popup on different dates and offer repair services for almost anything! This had potential to being a great series! The dates for their next popup didn't align with my tight schedule, however spending a morning with them to document their work and interactions with the community could be an interesting subject. Also just seeing what kind of items people would bring to have repaired could be such an interesting topic to explore. Firstly the idea of repairing items in a fast, modern, throw away society is interesting. Who goes to get something repaired? It kind of feels that it could touch on nostalgic times, perhaps reminiscent to the works of Martin Parr.
This just gave me a vision on what could be the focus on this idea. Yes documenting the works of the group, but actually documenting the items. I imagined kids toys, household items and more, being painted, perhaps in a similar way to Jonathan Queen (https://jonathanqueen.com/oil-paintings). Seeing them before repair and after like a diptych. There's something in this, it could be fun. I fact in the moment of thinking about this, the idea of making a series of paintings/illustrations that are of found toys that were once loved but were then broken or no longer wanted could be an interesting collection that could be turned into a zine. I like this! But not for this.
Another search lead me to discover a few environmental groups; Chesham Environmental Group and the River Chess Association, both of which would fit perfectly with my earlier brainstorm. With this, I was now starting to feel the dots almost connecting, perhaps I found a potential theme here. The question is, will I have time to make the connections, collect the information I would need and complete the work. I have left myself a small window to make it happen, I was on roughly 3 weeks until the agreed date for the exhibition.
I decided to reach out to both but received a reply to only one, and really, it was the only one I needed. The response was incredibly positive, I felt the vision was understood and they loved the idea of working together. He sent an email out to a few of his contacts, each organising different meet-ups for different things. I was even put in touch with Chesham Environmentalist Group, and a sweet group called Friends of Lowndes whom maintain the gardens around the town’s park. Everyone was so welcoming, granting me permission to take their photos for painting.
I was invited to a few immediate activities, each knowing how limited my time was so had responded quick with dates they had lined up already. Some were even happy to arrange special dates that would help me if needed! I learnt about boreholes as we travelled to several in the local area, measuring their depth and using a GPS to put them on the map. I joined a training day to monitor water voles along the river, learning about the signs for identifying them through eating habits and their poop. I tagged along to a fly monitoring session, something that they have been doing since 2010 as a way to monitor the health of the river. I have had the best time joining these activities and meeting everyone, I’ve found it to be incredibly interesting and in fact enriching me with greater reason to love the river. It’s certainly something I would also become a volunteer for.
From these meet-ups it was becoming very clear that this project was going to focus on the River Chess and the people that care for it. I had even become very inspired to create a children’s book based on the work they do. Which I will save for another exercise. During the activities I had gathered many photos. I shot candid photos of the people in action, I gathered beautiful landscape photos of the river, and managed to take several portrait photos that would become the core of this project.
Feeling incredibly inspired by the meet-ups and the river, I began toying with a few title ideas on what could bring this together. The one idea that I just couldn’t shake off was, Where the Water Flows. It came fairly clear to me, and every time I repeated the title in my mind it felt so perfect. Each time I learnt a new thing about the river and what it meant to the town, the more it just made perfect sense. It felt poetic, a nod to Chesham, the river, and a nod to the people that care for it. Not only this, but it gave a sense of place, it put the river at the heart and tied everything together. So I started to share this title with people involved, and they loved it. It worked.
It was time to piece the images together and make a start on some of the work. I had decided on 10 people for portraits, although I knew this would be ambitious given the time I had left until due date. Still, I challenged myself and aimed for something big but would be happy if I could get at least half done in time. With so much work that goes in to caring for the river, I knew immediately that this was only going to be part one, this was absolutely going to be a larger project, so hitting 10 at this point was not a huge pressure I was going to put on myself. However, I started all of them, giving myself set times for each in hope that it would help me achieve the goal.
Not only did I plan to do portraits, but landscapes was going to be a huge part of this project also. I needed them to make sense of what people volunteer their time to, where they do it, and even why they do it. I wanted to show off some of it’s beauty the best I could, show the magic and charm which hooks you in. My ambition was perhaps too big for the exhibition deadline, but there was no way I wasn’t going to try. This would also pay tribute to the sense of place.
The landscapes took the longest, which had me reassessing my plans. As mentioned before, I was inspired by the exercise in the last part where we were encouraged to work large. I chose to work in pencils for that and was incredibly surprised by how much I enjoyed the process of building the drawing using different techniques with pencil. I wanted to apply this to a series of landscapes in this project, and so following the same steps I took in the large exercise, I turned my photos into sharp black and white images, added some grids and setoff at creating those. Thinking very little of time for these, I was aiming to complete 5 landscapes scaled to fit a 50x70cm frame. Realising they were taking the most time to complete, I took pressure off by allowing myself to complete what I could in the time, thinking that whilst they were critical to the overall collection, they were not the main star; the portraits of volunteers were a bigger priority.
I had about 2 weeks left until they were to be on display and in this time I needed to finish as many paintings and drawings as possible - I had yet to complete one. Not only this, but I needed to also consider the promotional pieces. I needed a poster! As I was still at a stage of collecting and deciding my final cut for the portraits, I opted to get as far as I could with a landscape drawing, take a photo which gave enough suggestion as possible and create something from that. I collected a few exhibition posters from the internet as inspiration on text layout, and got cracking at putting something together, along with writing a little blurb that would describe the theme of the collection.
I liked the posters that shared on image, typically in a framed format with border around it leaving space for text. I aimed to create similar, though also thinking about the audience for which this collection might appeal to.
This became the poster:
Which I then formatted to fit a facebook banner.
To really settle on the portraits I needed to decide on the size. Deciding on the size would finally allow me to buy what I needed to complete them, and to then prepare my references so that they were to scale. When the work depends on proportions being some what accurate, I use grids to help keep everything in the right place. I do feel comfortable working without grids, however often I like to have an accuracy that comes pretty quickly, and if I have time to set those grids up, then it makes sense to take advantage of this technique to prevent issues later on. So, as I did with the landscapes, I set the portraits to the size of my canvas, which by now I had decided was going to be 60x40cm. This was actually the maximum size I could get away with for the easels at the library, but after much debate and testing, this size felt good regardless. I created a few simple grids, nothing too technical as I just based them on halves. In this time of prep, I had ordered stretcher bars. I already had a large roll of canvas at hand which was perfect for cutting my costs down. Once they arrived, I was ready to begin.
Meanwhile, the progress on landscapes was great. I had the thought of turning these drawings into giclee prints, and so did my research to see whether there was anyone who did this locally. To my luck, there was! And he was just down the road. So, with less than 2 weeks to go, I was also discussing scans and prints, acting like I was going to have everything ready in time. By now I was really riding on delusion, and I loved it. The popular soundbite that circled the internet became my mantra “and what gave you the confidence? Delusion!” But also, fake it until you make it echoed in my mind. Just be confident, and go for it. I was in control, and I had one drawing complete. Time was nail biting, but I managed to find enough to get the first complete drawing to the scanner. Then, when it came to collect the first, I had the second ready.
Between those I had finally started painting. I set my timer and tried to get as far as could, giving at least 2 hours per painting to get them to a point where I would really only need another 2 more hours to complete. I wanted to get paint down on all portraits, and this technique of timing was really helping to stay on track. This would then help me to get a feel for which I had captured a likeness in quicker so that I knew which ones I would make sure I finished in time.
I had 9 on the go at one point. All of which were feeling really positive, but there were some clear winners at this stage. I would paint one, pause and start another, then repeat, jumping between all 9 to keep them roughly at the same level of completion. Until I had less than a week left, and panic was starting to kick in. I didn’t want to disappoint anyone, not the library nor the people who had kindly let me document them. I had to complete them, but I could see my ambitions deplete hour by hour. I was working through the night until 3 am, 4am and even 6am on some nights, just to get as far ahead as I could. It was tough in the final days, but it had to be done! My casual confidence and delusion that was carrying me through was proving to be a little far out, even for me!
I didn’t have one painting complete until the night before I was supposed to drop them off for the soft opening, but I was SO close to have 5 in a position that I would be happy to show even if still needing some extra work done to them. It was 10, but I had to accept 5 at this stage.
To make the paintings cohesive I stuck to a green painterly background that looked like a leafy bush behind them, which to be honest was actually the background in over half of the photo reference. When lined up, they felt like were part of one painting. It saved me from getting fixed on details on areas that didn’t really matter for me, something I am trying to learn in my practise as I often aim for “perfection”.
The day of the opening!
I lost track of collecting progress shots, so skipping forward a little here are some photos of the 5 paintings that ended on display. I was disappointed in myself a little, but I'm also pretty proud that I managed to even have this considering the night before there wasn't one finished.
Just minutes before needing to drop the paintings off I was still applying some final details on the portraits.
The I just had to call it. I packed everything up and made it in time to setup. I also brought paint so if no one came for the "opening" then I could at least add more paint to one. People did turn up, it was cute!
Here are some photos of the space.
As you can see from the photos above, some of the paintings look more "polished" than others. Pink can be seen more in one of the paintings compared to the others. And I am not 100% satisfied with a few such as the teeth in the last photo with orange coat, and of course the lady with most pink has much work to be done still. But, you know what, I accept them. Only I know the difference, and the reaction to the paintings has been so kind!
As I had several paintings started, I actually decided to spend the morning on a Saturday during the exhibition to paint live. I thought this might give people the opportunity to see the "finished" works, meet me and have a chat if they cared to, and see the work in progress! I also offered free portrait speed drawings for anyone who would be will to sit. It made a fuss around the work for a day which turned out quite successful!
What next.
Well the works stayed on display until today! 15th April. I hadn't made a sale, but with portraiture, and given the location, I didn't expect to make any. For me this became a real passion project and I am extremely excited to continue. So, here is for the BIG news. This is not the end, it truly is just part one because I am extremely excited to share that, during the chaos of completing the works I had an incredible meeting that lead me to receiving funding to continue. The project will now become bigger, with an end goal of turning these into a public exhibition around town.
An update on perspective.
A few years back, a photographer had a public exhibition with photos of the area printed on outdoor displays scattered along the river. Just landscape photos of the area, capturing beautiful moments in the early hours. The displays were set to last a month, and 2/3 year later they've only just been removed. The same people who made this happen will help to bring my project to life in a similar way. This time, framed around town for people to celebrate the volunteers.
The actual vision for this is still yet to be decided upon, but together we rustled up a little plan and funding has officially been granted. Work to start up again in May!
What does this mean for this exercise.
The collection of works I created so far are absolutely important, even with only 5 paintings and 2 landscapes, this landed me the support I never thought of getting, needed to continue the mission. My plan from here is to collect more portraits to work on, perhaps aiming for around 15 to 20 volunteers, if not more if I am lucky (but have learnt my lesson for aiming too high!). Alongside this I want to continue working in my sketchbook to capture the soft moments in between the activities I have joined in with. I want to capture from life and work on some drawings from the photos captured. I then intend to create more landscapes, not only finish the ones I intended on originally, but to also revisit some spots now that we have a change of season. The work they do often reflect seasons, so this feels like such a great opportunity to document this.
My ultimate goal, beyond what the funding is for, is to transform this collection into a book. I want to present the works with the narrative of everything that I have gathered. I want to give information about the people, the work, and the river, and present this in a way that is valuable for the town and community. Now that I am in this project, it feels important to tell the story.
Other ideas that have come from this, as mentioned, is to perhaps turn my learnings of the river into a children's book. Future me can work on this, creating an educational book that explains the River Chess, the work that is done and perhaps inspire more kids to get involved. School trips are highly popular and so this could be a welcomed addition!
More to come!
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