Flâneur’s Walk 2015

Flâneur’s Walk 2015

Flâneur’s Walk  | Collected ephemera  |
In situ, Lamorva House, Falmouth Uni  |  2015

| Mounted one at a time over the course of my seven week work period at Lamorva House studio and exhibited as is for the MA/MFA grad show in the same space |

Part of my investigation into Day-to-Day Aesthetics requires a constant and consistent awareness to surroundings. A tuning into the stories, the sounds, human clues and even debris is a way of moving through space rather than settling in or being oblivious to it. I record with camera, phone, zoom field recorder; by sketching, taking notes, and finally, by collecting. By bringing the outside in, it allows the texture and sensibility of my surroundings to permeate the work as it develops. I refer back to the collected ephemera as ideas gather momentum and significant elements end up in the finished pieces either specifically or as a core to a theme. In this way, I am a creative detective, always on the prowl for signs, clues and source material; looking for evidence that can make a body of work coherent and provide depth and strength to the aesthetic narrative. By singling found objects as unique, they are being elevated to the level of the handmade. Bringing them into the studio, then in this case, into an exhibition space somehow draws exponential attention to each piece in particular but also to nature as a whole. How could I walk along a beach, pathway, back lane or wooded area for minutes or hours and not notice the intricacies that surround me? How can I -will I- continue to ignore what gems are right under foot? And, as an artist, can I offer the viewer a psychometric connection to the work, a sensory involvement no longer limited to pieces made under the label and purpose of ‘art’? Reactions to Flâneur’s Walk were astounding to me, with many people counting it as their favourite of the six separate bodies of work in my Tender to the Sea exhibition, and this, over and above the pieces of art that took months to complete. I consider this to be a percipient win on behalf of our environment and an outcome that further fuels my desire to collect, create, install and make work for those who participate and interact with both art & nature.