Critique with Paul Coldwell

This was a learning curve for sure. I learned that showing work that was not current had the capacity to derail the meeting completely. However, it’s very hard to communicate how intense this journey has been without reference to the early coursework, most of which I hate. The Polaroids of my haunting are enough. They shall remain. I may go back to them, but not in the way I have been.

Q. What artists influence you? I need to clarify this a bit more. I think I will create a dinner party and invite all those from whom I draw my inspiration.

‘An artist works to intensify an image so that the viewer has the best experience of what it is they are trying to say. Sometimes (?!) the artist thinks they have it…. But they don’t. Other times the artist misses what they had, which the viewer reacts to and engages with.’

Ectoplasm…. Conan Doyle…. Houdini

I felt challenged. Paul began to talk about Victorian spiritualist meetings and how they were theatrical setups, imagined. I then realised that he wasn’t on board with the supernatural, and I had to emphasise that this was not imagined… This was real… my haunting. I think that threw him slightly, as he carefully modified his speech. But this is what my reflective piece will be on… navigating the supernatural in an age that is reductionist.

I I felt childlike in this moment, like a child who has come downstairs because they have seen a ghost, only to be sent back upstairs because it’s not real. Well, that’s a powerful revelation!

But this is all before I said stop. This is what I want you to look at. When I showed the ‘Weyward Sisters,’ he was visibly taken aback. This is it. You have it. All an artist can hope to achieve is to show one image that will remain in the mind of the viewer. This is it. Keep going. Stay with them.

Look at Polish puppeteers. I mentioned Jan Svenmier, the animator.

Think about examining the Stanley Kubrick archives.

Look at Edvard Munch… He deals with death.

I’m exhausted. I’m going to revise my gallery and organise my drawers, showing only what is relevant to people. Lesson learned.