Challenges......

After my first session as Visiting Research Associate at LAU I was left with many questions about my identity as an artist and how i portray myself and justify what I do. One of the questions I was confronted with was ' What identifies me as an Environmental Artist?' which has brought to light my own constant questioning about how I justify myself as an 'Environmental Artist' under the impossible legacies left by the original Environmental & Land Artists of the '70s. These artists physically connected to the land in (how I see) monumental ways, carving out the land, creating large land art using the materials of the land. However, I do feel Environmental artists of the 21st Century work within a different context and manifest themselves in different forms. I've always been very focused on the act of restricting my materials to only organic matter, which is limiting, but I always feel that I am being authentic and true to myself, but maybe it's time to reassess and change my approach? I've worked within the flower & horticultural industry for over 30 years and grew up within the countryside experiencing making and playing within a rural setting on top of my work ethic within my practice, so I do feel qualified to be able to call myself an Environmental Artist, but my ethical approach does leave me limited at times.
Practically wise I've been exploring the properties of cyanotype further combining clay and charcoal as painting mediums and aspects of burying sheets of paper in the ground, the space below ground level, ground level itself and the space above. There have been some great painterly type results with beautiful fine lines of clay deposits. The blocks of colour presenting themselves on portrait positioned sheets of paper have really caught my eye reminiscent of Rothko's rectangular paintings.
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