artist statement: The Image of Her: This body of exploratory work looks at my relationship to the landscape. Through a variety of lens based work and 3d processes, I explore how the landscape is viewed and experienced according to gender. My exploration questions the validity of binary gendered relationships, in terms of differentiated male and female viewpoints and assigned spheres of activity. Looking particularly at the gendering of the landscape in an Irish context, I explore the relationship between the real and romantic experience of the landscape.
exploration thread 1: visual ideology, real and romantic landscape
i shiver and i shit
ideas explored: this exploratory thread explores the relationship between a real and romantic experience of the landscape and gendered spheres of activity, through object and material (domestic objects and landscape materials). gender binary relationships explored include inside/outside, domestic/great outdoors, real/romantic. it also relates to an irish context where both landscape and the female figure has been idealised.
process: using 3d processes and video. based on a ceramic tea-set (with a picture of an idealised landscape on it), i am making a tea-set which has been wrapped in clothes (to keep warm for the real conditions of the landscape). i have made molds but were unsuitable for slip casting (due to rough texture) and have now started to slab build them instead. my intention is to keep them as unfired clay pieces and place them in the landscape to dissolve and weather and record this process, making a video/stop motion video of the process. as i am unable to source irish clay (no longer produced) i intend to do my own digging (literally) and form rough items of the tea-set for similar process.
submission: i intend to submit a video or stop motion video of this work (showing the objects in the landscape) and also a sample of the textured clay material. i intend to send a link to my making process (link 1)
question: should i try and send the 3d clay pieces?
exploration thread 2: visual ideology, real and romantic landscape
tips to spot fake news
ideas explored: this exploratory thread again looks at the relationship between a real and romantic experience of the landscape, examining how landscape is edited and altered to present a more ideal image of a landscape.
process: using lens based imagery and print. i am working on a series of images and text for a series of screen prints: the images are landscapes i have captured and edited over the years (cropped, colour enhanced etc) to present a more ideal landscape. i am superimposing text from the weather forecasts (real conditions/experience of the landscape) to explore the real and the romantic. i intend to screen print these images as this ink process will bring a physicality to the image (and engage in a very physical image making process). it also lend itself to cropping by masking the images as well as layering images and text. i am also extracting text sent to me from facebook which tells me how to spot fake news – this might become another layer of text… how to spot a fake landscape. further, i am writing a list of the steps i make in the editing process which may also become text.
submission: i intend to send one print of two editions. i intend to send a link to the process (link 2: the imagery and editing, the print process)
question: should i also include some of my photographic images and text work or just the links to them?
exploration thread 3: gaze and the landscape
i there yet nearly
ideas explored: this work refers to the single viewpoint historically ascribed as a male position of power, control and ownership against the more intimate close up of the landscape, historically ascribed a female (subordinate) position. it examines how i experience the landscape, moving from both up close and distant viewpoints. symmetry and asymmetry are also explored which links to ideas about balanced and imbalanced views and imagery.
process: lens based work (photography and video). i am collecting a series of still and moving images of the landscape as i walk holding a mirror. I hope to explore this further using double mirrors and using water as a reflective surface and develop a short video piece. the video may become part of a projection using mirrored surfaces on indoor objects.
submission: i intend to submit a short video piece. i may submit a video of it projected onto domestic reflective surfaces. (link 3)
question: if so, should i send the reflective surface object with directions to project on the object?
to be decided: here are some other exploratory threads that i may submit, either as work or as links.
from the middle
from the middle: this video explores gendered landscape in terms of position and perspective through movement (walking) and captured on video. it ties in with my multiple view mirror work (exploratory thread 3). i intend to submit this as a link only.
touchstones: two hands and one mouth
link 5: https://elainecrowema.wordpress.com/2018/03/25/exploratory-project-week-6-in-her-own-image-continuing-3d-processes/
‘from the middle’ video work led to some 3d processes where i made some domestic items – split molds of dual items such as ‘a cup for one mouth and two hands‘ and ‘a spoon for one hands and two tastes‘. I am undecided whether to include the 3d items as part of my submission, as they are very relevant, or just send the link to the process. i may also send a video of the work in action with the body’s movement and submit video / images of this as documentation.
the poetic the pragmatic
i have been working on text and dual mirror handwriting as a way to explore binaries of the body, which i feel has potential to develop further and relate to real/romantic landscapes and gender. the text i am writing is based on the weather forecasts. i intend to submit this as a link but could also send some of the text?
landscape: from inside 1
link 7: https://elainecrowema.wordpress.com/2018/04/06/exploratory-project-week-8-landscape-from-inside-out/
i have been collecting some video footage of inside looking out on landscapes which i would like to develop further and play around with the opposite view – outside looking in. for the moment, i intend to submit this as a link, with suggestions and ideas of how i could develop it further at a later date.
link 8: https://elainecrowema.wordpress.com/2018/03/08/contextual-study-tracing-changes-in-landscape-art/
i think it would be relevant to send a link to one of my contextual study posts, maybe this one above?
some questions for the group: 1: do you think that i have made the best selection of work vs links to submit? knowing a little about my contextual study also from our discussion last week, is my research evident in the work? 3: should i also include more links to my contextual study research?
some questions for me: as exploration work are they not all equally relevant? if so, why or how (what criteria) should i pick one piece over another?
notes from group crit (23.04.18): (Les) with the idea of looking in and out maybe consider shelter and where you are looking from and where you are looking to in some way. the mirrored writing piece could be explored further by trying to write the other way around so the viewer can see it. the use of language ‘i shiver, i shit’ is effective and ties in with my exploration of real and romantic landscape. more scope for mirrors as a way to experience landscape – a mirrored suit? (Kimberley) the idea of affect and affect on material is present, think about mouth on cup, spit, gag etc, relate to a real bodily experience. text can be a way to layer as a mask and to reveal and conceal the image again relating back to inside and outside and the body and thought and gendered binaries. with the use of mirrors and mirror writing – explore further and consider how it relates to the body and the landscape. what might the embodied experience look like as image or as object. authenticity and the embodied experience is important in my work and again affect. look at the mirrored work of Yb Covain, re bodily experience look at Brain Massumi and Erin Manning – semblance and event, thought in act book. also in terms of from the middle – look at deLuze writing about the potential of a middle position as a forceful place. look at the language he uses. (Tiina) seems to link with Jessie’s work. also Nan Shepards work on viewing landscape might be relevant. (Mozdhez) questions if i reference gender explicitly enough (Kimberley) maybe its more about a bodily experience as a female artist. (Jo) language rather than text seems more relevant for my work. am i going to get work finished for the assessment? to a point yes. (other notes) repetition and print processes, scale, temperature and volume of a piece of work. revealing and concealing mass and layers. relate to the human body through indexical marks. consider the responsibility of the artist and the work. manipulation. what you want the audience to pay attention to. transitions, staging of view and moments. assessment only a pause in the work, statement should be ongoing exercise constantly revising. only send work that you feel is an important moment in the process that needs to be experienced – consider why/if it needs to be seen physically.
read: surroundings: deleuze and guatarri re ”in the middle’ file:///C:/Users/Elaine%20Crowe/Downloads/3168-11983-1-PB.pdf
semblance and event by brian massumi re embodied encounter and art
elaine crowe 
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