Lazy Sunday Afternoon.....

Well not for a few weeks yet...! so easing myself into another day of mega homework by pondering the patterns in a forest of test tubes...:-)

"To be or not to be"... a complete dissertation? THAT'S the question!..

"Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of misfortune" (and the Art History Lecturer's wrath) and just accept that I have 5175 words for my dissertation - of which 632 are made up of quotes!!...."or to take up arms against a sea of troubles" (i.e pick up the British Library's worth of books and newspaper articles I have just launched with gay abandon across my dining room floor and somehow, find something more worthwhile discussing and that actually makes sense and doesn't betray the fact that I've no real idea what I'm talking about when it comes to Post-modernism, Post-feminism, Intertexualitiy blah blah blah!!!!) Now that really is the question!
answers on a postcard (or a comment in the box!!!) xxx ;-)

Initial Proposal, that cost me blood, sweat n tears and that I forgot to hand in today!! moron

Initial Proposal Louise Page

Motherhood in art is often idealised and biased – consider the most iconic Mother of all, the Madonna – a teenage mother, pregnant out of wedlock, who did not marry the father of the child, hardly a respectable role model, yet Christian society has worshipped Her for nearly two thousand years. By glorifying the Divinity of both her and her child, Christian societies have made Her the epitome of womanhood.

But she is not the only iconic female template. Throughout history, civilisations and societies around the world have regarded and depicted women as fertile, childbearing icons. From the tiny Venus of Willendorf, to Marc Quinn’s ‘Alison Lapper Pregnant’, the message given is: pregnant women and mothers are to be revered.

But what of the women who cannot or will not conform to this ideal? Being still a relatively taboo subject, even in today’s contemporary society, childlessness is one that is seldomly discussed artistically, other than as a commentary in a female artist’s biography. Mary Cassatt (on discussing her childlessness) said:

“An artist must be capable of making the primary sacrifices”

(Madelyn Cain, The Childless Revolution, Perseus Publications 2001,pg 159)

Such sacrifices are not altogether necessary in today’s contemporary society, but it does highlight the choice many women considered they had to make if they wanted to achieve career success.

And Cassatt is not the only childless artist that springs to mind, there is also Gwen John, Georgia O’Keefe, Frida Kahlo and Annette Messager, all childless, through either choice or chance, but successful in their art.

In this new, second Millennium, when Motherhood is still highly regarded, with glossy magazines touting ‘Yummy Mummy’s’ on their covers, and fertility clinics offering treatment to older and older women, why is there still so little art that discusses these issues and childlessness? As a single woman who has never had a child, and living in a society dominated by the ‘family’, is it possible to give an artistic voice to the growing number of women who find themselves in this position either by choice or chance?

I find the contrast of emotions between this fundamental ‘choice and chance’ most engaging and have begun looking at how women, past and present have dealt with their childlessness when it has not been made through choice.

In the past, a fertilely challenged and childless woman may have made votive offerings, today, Scientists, Doctors and laboratories are the new Gods and temples to which and in which these women pray. Bearing these ‘Votives’ in mind, I aim to produce a body of work that is able to discuss, if you’ll excuse the pun, the issue of non-issue, mainly sculpturally.

With the world’s first ‘test-tube baby’ now approaching her 32^nd birthday, I plan to explore the symbolic and semiotic impact the ‘test-tube’ has on this topic, as ‘votive’ and as an answer to the ‘by chance’ childless woman’s prayers. By utilising and manipulating test-tubes, I intend to create a variety of 3D works capable of opening and withstanding the debate on depicting ‘Childlessness by chance’ in art as an initial starting point. As the work develops, I also aim to discuss ‘Childlessness by choice’, and am currently looking at the work of Annette Messager, who, when interviewed and asked if she had children replied;

“No, only Lola, a very English cat..”

(Richard Cork, Financial Times, London, 2009)

No strings....

For the last few days I've been a sterotypical woman and been busy multitasking...oh, ok ok ok, I've been drinking lots of tea while watching wood glue dry (thats doing 2 things at once so it must be multi-tasking?!).

The end result, besides having no more tea bags left, is that I have now completed my 'Pinocchio'. It was primarily meant to be a maquette for work I am completing for my final BA year (I'm currently looking how 'childlessness' is depicted in art - or not!) but I'm quite pleased at how its turned out as a piece in its own right...but we will see.

Me, myself and I....

As I'm still busy drowning in BA final year paperwork, and not getting too much studio work done, so here is another piece from last year. A self portrait, oil on cardboard. Came out better than I expected and was the piece that made me realise just how much I enjoyed painting on cardboard (a medium I returned to recently). My entire theme of the year was self-portraiture, and I've slowly recognised that the majority of my work is autobiographical.

A nod to Messager

Been working on my dissertation for the last few days...I'm a slow reader, researcher and writer (the artists 3 'r's'?), in particular her 'Children with their eyes scratched out'. I used this work as inspiration on a study piece of my own a few months ago as a way of looking into 'motherhood'/'childlessness'.

Another blast from the past...

While I'm busy researching Annette Messager for my disssertation, I thought I tide you over with another piece from 2008...

Called 'Lady Lair', it was my first Installation piece and again was based on an exploration into self-portaiture.

I've spent most of this morning in my studio (spare room!), working on my dissertation mind-map...I've got into such a confusion with it, that this seems like a good way to 'visualise' the different points I want to get across...if only I could just knuckle down and get on with writing the thing!

Beginning the art of blogging

Well, I'm here...my first ever blog, and about to take my first tentative steps in showing my art work, both past and present. To kick off, a piece from 2008 which was created as part of my HND Fine Art 2nd year, entitled "What I am you cannot see", and began my exploration into 'self-portraiture', which has become an ongoing theme in my work.