5 Gold Rings by Slavka Jovanović ♥

So I unlocked my creative box in 2004 - to mark the launch of son number 2 into primary school. My job was done in getting him through his infancy, and son number 1 was well entrenched in the education system. This left me with a little time on my hands to start getting messy and to start thinking arty. Up until this point life had been full of the joys of supporting others to make work (in my "proper" job) and being a domestic goddess at home. Both of which had their creative moments but neither were able to hit my own creative spot.

The key was to return to college and throw myself in to the pot. After an emotional start (my father died 2 weeks before the course started) I soon got into the swing of things, and those 3 hours a week became my sanctuary.  I was encouraged to let go of convention, to lose control, to think poetically and to experiment with any materials I could lay my hands on - rice, lace, wire wool, sand, icing sugar, bacon....anything!  Little by little I learnt to let go and let loose. 

I was Artist-In-Training from 2004-2007, emerging fully in 2008 with my first exhibition.  One that I co-curated with my friend and fellow artist Wendy Haslam, under the name of Domestic Blitz. It was a group show of 7 women artists and a great success.  It was the first time I showed the installation “Broken” – a dining table full of broken crockery and glassware, painstakingly stuck back together again.

Following this outpouring, domestic life took over again, and I lay dormant for several years.  Fortunately finally escaping to the far west (Dorset!) and spending a week with Forkbeard Fantasy making animations and experimenting with all things puppety!  After a furious feast of creativity I came home with 2 animation films and ideas for the next step.

Roll on 2012 – year of the London Olympics and 3 exhibitions on my part.  What a triumph!  Thanks to Desperate Artwives (and Amy Dignam) I got to show “Broken” again, as well as a new installation “Falling Apart and Keeping it Together at the Same Time”.  This is an animation film viewed through the kitchen window of a doll’s house.  It shows the monotony of daily life as a housewife and the gradual unravelling of our heroine (pictured here uttering the famous lines. “I’m fine….no, really, I’m fine”, as her world collapses around her). 

Following the high of 2012, I found myself in the creative desert again as real life consumed me once more.  I had a head full of ideas and no time to carry them out.  I briefly shared a studio space but found I just couldn’t get there, due to home, child and work commitments.  My creativity consisted of making the table look nice (a peculiar obsession of mine) and taking photos of cappuccino froth!  As Louise Bourgeois said,  "It is not so much where my motivation comes from but rather how it manages to survive".  The funny thing is that you think you’re not motivated and you think you’re not being creative and yet you are, all the time.  From the way you put the food on the plate, to the colour of flowers you buy, or how you arrange the cushions on the sofa.  Many of us make art far more than we are given credit for. 

However, I still feel frustrated that I am not making art in an “arty” way.  I’m so cross with myself that it actually prevents me from seeing what I AM doing.  Barbara Hepworth made a point of working creatively for 30 minutes a day when she was raising children.   Even one moment a day that we think creatively or be creative in some way, is something.  I have to say I love the creativity people display in making a simple cup of coffee look good.  It’s an art in it’s own right.  I even make a point of photographing these creative toppings. I now have quite a collection of beautiful images that, one might say, constitute a gallery exhibition in their own right!

So that’s where my story was going to end for now, with 5 gold rings (of coffee!) and the thought of another exhibition to coincide with the next Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, 2016.  However the update is that I was invited by Amy to participate in a recent Desperate Artwives exhibition, organised by Art Café London.  I premiered a film installation at the Crypt Gallery, St Pancras Church, entitled “Her Story”.  It is a journey of self-discovery told in animated picture-book style (still image from the film pictured here). This exhibition has inspired me to get on with a couple of new creative projects – a performance art piece around the role of women in the home, as well as a special project around women as saints.

You can keep up with my progress by “liking” my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/Slavka.Jovanovic.Artist.

Contact me directly or join my mailing list for exhibitions:  Slavka.j@googlemail.com

Desperate Artwives 'Up the Wall' exhibition ♥

Desperate Artwives 'Up the Wall' exhibition at the Atrium space displayed an eclectic collection of works by ten women artists. 

Wives and mothers met yet again with the aim of re-interpreting the themes of family life. 

But how do we interpret our everyday lives? How do we deal with the incessant passing of time? Some of us use unorthodox methods. For example, Tracey Kershaw takes a cutting of her son's hair, mixes it with colourful jelly and allows it to mould. The result is beautiful images, cleverly cut out into circle shapes reminiscent of a microcosm of life seen through a microscope or perhaps distant moons in the sky. 

Other artists play with everyday objects, transforming them into something precious by covering them with gold leaf (me!)or by creating unlikely toys for children - I'm referring to 'Baby First Survival Kit' by Rachel Fallon. Rachel made a knife and a rattle with soft cloth. The knife perhaps symbolising our so called generation of doomed youth... or perhaps she might be pondering on the idea of 'self defence - teach them while they're young'? The rattle on the other hand, with its breast shaped top, including a very sore nipple, could be a tribute to the breastfeeding mother and the breast obsessed child! Women as objects also plays a big role in Sharon Reeves' etching series 'Voyeur'. Laces and the human body are intertwined behind black stencil. What one can see depends on what the viewer, or in this case the "voyeur", chooses to see. Sharon's themes come from 'suppression, inhibition, emotional resistance and freedom of expression of femininity, sexuality and self'.

Desperate Artwives 'Up the Wall' was another beautiful trip through womanhood, motherhood and everything that comes with it. Did you miss it? Here are some images!

Amy Dignam 'Golden Dinosaur' and Rachel Fallon 'Baby First Survival Kit'

Karen Barnet 'Our Dresses' and Sam Alderslade 'Small Appliance'

Esther Geis 'I bow to the lotus feet of my teachers' and Juliet Guiness 'Cortex'

Sharon Reeves 'Voyeur series 1' and Julie Swindel 'Woman with nettles'

Louise Nevett 'Stains' and Tracey Kershaw 'Circle of Decay 1'

Amy Dignam 2014 ©

What's happening next? ♥

I'm getting ready for the next Desperate Artwives exhibition at the Atrium gallery in North London.

The exhibition is promoted by the Barbican Arts Group Trust and will be on from Thursday the 17th to Thursday the 24th of April. 

Back in December 2013 I submitted a proposal to the Barbican Arts Group Trust in order to take the Desperate Artwives exhibition to show in one of their spaces. A few weeks ago I was approached by the Director saying that we got in! I am so thrilled to be able to offer this opportunity to some of the Desperate Artwives. 

This show will be slightly different from the ones we did so far. Usually, I try to showcase work completed in a wide range of medium from paintings, to video installations etc. The idea is to give the viewer a comprehensive experience of what women make at home and how they are able to convey their creativity within the home and family environment.

This time though, because of the nature of the space (an atrium!) I have decided to only have wall work ranging from numerous different types of 2D work; collages, digital prints, photographs and of course paintings. 

Because of the combination of my choice of using only walls and the eclectic selection of work exhibiting the show was then called 'Up the wall'. 

I am showing three pieces. Two are from the 'Egg surprise' series and the third one is from a new project provisionally called 'Housewife Essentials'.

These are a few pictures of the work in progress.

'Housewife Essentials', gold leaf on wooden utensils 

'Untitled', gold leaf on building block

'Untitled', gold leaf on toy dinosaur

I hope to see some of you at the opening night next wednesday, until then, take care!

Amy Dignam 2014 ©

Desperate Artwives exhibition at the Crypt Gallery ♥

I haven't had much time for blogging during these past couple of weeks. The reason being is I was offered the opportunity to take my Desperate Artwives project to the Crypt Gallery in Euston for a two weeks exhibition. We guested alongside some amazing Italian artists who were showing in the main exhibition called 'Vanity Unfair'- you can read all about Art Cafe London and "Vanity Unfair" here

Left, a shot of the exhibition and right, the opening night in full swing

The Crypt of St.Pancras Parish Church is a unique venue originally designed and used for coffin burials between 1822 and 1854. Crypt burial was seen as a slightly better alternative to the overcrowded burial grounds but not everybody could afford it. Today the Crypt is still the final resting place of 557 people.

The Crypt was also used in both World Wars as an air raid shelter. 

Having seen the Crypt adorned with all the beautiful artwork, lights, hearing the reverberation of laughter, the wine flowing and the dressed tables full of delicious canapés it's difficult to imagine it during those dark nights filled with worry and fear. The Crypt is also extremely cold and humid which makes me conscious of the difficulties people faced.

I read on the Crypt's website that a woman called Gladys Green ran a canteen down there in the evenings and nights during the London  blitz. Gladys' daughter Georgina was about 8 at the time and she explains how she had to sleep overnight there; "in one of the alcoves which were fitted out with bunk beds". I wonder if the alcove she is talking about was the one I have allocated for one my artists, Slavka Jovanovic? 

Left, the Crypt Gallery from the outside. Right, Slavka Jovanovic's video work inside one of the alcoves.

Our room, located at the end of the main corridor was big enough for me to accomodate 7 artists, including myself. 

I always find curating just as exciting and interesting as being an artist. I like researching the artists and talking to them. I'm interested in their artwork and I enjoy putting it all together and making it work.

Curating might be fun but it's also really hard work. At the Crypt I was extremely fortunate to have such an atmospheric setting but even more so to have such an astounding quality of artwork!

Please see below for all the participating artists and their incredible contributions!

Nina Ciuffini

"Untitled" Oil, gloss on linen, Nina Ciuffini 2012 ©

Through painting Nina CIuffini expresses language, temporary images and the body through the exploration of marks as a material product of a painterly performative act. Her aim is to turn everything into a minimal documentation with a simple gesture as a sense of meditation, properly understood as an inter-position and an inter-vetion.

Tracey Kershaw

"Tell me about your mother" Mixed media installation, Tracey Kershaw 2013 ©

Tracey's work explores the maternal. She is interested in the familiarity of the everyday, examined from the perspective of her relationship with her son. This installation, 'Tell me about your mother' considers the reverse relationship- from the perspective of the child as adult. Tracey invites people to sit in the purple armchair and to think about their mother.

Esther Geis

"Alice in Yogaland" Digital prints and ink on paper, Esther Geis 2014 ©

These images are part of a series called 'Alice in Yogaland'. They are meant to take the viewer down the rabbit hole into the experience of Yoga. Esther used the illustrations by John Tenniel and the story of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol as inspiration and gave it a completely new spin by putting them into the yogic context.

Mercedes Ferrari

"La mujerzuela"(The floozy) Lampshade sculpture, Mercedes Ferrari 2013 ©

With a wry humour, raw energy and visual puns, Mercedes aims to confront and engage. Her work explores challenging issues, such as violence, gender, sex, maternity and domesticity through mixed-media sculpture, drawing and performance. It is suggestive and provocative, with cartoon-like arrangements that often have high sexual content and a strong emotional narrative.

Sharon Reeves

"Voyeur series" Etching, Sharon Reeves 2014 ©

Sharon's work explores feminine identity and erotic empowerment, challenging and questioning the expectations placed on women by Western society. It looks at the emotional dilemma of marking art as a Woman, a Mother, a Wife. Inspiration comes from themes of suppression, inhibition, emotional resistance and freedom of expression of femininity, sexuality and self.

Slavka Jovanovic

Stills from the video animation "Her story", Slavka Jovanovic 2011 ©

Slavka's video is a journey of self-discovery told in animated picture-book style. The viewer is invited to sit back, relax and listen to the little girl's tale who will transport the audience deep into the bowels of a big old house. 

Amy Dignam (me!)

"Peas in a bucket" Video performance,"Wrinkles" Silk impression, Amy Dignam 2014 ©

If you have been following my blog you probably already know a little bit about the nature of my work. It revolves around my everyday life. Repetitive actions like picking up peas from the floor after my children's meal times become a performance that tests my physical and psychological strengths. Memories play a big part in my work too. 'Wrinkles' is a scarf whose design was obtained by drawing the wrinkles around my mother's eyes as an attempt to keep her memory alive. 

Curating is always a wonderful experience that allows me to enter into the artists' world in a deep and meaningful way. However, in this particular show I curated the exhibition in such a way as to underline different facets of my present situation; presenting ideas through other people's work rather than illustrating them myself. Not many people, if anyone at all, would have read this ulterior message. Most of all, it feels wonderful to be doing what I love the most and opportunities such as this one really feed my aspirations and enthusiasm to carry on down this path, no matter how arduous it might be... 

Last but not least, I would like to thank Nadia Spita and her wonderful team for making the whole thing possible. They're not only beautiful and clever women but also really hard workers. Thank you!

                                  

                                Amy Dignam ©

Julie Swindel ♥

Julie Swindel is a mother of eight, yes you read that right EIGHT! When I started exchanging messages with Julie and found out, I thought that perhaps I had found the ultimate Desperate Artwife...

Julie tells me how she tries and keep her eye focused on art during her hectic lifestyle. Having attempted a few art courses she has never managed to finish them and therefore she considers herself largely self-taught. At forty she was able to have her own home studio (protected by a stair-gate!), allowing her to come and go from her work as and when. Julie says "I had my first daughter at 25, before that I had time and I wasted it, I had no perception of how precious life was. If you are desperate enough you learn to be flexible and adaptable. Every experience can be channelled into expression, frustration can become passion seen in a flurry of marks on the canvas or clay at the end of the day when the children are asleep. During day to day tasks a partition of my mind is always open to creativity. If circumstances are limiting I study the ordinary. Necessity has been the mother of my invention."

Julie's painting style takes me back in time to when I was studying art in Italy and experimenting with various subjects for my paintings. Her way of combining different situations in one painting makes the image become a narrative - almost like stills from a motion picture. Some of her work combines dream-like situations and reality, some others in - true Desperate Artwife style - relates to the everyday and private life. Death, memories, resignation, daydream, childhood... 

Dad

Her father's death motivated her to pick up the paint brush again, eager to try and hold his memory before it melted away from her.  Through this  experience, she discovered that art can be used as a form of therapy. Sometimes I think that artists are privileged because if it's hard to verbally express their thoughts and feelings then they are able to use their art instead. It is challenging but it helps in giving you a voice without you having to talk.

Fabrication

In "Fabrication", one can see a woman folding clothes from a washing basket while underneath a man is busy polishing and lining up shoes. Everyday home chores are surrounded by a background of a coastline and a cloudy sky. A flock of white doves are flying around, perhaps symbolising love and peace. Julie explains that this work is about how daydreaming  can help in life but how we also need to embrace the present moment. 

The other mother

I read  "The other mother" as another attempt of healing the soul. Julie painted this in reaction to having to accept the medical profession into her family after the birth of her disabled daughter. A narrow corridor,  green walls,  a blurred vision of a faceless doctor and nurse wearing white scrubs and walking towards you. They are surrounded by big red crosses that seem to shoot out of the painting. The painting is coming outwards, it's unstable and full of tension. Art is a tool that Julie constantly tries to exploit in order to better endure her life. 

Mausoleum of motherhood

"Mausoleum of motherhood"  was painted as a way to stop the swirling storm of images and emotions that were gathering as Julie dealt with the realities of motherhood against what one might think it ought to be (or how the media portrays it to be). 

Julie condenses her life experiences into her work and like a good book, it unfolds stories we all can connect to. And like a good book it remains with you long after you've finished looking at it. 

Amy Dignam 2014 ©

Monster Mum ♥

"Monster Mum" was inspired by a book I found in a charity shop a few years ago called "When Mum turned into a Monster". Only recently was I allowed to take it back out and read it again as my eldest daughter didn't like it. In fact she was quite scared of it for a long time.

"When Mum turned into a monster" is a story about the busy mother of two cheeky children who don't pay attention to what they do. They are ruthless and misbehaved. Every time they do something naughty their mother grows a part of a monster...first the ears, then the hands, then a tail until she turns completely green and explodes with rage!

This is such a familiar story. I can often feel my hands turning green or see a tail appearing behind my back... my children live with this half human-half monster creature who is trying to do its best - even when shouting. 

I often wonder what they see when I'm angry? How does my face look and what are their thoughts? I remember very clearly when my mum was mad at me... she'd be furious and I'd be scared. It made me sad and I felt lonely and misunderstood.

Whenever I become a monster I don't gloss over it and expect everyone to forget about it. I usually apologise and explain. I also tell them that even when I'm angry I love them dearly. So I guess that even when the monster mum appears I still have the nice mum attributes...or so I'd like to think... 

I hate being the monster mum and luckily for everyone...
...it doesn't happen very often.

Amy Dignam © 2014