End of lockdown blog

Helen Stevenson

Lockdown has been ended for a while now and we are returning to a new normal. I am still furloughed from work and although life is resuming some sense of normality I have been able to go to my studio space more often. I have the space to continue painting with a number of canvases on the go and I enjoy moving in and out of different modes of thinking through creative resolutions. My connection with Hatchery is important because it means that I am engaging with other artists regularly and see different forms of art and views. We also add looking at other artists to discuss in our zoom meetings and I chose Sean Scully. I enjoyed learning more about this artists because of the connection with seeing abstraction as a universal language and his connection with paint and sculpture as his mediums. He talks about his obsession with constantly making and unmaking relationships with his work and I feel very in tune with this notion. He also says that if there was a sense of relief from the struggle it would all be over – there would be not drive to create. I also love that my abstract work is open to interpretation. It has the ability to become singularly viewed differently by each viewer and as Scully states ‘the painting has no obligation to explain itself’. They do have the ability to touch people in different ways and not just visually but also emotionally or spiritually without the need to have a sense of resolution of order.
So if it feels a struggle to create your work, it can be integral to the process. The important thing is not to give up.