ARTISTS STATEMENT
Instead of finding time to work in studio-based solitude, I have brought my materials into daily life with Olive. This process-based art mimics the reality of motherhood: interruptions. The crayon drawings record the daily interruptions of caring for an eighteen-month old. As I fill the background, I am interrupted by toys and objects that Olive puts down, which get traced and layered . Each work reveals Olive’s interests, focus, and independence. While the crayon drawings record objects, the ink spiral drawings records time, with each dot representing an interruption. Olive’s body is present in the work through her scribbles and evident in the bumped spots where my line deviates from it’s intended path. It’s counterpoint reveals the same drawing done solo in the studio. By including Olive into my practice, the process becomes more important than outcome. Unlike studio drawings which are pristine and flat, these works are bent, rumpled and full of a child’s scribble. As a result, the focus isn’t only on the making, but what happens in-between. They record the before, during and after of art making. It shows what I was doing (drawing a line or filling a space), what interrupted me (a toy, a body, an object), and then where I continued. It doesn’t show the interaction in-between, perhaps that which is more important than art making. These works record the process of making, but reveal the process of mothering, that is the daily activities of playing with, caring for, and loving Olive.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Until I began a career in motherhood, my textile and sculptural-based practice focused on sentimentality and the personal objects that we hold onto regardless of their utility. I have previously worked with unfinished and abandoned craft projects and more recently was creating soft sculptures from worn wedding dresses. I would literally take apart the donated and reclaimed dresses to metaphorically reveal the body and its connotations underneath. When I first had Olive, I intended to continue this soft sculpture practice, but new motherhood left little time and mental space for art making. My studio is not child proof, nap time is unpredictable, and I was just too exhausted by end of day. After participating in a residency specifically for artist parents, I embraced studio motherhood, resulting in a practice that includes my daughter. Works range from drawings made on the playroom floor with Olive, to studio based works using materials kept from Olive’s infancy (swaddle blankets, wiping clothes, outgrown onesies) . I am a Peterborough, Ontario based artist. My work has been shown in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, and London, Ontario. I have worked as a sessional instructor in the Faculty of Drawing & Painting at OCAD University and taught adults at the Art Gallery of Ontario. I hold a MFA in studio art and an MA in art history and curatorial studies from Western University. On occasion, I also run Lilliput Gallery, a tiny exhibition space in an Anne of Green Gables replica dollhouse.
© Claire Bartleman