Maintaining an art practice in these times means ‘pivoting’
Around the world, artists have had to make changes to their art practice and studio use, due to the global pandemic of Covid19. For many, this season has meant NOT being able to go to studios outside the home to make work. In Tetouan, Morocco, art residency directors and artists Jeff McRobbie and Rachel Pearsey are among those. Because of Covid19, Green Olive Arts had to cancel the Spring and Summer 2020 art residencies. These two artists turned toward an unexpected but welcome season of uninterrupted studio time at GOA. They set up their spaces and organized materials … and then the lockdown hit Tetouan. It was a tough moment, but they packed up supplies, easels and tools and headed to their homes.
Today’s post launches a series of interviews with former Artists in Residence at Green Olive Arts, to see what they are doing during this pandemic. So step into the home-studio of GOA’s own Jeff McRobbie for his perspective on making art at home during confinement.
Studio at Home – with Jeff McRobbie
How have you had to flex or pivot your art practice in this unprecedented season of home confinement? What are you currently working on in your studio at home?
I had planned on diving into three primary areas of production in my next intense season of art residency. All three areas, oil painting, clay portrait sculpture, and puppet making are fairly dependent upon being able to work in my Green Olive Arts studio, however. Since 2019 I have been developing a large street puppet of an elderly Moroccan man for a spontaneous performance piece. He is nearly 3 meters tall and supported/moved by long bamboo poles. He had to be left at the studios, but he seems pretty patient about all this. I’ll get back to him soon enough.
‘Pivoting’ in this season has meant turning toward mediums that fit a small table in my living room studio at home. Much of my initial work has been just getting myself into “making mode” again, particularly in this new space. I have been letting myself wander between mediums of sketching/drawing, watercolor, printmaking, and even writing poetry, just to get the creative juices flowing. It has been good for me to spend some time capturing some of life’s mundane views and details in sketches. Finding beauty and meaning in my everyday world has been good for my heart … seeing things I often overlook.
“At Home 26-MAR-2020” , carbon ink & watercolor
What’s next? I feel drawn to produce several pieces about the amazing view from our top floor apartment. Those will probably begin as drawings … you’ll have to watch my Instagram to see where it goes. And I did end up bringing home my giant puppet’s hand and eyes to work on mechanics. So hopefully there will be some progress for his sake as well!
“Cactus Garden,” watercolor sketch, 16cm x 16cm
What does creative community and/or social sanity look like for you right now? How are you staying connected and grounded?
I guess I am extra blessed to have a family that I enjoy being with in confinement. And they are a creative bunch too, so I have a creative community right in my studio at home! My faith and keeping my focus on today’s challenges are definitely helping me stay grounded. If I dwell too much on all the future unknowns and what-ifs, I would implode. That is a challenge for a person with ‘envisioning’ and ‘advancer’ descriptions in my personality profile. Trying to live in the present! Also, as an extrovert who loves to go out and spend time with people, I really feel the social distancing now too. I keep in touch with local artists, art students, business contacts and others here in town via calls and messages.
As far as connecting with peer artists, I am part of a WhatsApp group with some creatives who are “keeping it real” with regular interactions. We dialogue about shared images of current work, poetry and observations of culture. I have really been appreciating this interaction with other creatives. I hadn’t realized how much I need it myself, after years of helping others find creative community through art residency. Hearing how people are flexing their practice, even pressing on with Covid19 in their homes, has really inspired me. We all need thoughtful feedback on our own work. It has been encouraging to be able to put fresh work up on that ‘critique wall’ before trusted peers. I am eager to hear from our artist-in-residence alumni too, about what life in their studios at home looks like these days!
What insights about creativity in a time of crisis can you share with other artists? What have you been learning?
I am surprised how often I’ve had to learn about the role art-making plays in refreshing me when I’m stressed. It’s hard to simplify it with words, because it is far more than just giving form to an idea. There are so many layers in the process of making art that bear good fruit in me. I don’t know if I see them all yet. Here are a few things I’m learning that are giving me focus as an artist this season:
- Doing the work makes me think about the ‘subject’ of the work and its meaning to me. There’s an internal process paralleling the external one.
- I find great satisfaction in using tools to shape materials, any materials, into something that has meaning to others. Putting a tool to a material with a vision for shaping it becomes an act of giving.
- There is an element of surprise, a humbling, in realizing you are not as “in control” of the outcome as you might think. It is good to embrace this and have a sense of wonder about it.
- “Seeing how it is all connected” … connectivity … is really important to me. Taking time to make those connections in my mind means slowing down the process sometimes. Or just paying better attention!
- Each little mark, dab of color or piece carved away has its own impact on a deeper part of me that was made to make things. The act of creating becomes an act of cultivating who I am as a human.
- I am learning that paying attention to these things is part of staying healthy during this strange time. Stress can crowd out good stuff like this and overwhelm me.
These things are probably obvious to artists who have a regular and disciplined art practice. I am pretty sure I’ve learned them before, but am thankful to be learning them afresh.
Buttermilk Falls, woodcut print on paper, 11cm x 11cm
More Than Just the Image
For example, I was particularly happy with a small woodcut print of a waterfall that I finished recently. My son and I were planning on visiting this Adirondack cascade while camping again this summer. But it doesn’t look like we’ll get to. My disappointment was comforted in the process of making this piece … more than just by the image itself.
I love the aroma of wood being cut into, and the process carried my imagination to the forest and the wood shop, both favorite places to be. Using a well honed blade to carve the pine surface recalls elements of the campsite. The sound of a brayer inking each image recalls rain on the lake. The responses of those who have viewed the print affirm that something I’ve captured really does help to quiet the noise in a pandemic. Finally, the image itself reminds the viewer that beautiful places exist out there and he or she has a real memory of the strength and rest in them.
Art has the power to touch that place where people’s imagination is enlivened and they say, “Yes! There is truth in that artwork that helps me to stand in a hard place.” Maybe that is why we need the arts … why we need artists … so much in this pandemic. I want to grow as that kind of artist.
Jeff’s website: www.jeffmcrobbie.com … and Instagram: @jeffmcrobbieart
