CASE STUDY
Context
Brief outline of the artist’s practice
My work is an ongoing, close observation of the environment around me. I look for repeated patterns in bricks and tile; subtle tonal textures in metal, wood, and paint; distorted and fractured light in reflections; and the suggestions of text left on forgotten surfaces. All of these will be varnished with the film of daily life, bearing witness to the effects of weather and the passage of time. My work invites a visual as well as tactile examination of the surface and tries to reflect a visual collage of a place at a time of change.
1. Brief explanation of working process
I began capturing the architectural patterns of my surroundings through drawing, my sketchbook a constant companion. I soon expanded into using photography which allowed me to focus in on surface textures and details. Digital technology gave me the opportunity to combine my drawing and photography in new and interesting ways. I print, transfer, or collage digital images onto a variety of surfaces – often adding further drawing or low relief effects, textural mediums, painted glazes, with different varnishes or encaustic. Depending on the image and surface effect I want, I will combine and mix media and techniques in first a virtual, then a physical collage process in order to re-create or re-interpret the observations that inspire me.
2. Relationship of digital technology to other processes/technologies
The development of my practice has been greatly enhanced by the digital tools and techniques I have adopted. I still draw, paint, print with wood, lino or card, and use my camera constantly but I now combine them differently, not as a collage of mediums or images, but as a fusion of layers. I work back and forth between the computer screen and the physical object throughout the development of a piece. Digital technology has given me a valuable tool that is allowing me to do things that I could do in no other single medium.
3. Indication of how they regard the surface in terms of importance
The physical surface of the work I create is critical and it was this aspect of working digitally that was at first the least satisfactory. I have spent considerable time experimenting on ways to breakdown the ‘perfect’ digital image to be able to apply it to fresco, wood, canvas, and a range of papers to allow a varied and broken surface to emerge.
Specific issues to the new piece of work
1. At what point in the development of the work is the size of the image fixed?
It is usually a trade off between the surface I have in mind and what base it will require, and the image I may have been manipulating in Photoshop. Usually it is the decision of the surface base and it’s overall size that will determine and fix the image size. In the case of this work it was the size of the wood panel I had available to work from.
2. At what point is the actual surface considered?
When I first start thinking of an idea for a new work. When I had the basic composition in Photoshop, I printed the base layer on a large sheet of Shoji paper and used it as the template for planning the relief surface. I built up the textural elements on the wood base using Mod-Roc and acrylic mediums, forming a type of reverse collagraph plate.
3. What factors determine the choice or creation of the surface in this new work?
The overall image effect I wanted was of layers of torn and distressed posters. So I kept printing sections of the image on different papers to use in a cut and torn paper collage. In a few areas I built up the surface again with acrylic medium or plain heavy paper before collaging the final printed image on the top, to add a higher level to the surface. I am constantly playing with the overall surface and it’s visual effect through to the final varnishes.
4. How does working digitally contrast with other practises they have used?
I think the most profound effect for me is in the way I am now able to work as a result of using digital tools. I can develop an idea, test out several variations on a theme, change colour, add or delete, basically have the image grow with my imagination and creative exploration. If I end up at a dead end, or add an element to the image that doesn’t work, I can easily delete or revert back to an earlier state. I can revisit any image at almost any stage in the development path, working it further or taking it off in a totally new direction – which is very difficult to do in almost any other medium I have used!
To see more of Janet’s work visit www.jcurleycannon.com
Title: ‘United Text’
Size – 55 x 60 x 3 cm (approximately)
Process – Digital print collage and mixed media on a wood panel
Material – Pigment inkjet, a variety of papers, Mod-Roc, pen & charcoal, and acrylic mediums/varnishes.
stage 1
stage 2
stage 3
stage 4
stage 5
final image
