Siobhan Kelley - Artist
Siobhan Kelley lives on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria and is currently engrossed in Maps as an artistic device, Amanda van Gills caught up with her recently to explore her world… You can see some more of her work here.
How long have you been making art?
Since high school I suppose. My awareness of art was aroused when I was in year 10 through the brash bold world of advertising. I used to go to university open days to look at the graphic design courses. I intended a career in the highly creative industry.
Interests you have other than art you feel are important to mention?
Yes, I love cooking and eating and exercising, not necessarily in that order.
What are the main mediums you work in?
Acrylic on linen.
Hobsons Bay 2009 100×100cm.
Artist’s statement…
I consider my map paintings as landscapes in that they depict the land, albeit in a graphic form and from an aerial perspective. Landscape painting is generally understood from a horizontal point of view and often bears some resemblance to the land itself. A long tradition of artists have taken their canvases out into the land to observe nature and paint en plein air in order to capture the nuances of the light, the moment, the spirit, the energy and emotion, the very essence of the land.
Maps however reduce geographic and man-made features to a graphic form that bears no resemblance to the land. A cartographic landscape is edited and simplified according to the specific purpose for which it was created. A tourist map marks significant points of interest, whilst ignoring features less interesting such as office buildings. A shipping chart defines what is below the water and therefore provides crucial information for navigation such as water depths, beacons, wrecks, marine parks and obscured hazards with less regard for geographical land features.
Maps speak about a transient existence, of travel and destination. They speak of place. While a map does not resemble landscape in a traditional sense it does define a landscape and allows a physical relationship with land in a way that a painting cannot.
One word or statement to describe your current works?
Maps
How did you get into art?
After high school I studied graphic design at TAFE. By the end of first year I realised, as did my lecturers, that I was not a graphic artist, but rather a fine artist. The following year I swapped to second year fine art.
It was the start of the 90’s and computers were essentially word processors so everything produced was by hand. Paint had to be flat and even, presentation boards had to be ruled up with symmetrical borders. Typeface and fonts were all done with the aid of French curves and everything had to be CLEAN. All I wanted to do was make a large mess. I also think I was not so good at following a brief.
As it happens the graphics training has come to fruition as all of those things I use to be dreadful at I now employ in my painting practice.
How important is art for you?
It has become an all-consuming obsession. When my daughter was three months old I moved my easel in to the lounge room so I could paint and keep an eye on her while she slept. She’s now two and a half and the easel remains in the lounge room.
City Walk 2009 100×100cm This painting was short listed for the 2009 Albany Art Prize.
What is it about visual art you find compelling?
I have an attraction to art works that are visually striking, asethically pleasing and whimsical or witty.
What caused you to choose the medium you currently work in?
Pregnancy. Until I became pregnant I worked in oils. I changed for two reasons, primarily because I was concerned of the effects of prolonged exposure to various varnishes and oil mediums, but also because the smell made me feel ill – as do most smells in the early weeks of pregnancy. I was reluctant to switch to acrylic because I felt they had a certain stigma about them, that oil was regarded more highly. I always believed I would return to oil but I am hooked on acrylic. The fact that it’s quick drying and has a plasticy finish has won me. Oh and you don’t require a medium to thin the paint down. It took some time for me to adapt, to understand the difference between the two products, like how much water is required to achieve the right consistency and how many time you can repaint the work before you have to allow all the layers to dry.
Has your work changed much since your early efforts?
The subject matter certainly has. My first paintings at TAFE were an extension of the work I was doing in high school. They consisted of photocopied images pasted on canvas and then worked over in bright bold colour. Over time the work became more personal and connected more to my emotions, and finally I began working with photographs of landscapes that I sewed, pasted or painted on to the canvas. Eventually the photos disappeared and the landscape remained. Even then I was interested in the horizon line, particularly how colour meets at the horizon. When I returned to study post graduate some ten years later, that went on to become what breaks a horizon line, e.g. buildings, trees. I became interested in distance and space. This in turn lead me to plein air painting – which I hated, and then to painting objects I had found and collected, which I began combining with weather maps and shipping charts. Once again, the object disappeared and the landscape remained.
Have your artistic influences altered over time?
Pop and Dada were my first influences in high school. At uni I looked more closely at the work of Kurt Schwitters, Mark Rothko, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist and Larry Rivers. My landscapes were largely influenced by Rothko and later by Australian painters such as Fred Williams and Arthur Boyd. Rosalie Gasgoine has also been a perennial favourite. My most recent hero is John Wolseley. In particular his expansive landscapes that are both vistas and intricate details of the plants and insects that inhabit the land.
What can you tell us about your planning and making process for making art, and has that altered over the years.
The planning process has become integral to the finished artwork. I specifically chose locations to relate to the towns or suburbs in which the paintings will hang in. I then photocopy and cut and paste the chosen maps in order to establish a firm idea in mind of what I want the work to say. Over the years I have found it important that people be able to identify with a location on a map, and whereas I once obscured it I am now not afraid to be more obvious. Once I have dissected the photocopied image and have reached a resolution, I then make several larger photocopy versions and colour them in pencil.
When I come to painting the image I know exactly what I want it to say, how it will look and the colour scheme I will employ. Of course the scale plays a large role in the finished painting. Often problems present themselves that require further resolution. I have only begun working this way for the last six months. Prior to that I simply photocopied parts of maps I liked on to acetate, dissected them as I drew them directly onto the canvas and painted them with no idea how the completed image would resolve itself. I find the way I work now more efficient. Rather than blindly trying resolving each painting on the canvas as I am going, I now confidently produce paintings that I feel are resolved both conceptually and aesthetically.
Do you keep an Art Journal or Visual Diary of some kind?
I have kept a written diary for 20 years. I took it everywhere with me and would write obsessively about everything in it. When I first began writing I was in yr 11 at high school so my earlier diaries consisted of issues to do with growing up: boys, peers, drugs, parties. In uni I took it with me to galleries and would write reviews of shows, scribble song lyrics and make pen drawings. Eventually I began using the back of the diary to as a reference for ideas or to make quick sketches for paintings, write shopping lists, recipes, phone numbers. I have kept all of my diaries and occasionally look back over them for a specific occasion, usually to find my first impressions of people. My writing has turned more to my painting over the years.
Now I’m married and don’t have to work through relationship issues. I also find I leave it on my bedside table and write in it at night just before I go to bed. I find it invaluable to stop the constant babble in my head, especially when I can’t sleep. In addition to the written diary I keep a visual diary of all the ideas I have when working on ideas for a new painting. It contains sketches for paintings, artists’ statements I have written, photographs of previous paintings, images that I find in magazines, song lyrics. I have found it an invaluable reference tool.
What sort of research and or reference material do you do for current works and has that changed over time?
I work directly from maps that I have collected, and am constantly scouring the pages of street directories and map books. I try to find maps that relate specifically to a location where the painting will hang. I am currently working on a four-wheel drive map painting of the Flinders Ranges for the Whyalla Art Prize. When I first began painting maps, I was referencing shipping charts. It was the graphic nature of charts that I was interested in with the title of the painting as the only reference point.
I have since thought about what it is that intrigues people about maps. Usually it is familiarity of place so I have begun painting a variety of maps, mostly tourist and street directories that directly reference suburbs, street names or place names that are instantly recognisable. In the future I would like to include maps in foreign languages and historical maps.
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Compiled and edited by Amanda van Gils © 2009+
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