Claire Davenport: Workshop Bursary Blog
Over the coming weeks, we are sharing the experience of past Workshop Bursary recipients’ as we accept applications for our 22/23 programme.
Below, artist Claire Davenport generously shares her experience of creating new work resulting in a publication that we are very excited to now have available in our online shop:
This bursary helped me confront a question I love to avoid: What kind of artist are you? I waver between styles but seem to have a strong tendency for social realism and political subversion. For example this Zine “YOU DUCKING CORNFLAKE” is based on the hypocritical treatment of so-called key workers during boom and bust times, this time, the Covid pandemic where government pandered to workers with claps and saccharine praise. (Boris Johnson infamously labelled people as cornflakes who needed a good shake to see who would rise to the surface).
During Covid, I also worked in supermarkets and kitchens as a key worker to keep myself afloat and saw that this web of people whose work ensured the rest of us had food were patronised by rhetoric but rarely rewarded by government in any meaningful way. I was really happy to receive the bursary as I had also been drawing some of my colleagues during the pandemic and felt as an artist I had something to say. The bursary gave me the opportunity to finally grow and realise an idea, an experience I rarely had. It has taught me some invaluable lessons about process and artistic integrity.
The Gaada bursary taught me a badly needed lesson about the artistic process that I hadn't encountered before. During my initial sessions with Daniel, I learned about my own instincts in the process and became aware of both their positive and negative impact on my practice. I seem to have developed habits that are holding me back such as a tendency to throw away decent work if it does not align with thinking on a given day. I also harbour a belief that the swarm of ideas in my head is too fast for my capacity to produce but this is also an inability to stay with work for a longer period of time and allow it to evolve. I became aware of this process in conversation with Daniel as we pored over my excessive entries. Working with a professional artist creates a safety net whereby any erratic decisions can be tempered by another wiser voice.
Working with Daniel provided a greater understanding that work resonates or falls flat to each person differently. So it’s good to spend time with it; Painter Willem de Kooning used to keep unfinished paintings for many years until he felt they came to some kind of end. Each week I brought a slew of new entries and it seemed I wanted to create something bigger than realisable in the timeframe. I also realised that a new artist might fall victim to (people)please viewers or phantom tutors but that this need directly blocks a person's impulse to create authentically without judgement. While this is a belief I have peddled to others, I did not realise how little I seem to practise it. Daniel talked me out of any major decisions and in viewing my work showed enthusiasm for its value as an image alone. We spoke at length about some of the entries and their independent power devoid of any projected meaning or language. He provided me with other artists whose work I could look at and helped me understand that their authenticity led them to their path. This input nudged me to value an image as an integral piece of work and taught me a crucial lesson. It also shone a light on how I have transposed a ruthless sort of editing to art which may not be the best approach.
The bursary also opened an important Pandora’s box for me as I have a tendency to match imagery with some revealing on related text: I was a journalist for seven years writing stories that often involved the power nexus between corporate and policy, so l was extremely verbal both in text and on radio. In those years my brain must have forged a stubborn habit to verbalise almost exclusively. This became abundantly clear during this bursary: I wrote several pages of text that are now all for the bin as Gaada enabled me to take proofs home and be ruthless about where I wanted to head and what kind of art I wanted to make. I’m a big fan of any art that has a satirical eye on current events such as Cold War Steve or Banksy and hoped to emulate them but in my attempts to be “clever” I felt blocked. A drawing in this vein I did like was one of Jacob Rees Mogg in the shape of a cut-out fan, as in Dada, to send him to the flaky irrelevance his apathy merits. (There are ample artists who manage to marry words and text such as the late Jean Michel Basquiat but their allure lies in their elusive, suggestive or controversial nature whereas mine seemed contrived and obvious.)
Daniel and the Gaada team allowed me the space to explore many iterations of my Zine and while they gave their honest input, ultimately, decisions on content and message were left to me. They were generous in their advice and provided proofs to ensure I spent time with the work and could eventually arrive at the Zine I wanted. In the layout stage headaches ensued as I had too much content and too many ideas still. Again Daniel helped patiently support me in the technical layout and using Photoshop was able to show me various iterations of images.
The outcome is different and better than expected. In the first week of the final proof I was unable to really look at it as my mind was mired with changes. But eventually I see it now as an integral piece of work. Riso printing is different in its outcome than other printers and this too I needed to learn. Luckily the Gaada team know the limitations and possibilities of their printer and how to layer colours for the best outcome. Daniel managed to talk me out of any combinations that would not work in print. I am so grateful I had this opportunity so I could see the many ways in which work can be realised and replicated and how the smallest of decisions on colour, type font, layout, content and paper can make all the difference.
I would like to thank the team for their patience and tolerance and look forward to new insights as time goes by.
