Art and Things

Art and Things: What were your beginnings as an artist?

Clare Adams: Lots and lots of drawings of birds, of leaves and of people. I think there is a natural impulse that makes you want to show your work from an early age; I used to paint scenery for local pantomimes and plays. I think my first proper ‘exhibition’ was a few pencil portraits and abstract paintings shown at Art on the Railings - an annual small art festival in Chepstow, Wales, near where I’m from.

So how are those first artistic ambitions looking now?

Well the dream was and is to support myself as an artist, but I never anticipated what I’d learn on the way. In my degree I used video production and post-production and so landed a video editing position afterwards and have set-up my own production company too.

Two years after graduating from a Fine Art course, plastered with stickers saying ‘emerging artist’ and a ratio of 5:100 rejection emails in my inbox – yes , I’m definitely starting to feel my route taking shape as an artist: the 5 feel really, really good!

Do you have a favourite piece, or is it normally whatever you are currently working on?

I do… its ‘Limited Edition’ which was a one-to-performance I did in 2006. I’d built an installation within which the performance took place, the floor was ankle deep in white sugar, the space was full of blinding light and I was saturated in sugar too; the audience could take a photograph when I had my eyes closed and each moment lasted a minute until I opened my eyes.

At the moment I’m working on a piece called ‘Photopollution’ which is the scientific term for light pollution. It’s a continuation of my work with light, gaze and photography in a live setting. Except this piece is in total darkness and the entire audience will be able to use battery torches to interact with the performance. I like pieces where I don’t have the answers and I’m purely asking (or showing) questions. With this I’m asking both myself and the audience how we want to see the body in performance.

To date, what has been your biggest challenge as an artist?

Being an artist is like being an entrepreneur, except you are the commodity and so the hardest test was to keep up the momentum of work I had at Cardiff School of Art, whilst working and to stay focused on my own ideas. Recently I had a week to produce two record-sleeve sized paintings in response to a song lyric for The Top 100 (www.presentingthetop100.com). I am through to the 2nd round of judging so it was worth the late night painting and a room full of coffee cups for a week.

And your biggest success?

Other than being in this fabulous publication?!

I was selected to participate in an artist’s research workshop in Glasgow by the arts group Curious. The workshop is called Autobiology and they have been working alongside neurogastroenterologists at Barts and the London Hospital using biofeedback techniques to investigate the relationship between the brain and the gut (often referred to as the second brain). The workshop was fascinating, we made work responding literally to gut feelings; it was very intense, we had to make performances and work in other mediums every day for a week producing masses of material and research. Definitely a high point.

Do you find that your proximity to London makes working as an artist easier, or harder due to the sheer volume of creative people in the capital?

There may be a degree to which I miss out due to simply not living in London and even living nearby the competition is huge. It is hard and there are lots of No’s but there is masses out there, so it’s best to know what you’re working on and seek out people that may be interested in your work or festivals and events. Because it’s so large, one thing can lead to another and artists pass on each other’s details when things come along.

There are uncertain gaps in my practice, but it’s getting easier to plan ahead and at those times it’s good to look for more spontaneous competitions.

What else are you into aside from your art? Music, reading, cooking, pigeon fancying?

I would like to go clay pigeon shooting actually! I like most music really, but I love the 80’s – clothes, music, hair, I really want massive curly hair. I’m into philosophy and taking a course in it at the moment and am also a secret science geek, in another life I would be an astronaut or a neuro-scientist.

Any big plans for the future, both long and short term?

I hope at some point to return to study Fine Art further- maybe then I’ll settle on a medium to work with. But short term I will continue to keep with the process of making performance pieces, videos and paintings and see where it takes me.

I have a few exhibitions, events, collaborations lined up for 2009 and hope in 2010 to spend a month in a residency in London – I currently work in a tiny, tiny studio space in my home so the extra space to make work will be refreshing.

Check out more of Clare’s fantastic work Here and Here

Interview: JF