Erin Rickard is a young artist embarking on a career in art.
- Erin can you tell us a little about yourself?
- I am from Ilfracombe, a seaside town in North Devon. Devon is a naturally beautiful and wonderful place, however it has never had a 'current' art scene, so I have always been eager to move to bigger and more active environments. I went up to London in a class trip to go and see the Tate Modern. I experienced Cornelia Parkers piece 'Cold Dark Matter', and I was in awe, it was such a magical experience. From that point on I was stuck on the idea that I wanted to make beautiful and expressive artworks. So I applied to various universities and cities all over the UK, deciding to come to Wales and to learn and develop my artwork in Swansea. I am now continuing to stay in Wales with the intention to promote myself as a Welsh Artist. Although I am not Welsh, all of my art practice has come from me living and studying in Wales which is why I want to continue working as a Welsh Artist.
- How did you end up in Art College?
- From the age of four I have always said that I wanted to be an Artist, even if over the years my understanding of what an Artist is has changed. I applied to study Art in various universities straight from my A-Levels; I received a fair few offers from universities without them even seeing my artwork - which admittedly made me disregard them as an option. However Swansea Institute of Higher Education (now Swansea Metropolitan University) was the only university to ask me to come in for an interview and to see my portfolio, which consisted of a few black bin bags full of paintings and drawings - nothing near the presentation quality of a Foundation student. At the interview Harold Hope asked me bluntly - "Why do you want to study Art with these grades? You could go on to study Medicine or something." He advised me that I should go and study a foundation course first. I was nervous, this was my first ever interview but I didn't want this to pass me by - so I spoke up and said that I wasn't going to do a foundation, because I know that I wanted to do this and I am not spending another year waiting to be in an environment surrounded by artistic and passionate people. For years I've been anticipating the day I could sit in a room with people who want to be Artists, I'm not here because art seems like an easy course and I wasn't waiting any longer. I was offered my place and I very happily accepted it.
- Is the life of an art student fun fun fun all the way?
- University was hard work, and the most difficult bit was it being self-directed - so even though the workload was almost killing me, I had to be the one to keep making more work for myself. I treated my final year studying Fine Art as a crossover period, moving from being a student-artist to making myself believe that I am a real artist. I applied to every award, residency, open-call that I could find (as long as it was relevant to my practice of course) while being within the safe and secure zone the university provides.
- Tell us about about your own art.
- My practice was very raw and undeveloped when I arrived at university, because I hadn't had the opportunities to experiment during a foundation course I decided to make my work material based. I spent a lot of time in metalwork, cutting open machines and re-organising them, developing a story and a sense of identity. My work then came to a halt when my partner committed suicide in January 2007, I spent a period of time dealing with post traumatic stress syndrome and attending cognitive behavioural therapy. At the same time I was also living and studying in Finland as part of the Erasmus programme, so I was removed from the situation back at home for three months. This gave me time to think; I questioned people's purpose - their function and why we exist. Alongside this I started watching people, trying to see clues in the way they looked or acted that would give me insight into who they were. The subtle hints we give people when we secretly want to be looked after. From this point on my practice was primarily about emotions, memory and connecting to people - to start a conversation rather than shout out a statement. I have been looking at time and the passing of it, using video installation to try and express a repeated event, an emotional situation that we all as individuals experience throughout history.
- In this image you appear to be sleeping with a mound of clay in a shop window -explain?
- This is a photo from a performance piece I did in Elysium Art Space front window. The original piece was myself in a bath filled with water and with the mound of clay, I was blindfolded and spent over 2 hours feeling myself and then expressing it onto the clay. I wanted to show that depending on how we feel (emotionally) dictates how we perceive ourselves physically. However I developed pneumonia during these performances and had to stop. Because of this I applied different situations to use in the performance, one of which was lying on a single mattress in bedclothes. This performance lasted for about 3 hours, and was a lot harder to have control over because I was lying down and the clay was slowly drying out. After this performance I wanted to remove the necessity of a situation, and just allow myself to exist next to the clay (although I want to look into using other 'free' materials) and to simply express how I feel. The blindfold is essential to the piece; I find that removing my vision allows me to produce something that feels accurate, and not what looks like an accurate representation. I do want to continue these performances 'next to' or in public spaces, the private and emotional expression in a public place is a really interesting scenario - me being blindfolded and unable to hear or sense their presence allows the public to be voyeuristic and to connect to my activity without consciously worrying about themselves being watched or judged by me.
- Erin you graduated this June, what did you have to do in your final year?
- My final year was a little different to others, because I had suffered with post traumatic stress my final year was split into two part-time years. The first of which I spent concentrating on my own welfare and my dissertation, which was about the escapist element of art and how video installation was a front runner in emotionally connecting and 'magical' artwork. The final-final year was directed by my dissertation and concentrated on my practice. I had to complete a research portfolio, an external element (which involved us going out and being an Artist in the public sector), a chosen elective and my major project (which was my practice). My elective was titled 'Marketing and Self-Promotion', which I had chosen because I wanted to know what options I had after university. This elective was a brilliant choice as it told me how to and encouraged me to apply for all levels of opportunities.
- Have you been looking for opps?
- The first application I sent off was in November for the Big Bertha commission in London, this was high profile and I applied to just get the practice in. After seeing my efforts the course director Harold Hope gave me information to apply to Safle Student Graduate Award. So I sent off my second application. I heard back in December that I was short listed for the award, and that they wanted me to give a presentation of new work since my application. The presentation was daunting and completely out of what I was used to doing. I felt out of my depth. But the staff at Safle made the experiencing relaxing and encouraged me. However I was unsuccessful, along with the Big Bertha commission and the Sir Leslie Joseph Young Artist Award. Having my first taste of rejection wasn't as painful as I thought it would be, I felt that I wasn't chosen because I just wasn't what the committee where looking for and that's okay. I didn't let this stop me though, alright - so I haven't been awarded yet but I was short-listed and I was proud of that. So I carried on and sent in an application to the Eisteddfod Young Artist Scholarship and was once again short-listed, however I wasn't successful again. This time the rejection was harder; I was relying on the scholarship to help develop my work and to keep me in education, being without the specialist workshops means that I am unable to carry on that project. I felt that maybe I needed to prove myself, to show that I am serious, that I want to stay in Wales and that I can do this without the help of awards. Then, once I've done that maybe I will get past being short-listed and start being awarded. I had learnt a lot during these processes, I spent a lot of time re-doing various pieces of my work just to get a good photo, which meant when I did have a new piece I would make sure I had documentation.
- What have you been doing since leaving college
- Since university I have been organising a group show in Machynlleth, and through that there is the prospect of another exhibition space available for me to use. These should be taking place before December, and my intention is to apply to be an Artist in Resident at Aberystwyth Art centre for a period during 2010. After that I am not certain, lets see what happens. If my final year of university has shown me anything, it's that hard work pays off and that I have the ability to do this, to actually be an Artist - which for me, is the best lesson of them all. I am thankful that I pushed myself to do the extra work and applied to these opportunities during an already intense final year. I am also grateful to the lecturers and technicians that helped me during the process, because at the end of the day university is full of people who understand.
- Can you make a career out of being an artist or does it have to go with the day job?
- To be honest I don't know. At the moment I am hoping that I will be able to survive with a part-time job while pushing and promoting myself as an Artist. In an ideal world "Yes!" and I do believe it is possible. Some residencies offer accommodation as well as studio space and some even give you money towards material costs, however as I am in a relationship it is harder to move around from residency to residency. I think that the battle between career and a job is also laced with the concerns of relationships, travelling, saving etc. I think one of the lessons I am learning quickly is that if you really want to be an Artist then that ultimately has to be your number one priority. One of the people that have been a role model to me is Catrin Webster; she is a Welsh landscape Artist and was one of my lectures over the last year. She has given me lots of advice and explained her path as an Artist - in fact she said her job as a visiting lecturer is the first 'real' job she has had since completing her Masters. Catrin has helped me understand that being an Artist is a life commitment filled with sacrifices, but you shouldn't feel that you are missing out all those rewards that people have in everyday life, because instead you have your art. There is no direct route to become an Artist; everyone has their own unique path filled with choices and opportunities.