Clare Dudeney
Clare Dudeney
by Peter Geraerts
Clare in Front of one of her woven pieces
In this series of meeting the artists within the Wilderness Art Collective we needed to adapt the process to take into account the current restrictions so on this occasion we had an online discussion. Whilst it could never be a perfect replacement to meeting in person I felt that it provided a good enough opportunity to get an insight into the work Clare produces and what motivates her.
One of the first things that came to my mind when preparing to speak to Clare was the proverb by William Cowper ‘Variety, the very spice of life that gives it all its flavour’
Clare is a multi talented artist practising, amongst other things, painting, printmaking, wood carving and weaving.
Initially she was torn between a career in art or science before heading down the science route. She worked in industry developing climate change and energy policy but then came to another crossroads where she wanted to spend more time on her art whilst still using the experience gained in the energy sector. The opportunity to work with the environmental think tank, Sustainability First, came along which allowed her to combine both.
https://www.sustainabilityfirst.org.uk/
For many of us concentrating on one art discipline is work enough. However, Clare manages to balance her time comfortably between her various practices which include gouache, watercolour, weaving and wood carving.
She likes to move between the different disciplines but doesn’t see any conflict as one informs the other. It becomes a natural process when she creates her work allowing thoughts to come and go never presupposing what the outcome will be - it comes from the sub-conscious. The language created in one area, such as painting, creates a curiosity as Clare wants to see what it would be like in, for example, her weaving,
In this creative process Clare does have a set of parameters which provides the framework for what she produces. She’s aware that within that framework there should be an unlimited freedom of expression but if you really do start off without any framework then it becomes harder to achieve that initial focus.
With her current work it is hard to believe she began by drawing black and white landscapes. It’s a dramatic transformation to see the vibrant and analogous colours that she now uses.
It’s also apparent from Clare’s work that combining shapes and complementing vibrant colours is a recurring theme. She is inspired by amongst other things by time spent in Africa - with the variety of colours in the landscape. If you look at her work including what was on display at The Dot Project this becomes very clear.
As we chat Clare shows me some of the gouache paintings she is currently working on. Her dining room table is covered with an array of prints.
It’s interesting to hear how, she tells me, these smaller pieces go onto inform some of the huge immersive collages displayed at different exhibitions as well as suggesting new ideas for her weaving and wood carving. The smaller pieces also capture a small fragment of an idea and are produced relatively quickly. In turn this can inspire some of her weaving which is a much slower process.
We talk about some of Clare’s earlier work - she smiles as she mentions ‘Catastrophe’ which she produced for her M.A. Degree show. Maybe the title provides a clue as to how she feels about it. For her it symbolised the pressure that you can put yourself under and how your anxieties can be reflected in the work; the more jagged rather than flowing lines were part of this.
‘Catastrophe’ - Clare Dudeney
It becomes obvious the longer I speak to Clare that she is constantly driven to push her boundaries, to do things that scare her rather than working to a comfortable template.
This was further shown in the below image ‘Trying to fix What I Broke’ a 5.3m x 10.7m collage that she had to produce in two weeks also for her M.A. Degree show. She knew the space she wanted to fill, she just needed to produce the work to fill it. That is pressure
Clare in front of ‘Trying to Fix What I Broke’ for her MA Show 2018
I was curious to understand what pushed her to produce such large pieces of art. I wasn’t expecting the first response when she said she wanted to feel like she was free falling to be overwhelmed and frightened in order to expand her thoughts. She finds that lots of smaller works pushes her along a path which leads to a bigger piece of work. The desire is to produce something that the viewer can walk through - to hear the sounds as the air moves around the fabric. She reflects on one of her trips to Antarctica where she got the feeling of how overwhelming the landscape was but wanted that represented in her work. During that trip she made small sketches in a book. With her first pieces of work, her tutor commented how she had turned the sublime into a pretty picture. If you want to put across your feeling, the emotion, then you need to draw what you feel rather than what you see.
She discusses that perhaps to capture the feeling having a piece of work fill an entire room that totally envelops you maybe the way to go. If she ever did that it would certainly be something I would love to see.
In amongst her many successes I asked Clare what she has so far been most proud of having achieved so far.
The first response was being able to produce large pieces of work as was the challenge with her M.A. Degree show. For her it really was a blind leap into the unknown - because of its size she didn’t actually see it fully until it was hung
Weaving - She believes that this has, and is, helping her to practice patience. The work takes longer to create, you become more aware of what you are producing. The ‘What she didn’t say’ event at The Thames Side Studios Gallery in June/ July 2020 shows examples of this work.
Thames Side studios installation - Clare Dudeney
Finally she lists - bringing people together - collaborative work - recent examples of this include the online Wilderness Art Collective - Wilderness of the Mind online event in June 2020 and the Sustainability Futures Art Prize in July 2020
I suppose a question that is asked of many artists or in fact most people at the moment is how the lockdown has affected them since March.
As with most everyone it seems to be a mixture for Clare. It has helped provide a routine. Clare feels she had a very busy mind where there was always something that needed doing which could disrupt the clarity of thought she needed for her work. She is trying hard to become more disciplined through meditation in allowing thoughts to come and go.
She’s hoping that it has also provided the opportunity to work towards a better life balance which hopefully, in the long run, will be more sustainable.
Whenever I’ve spoken to various artists there is the understandable dilemma as to what to do with older pieces of work. Apart from anything else it physically can take up a lot of space. Clare admits to this but also recognises that all of her work contributes in some way to those pieces that she is happiest with.
It was a very busy few months for Clare helping put together the online Wilderness Art Collective and Sustainability first shows - once again very much out of her comfort zone but further proof that, give their respective successes, it’s something she thrives on.
Clare is a more recent member of the Wilderness Art Collective but she is enjoying getting to know the other artists within the group and like the rest of us is inspired by them. There is plenty of potential
Whilst she doesn’t have any further exhibitions planned at the moment as she is looking for a bit of space to produce the work without the pressure of a deadline. We should all watch this space to see what the future holds for Clare as she continues to push herself and her work.
One final point, just to reiterate how Clare is constantly looking to push her boundaries she is booked up on a sailing course off the southern coast of England next week and then she is hoping to give paragliding a go in the near future. Exciting times.
