Artist of the Week
Suzanne Coates
By Kerry Freek
Posted December 18th, 2007.
When I returned from nine weeks in Europe, every crevice of my backpack was stuffed with ephemera: ticket stubs, brochures, keepsakes — but nothing was sorted. Those things, still mostly ragtag, now occupy a plastic bag behind my bookshelf. Unlike Suzanne Coates, my Northern Irish travel partner, I've had little urge to categorize and document my trip. Though Suzanne and I were only in London together for four or five days, she managed to fill an entire (organized) book with her tidbits (and handwritten travel log, to boot!). How has collecting and categorizing influenced this young textile artist's work? Find out below.
MONDO: Unlike most of our previously featured artists, you work mainly in textiles. Tell us what sort of stuff you do.
SC: I'm known for my felt-making in conjunction with decorative techniques such as machine and hand-stitching, painting, photo-transfer, encaustic painting (with wax) and bead work for embellishment. I initially settled on felt-making after watching a demonstration in my final year and spending hours trying it out in the studio afterwards. I found the process fascinating and experimented with different methods, thicknesses, embedding objects and fibres in the wool, using colours and much more. Eventually I hit upon Nuno felt, a method of felt-making which incorporates material. Pieces can be made very fine, yet strong or built up, and the material provides a good firm base for stitch especially on thinner pieces. The property of Nuno felt which attracted me most however, was the way it reacted to dye. The merino wool and the scrim material I liked to use absorbed dye at very different rates enabling me to achieve dimensions in colour and tone in my work.
My initial interest was in travel, and of the memories and reflections associated with first-hand experiences of a city. This inquiry focused my working practice from the summer of 2005 onwards when I toured 11 cities in Europe, and kept a series of diaries and sketchbooks from which I worked. Benjamin Disraeli said that —
I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.
These un-seen remembrances take on the form of incidences and reactions. I aim to reflect the unique personal viewpoints, experiences and emotions concerned with the various places I visit.
Recently, mostly due to a 2 week trip I took to England with my grandmother, exploring my late grandfather's side of the family, my work has become more reflective of people, friends and family, heritage and nostalgia. It incorporates old photographs, found items, jewellery aspects and ephemera. The other route that my work is taking, experimentally at the moment, is a more impressionistic, surreal route, which utilises surface design, stitch, layering and burning, always with the addition of a found item for the viewer to interpret in their own way.
MONDO: Crafting sometimes falls under the unfortunate stigma of grandmothers doing folk art stencils on their bathroom walls rather than "making art." While MONDO doesn't think crafting is derogatory at all, some artists are offended by the term. What do you think of this?
SC: I am a craftsperson. But I am also an artist. I really think it depends on how much money your work is selling for! I'm harking back to Tracey Emin, who uses 'make do and mend' fabrics to make quilts that sell for a fortune!
No really, I don't mind the term at all, but I do think crafting and art are different things. Art requires thought and care and ideas. Craft requires the same things, but there is usually a much deeper purpose or meaning which drives art. Of course there are still some that believe that only painting can be considered fine art, but to each their own! Everyone has their own opinion, and as long as I can keep making my art my way then I don't really mind what other people brand it as.
MONDO: You are a notorious collector. When we traveled together in London, you documented everything. Receipts, playbills, tickets, etc. You filled a whole book over the course of three days while I'd filled half a book after over two months of traveling. How does this idiosyncracy (read: urge to collect and document) inform your art?
SC: It has everything to do with my art. I have always been a collector. Three years ago it took me three car journeys to move house, this year it took me seven! I collect everything — objects; materials; beads; art equipment; movie stubs; postcards; boxes; paper; wool; books; magazines; socks; quotes and poetry; films; coins; feathers; websites; instructions; socks (for monsters); threads; canvases (which will get worked on some day!) The list is by no means exhaustible! The bigger the reserves, the wider the range of possibilities!
As my work relates to places I've been the notebooks I keep are a resource for me for two reasons 1) to remember where I was, what I did and what I saw in other words — what I physically did, and 2) to remember how I felt and how I reacted to things — emotions. Sometimes I lift information, images and drawings directly from my notebooks, or sometimes I incorporate them in more subtle ways, but ultimately, everything I do centres around information I have collected.
MONDO: What else influences your art? Why?
SC: I am influenced by the latest technique I try out, in the most recent book I've bought. I have a large collection of books covering everything from textiles and recycled materials in embroidery to graphic design and altered art. I love trying out new techniques, but I always tend to work felt, fabric or stitch into anything I experiment with. In the instance of my current printing phrase, I am trying to find a way to relate it back to textiles even marginally, because that is the media I am most at ease with, and for some reason it feels more personal when I can do that.
SC: I don't really have any heroes, but I really admire the work of Julia DeVille (Jewellery and taxidermy) and Ray Caesar (surreal computer generated 'paintings'), both of whom I stumbled upon in MySpace. Very unusual and intriguing work. I tend to collect artists who inspire me as I go along (in the form of books, websites, postcards...)
Muses would be people I know or who are close to me for some reason. I have four very personal pieces planned out in my sketchbook at the moment and have started one. It's the kind of work the titles will suggest the meaning for, but only the people involved (or the people who ask really nicely out of genuine interest!) will know exactly what it's about.
MONDO: Future artistic endeavours (shows, projects, etc.)?
SC: My main goal at the moment is to survive my year of teaching practice! I will continue to experiment and make work in my free time to supply the Yard Gallery, who are currently holding three of my pieces in the run up to Christmas. There are many things I would like to try, including enamelling and getting back into silversmithing, so those might be projects for the summer!
I am also interested in getting involved with an Artist Trading Card group (not for profit works of art, playing card size, which are made and traded). I think ATCs would be a quick and fun way to experiment, engage with other people who make art, and get my work seen.
Since graduating, Suzanne has shown her textile work at the Yard Gallery in Holywood, Northern Ireland, and recently in the Common Grounds Cafe in Belfast. View more of Suzanne's art at www.myspace.com/nuno_art.