THINGS THIS WEEK

I have bought a cam-corder. I usually try to avoid technology, but i am going to make a new film to exhibit in "State of Readiness" in Felixstowe this summer. The film will focus on duration, exhaustion, training and systems. I feel clear with the concepts of the film but this is a new media for me, as with all my previous works, its look and feel will be pared down and utilitarian, but i need to do some tests in different environments before i commit to making the full piece.

COME TO MY STUDIO...

SAM EPPS:

FILMS

31.05.10

4 – 6PM

Please join me for the screening of a series of raw and unedited films that

document and detail increasingly important factors in my practice: pace,

duration, discomfort and determination.

These previously unseen films were created to record the making of sitespecific

“Line Drawings” in Norwich and Riihimaki, Finland:

The drawings are strenuous, noisy and grubby; they create dust and residue,

disrupt those around me and make my drawing arm and entire body tired.

With the pencil acting as a bridge between myself, and the work that I am

making, the drawn line becomes a mirror of my physical and mental self. It

leaves behind a trace of itself in space and records the time taken to make it.

Sam Epps

Contact:

Web: www.samanthaepps.com

Email: samantha.epps@hotmail.co.uk

Location:

Studio 4a

Muspole Workshops

25 – 27 Muspole Street

Norwich NR3 1DJ

STUDIO PRACTICE

First few weeks in the new studio:

THINKING ABOUT LIVE ART

Performance?

Happening?

Live Art?

Action?

When does it begin?

When does it end?

How do you know?

Who decides?

Lots of questions have been thrown up over the last few days as a result of me being a spectator, it feels like a positive thing.

SAMPLED (SUNDAY)

Sunday morning, on a whim i drove down to Cambridge to go to a Live Art Event at the Junction, "Junction Sampled: Live Art". The reason for doing so is that i still have not worked out my feelings towards Live Art, conceptually its immediacy and momentary nature makes perfect sense, but there are some aspects that really don't sit easy with me.

The event had been programmed very well, timings worked in such a way that no performances were missed - my body got ushered from one theatre to the next with helpful pauses in between for tea. I enjoyed being around a different group of people, usually at Art Events in Norwich i know a good number of people, i know who is going to be there - but this audience was new to me and very specific to Live Art, lots of people were performing throughout the event and they were very supportive of each other.

At first the event was just causing me more confusion, but as i began to see a range of performances, it became clearer why some aspects suit me and others don't.

Live Art that is not for me: the theatrical, rehearsed, things that involve a lot of tech support, lighting, music etc, over- elaborate, fussy, showy, spectacular.

Live Art that is for me: the momentary, durational, raw, unrehearsed, low tech, laborious, honest, action, immediate, basic.

WEEKEND

This weekend has been full of OUTPOST related things.

At 12noon on Saturday, a group gathered outside OUTPOST Gallery to join Townley and Bradby's street games which included Market Pac Man. We set off to Hayhill, a busy square outside Topshop and Next in the city center and Lawrence read out a statement from the people who work monitoring the CCTV around the city, and we discussed abnormal and acceptable behavior in public places.

I realise that a lot of my blog is about what i "enjoy" within art, and perhaps that is not so in keeping my my utilitarian approach to the work that i make, but i did "enjoy" the event very much - i liked being part of a group, with people who thought in a similar way to me, who i could have interesting conversations with and we laughed at the same oddities that the city presented to us. I liked walking through the city, with no mission or job to do, taking the time to observe what was happening around me, and having Anna and Lawrence lead us around.

Standing at the window in the upstairs of Primark (a pretty frightening place on a Saturday afternoon anyway), we observed how shoppers moved around Gentlemen's Walk beneath us. Anna and Lawrence described and demonstrated their version of the "Shoppers Shuffle" which amused the group and bewildered the other shoppers, only adding to our amusement.

We played Market Pac Man in Norwich Market, blending in, but behaving differently to the usual shoppers. I think it became quite competitive. The event ended with a cup of tea, and a special pac-man biscuit at Ruby's cafe stall to commemorate the event.

image: the view from the window of Primark, watching Anna make an intervention in Gentlemen's Walk beneath us.

On Saturday afternoon i moved into my new studio space at OUTPOST studios. I managed to move a few bits of furniture and some sketchbooks into the space. I was very precious about my space at Muspole Workshops, and that didn't really help me to progress, but at OUTPOST i have started writing ideas on the wall and mapping thoughts and research. I find it helpful to put elements of research on the wall, it means that i won't forget about it, unlike when i bury things in sketchbooks. The space is light and warm with a wonderful view across the city. Having a warm space is really helpful.

The best thing about my new space is that it is a space where i can write. Such spaces are few and far between. I struggled writing at Muspole because it was too cold and isolated, i can't write at home because there are too many domestic distractions and it is noisy and i can't settle to write in the library. The only other place that i can really write, and do it in a focused and sensitive fashion is at Edwina's house, which is in Finland. Even though i will gladly go to Finland at the slightest opportunity, it is useful to have a writing space closer to home.

THE LATE SHIFT

I've just got home from The Late Shift. It was such a lively event, really exciting. The SCVA was full of current students, ex students, future students, old friends from studios, new friends from studios, other Artists that im working with, Academics, contacts, strangers. Really good to see so many creative people working together, there was a massive amount of energy about the place.

I continued my collaborative drawing with Gaia Shaw from Unit 5, we had a lovely time, sitting on the floor and indulging in the activity of drawing, observing and commenting on what was happening around us. The architecture and environment of the SCVA gave us so much to respond to, i felt quite daunted by the scale of the task, but focused on smaller details in the end. Lots of people came up to speak to us, and i really enjoyed that. We hope to take the drawing to another site to continue working on it.

There was also a table tennis tournament going on between the studios in the Education Studio downstairs. This gathered a good crowd. It was beautiful and surreal to have so many artists in a room, enthusiastic about about a table tennis match rather than the traditional notion of "art".

Kate Hodges, also from Unit 5 Studios mapped out my Muspole Studio in the exhibition space, this followed up her time spent in my studio last week where she re-arranged items, interestingly capturing a lot of my personality in doing so.

SPACE

My new space:

MONDAY

Went to work.

Attended a conversation with Mark Wilsher at OUTPOST Gallery.

Then to a meeting with Other/Other/Other about the future.

Things feel possible.

WORKING STUDIO

I have just got home from a talk at the Sainsburys Centre for Visual Arts where Polly Binns was in discussion with Barbara Taylor and Rodd Bugg about the Artist's Studio, the concepts related to this (e.g. public/private space) and it's practicalities. This was part of Polly's residency at the SCVA and ties in with the current exhibition on display. Polly taught me on my MA and gave me some wonderful advice, which i still maintain is some of the best advice that i am likely to ever receive.

The afternoon was great, it took my consciousness back to that intense place that it occupied during my Masters. I made 14 pages of notes in my sketchbook, and in attempt to sum up my thoughts and ideas from the discussion, i am just going to lift some fragmented words, statements and suggestions from these notes;

Working on the edge.

Studio as a place for discourse.

Studio as a place for ideas to mature and ferment.

Immersing oneself completely in an experience.

There comes a moment when "We suddenly know what we want to do, and we suddenly know how we want to do it" (Polly Binns quoting Agnes Martin)

Accumulation of practice.

Reflect with distance.

Privilege.

Growing into the space of the studio.

5 days of being in the real world and 2 days of practice vs. 2 days of being in the real world and 5 days of practice.

Trusting that it will become clear.

Where is your practice located?

Play.

The making distance (the distance between hand and eye).

The reflecting distance.

The viewing distance.

PHOTOGRAPHS OF FINLAND

Some photographs of my most recent trip to Finland, using my Holga 35mm.

Wednesday 31st March - Wednesday 7th April 2010

CHANGING SPACES

Tuesday 30th March (AM)

Project Space, Unit 5 Studios, Norwich

"Changing Spaces" - Collaborative Drawing between Gaia Shaw and Sam Epps

I met Gaia outside the Unit 5 studios on a grey and very wet Tuesday morning. We went through the members’ entrance, I had never been through this way before and Gaia walked me around the studios. We settled in the kitchen for a moment over a cup of tea and discussed our ideas for the Late Shift and what we thought we might do. I had asked to come to Unit 5 because I find that the most effective way of creating new works is to be in a new place in a pressured time limit, and I intended to do something on this day in response to the Project Space, but had no idea what that would be.

Through our conversation, we came to realise that drawing was important to both of us. Gaia said that she had a roll of paper that she was intending to use at the studios, and invited me to draw with her on this paper, in response to the Project Space.

We chose some materials to work with. Gaia asked me what I liked to draw with; my response was that I only ever seem to draw with pencils. So we picked up inks, rollers, cue tips, oil pastels, charcoal, felt tips, tape and a pencil, as well as the large roll of paper. We considered where we might position the paper, on the wall, the floor, both? We decided that a stretch of floor that encapsulated the carpet, a small step and the tiled floor was interesting to us as it presented different textures to work on, so we rolled out approx 4 meters of the paper.

Starting at the “top” of the paper, Gaia and I worked on opposite lengths, facing each other. We made marks in response to the space. We kneeled or sat at the edge, stretching in front, but not being able to meet in the middle, as if the paper was a barrier. The heaters were only just getting going and I suppose that I felt quite anxious about what I might draw at first. Gaia worked with tape and ink, working on a large scale, bolder than me, marking out pipes and architectural features that she could trace on the wall behind me. I worked with a pencil, drawing the breezeblock outlines of the wall in front of me.

I decided not to look at the drawing at first, and to keep the line continuous. There felt to be a large physical gap between Gaia’s work and mine at first. We progressed along the paper, making an effort for our drawings to meet, but the paper was still preventing us.Our marks became more expressive and explorative, gentle conversation punctuated the silence and concentration.

The rain became harder, so vertical and fast that we could not see it out of the window, but only hear it on the roof. It created a tremendous atmosphere, I hadn’t heard rain this hard in a very long time, and the noise surrounded us completely. As we moved along the paper, a drip caught our attention. A spot in the roof was beginning to leak, creating a playful pitter-patter on the floor and a small puddle, Gaia fetched a bucket to collect the water. The plastic bucket amplified the drip, thud thud thud.Gaia cushioned this drumming with a cloth placed in the bucket, and we continued with the drawing.

Becoming more adventurous, we took off our shoes and moved across the paper, reaching further, standing and sitting on it.Our drawings became interlocked, and we worked back over the other ones marks, changing our materials as we moved along.Gaia used the ink roller to create a background that when I studied, echoed the texture of the bricks ahead of her. I moved further down the paper to trace the word “FRAGILE” that was taped along the step underneath the paper. By now, we had completely swapped sides and I liked how as we drew and spoke and learnt more about each other that our bodies crossed and we started to mimic each others drawing styles.

I was concentrating quite hard on my drawing, and in the corner of my eye noticed that Gaia was drawing me in the space, not just the space anymore. She did it almost effortlessly, capturing my shape very calmly as I wriggled around. The paper was well covered by this stage, and we worked back over the earlier drawings, Gaia becoming more abstract with her gestures whilst I leant towards drawing plug sockets and radiators as accurately as I could.

I think that we had been drawing for about an hour and a half when we decided that we had done enough. We signed and dated the drawing, and discussed taking it other places to continue. We tidied away the materials and left the studios to get some lunch.

Although we did not speak all that much, I feel that Gaia and I learnt a lot about each other’s practices from the experience and I enjoyed the closeness of working on a shared process with no set outcome.

I am back in Finland and have just shown the videos below to Edwina. We discussed differences between British and Finnish tactility and touch, and how this would effect the outcome of such a performance. The British are far more willing to be close and tactile, so a Finn would probably respond to this kind of situation to a greater degree of discomfort.

Here are some videos of Monday's Intervention Performance.

They are rather low-tech and raw, filmed on my digital camera, but i feel that low-tech suits me well.

Becoming brave ... intervening conversations

INTERVENTION PERFORMANCE

I wanted to capture some of my thoughts following tonight's performance before i fell asleep and lost them.

At first i felt quite up-tight about it, and i wonder if advertising that i was doing a performance was really helping matters, because people came into the exhibition with expectation and anticipation, asking when the performance was going to happen. The performance was in fact happening throughout the exhibition, 5pm - 7pm, it was ongoing and very subtle, and i was not doing it the whole time due to the things that i was responding to.

When visitors looked at the art works or labels in the show, i walked through the space in between them and the work. Sometimes this was very subtle and practically unnoticed, mostly when people were standing at a fair distance from the work, or not really paying attention. It amused me that some people said "sorry" and stepped back as i intercepted their view, as if they were in my way. There was often this initial stepping back momentum as i cut through the space. On some occasions i felt that it was too subtle, so made an effort to intercept the same person's view several times in a short space of time and this made them more aware of what i was doing.

I most enjoyed it when visitors were standing very close to the work, and i almost had to breathe in to get through the gap, this felt really awkward but i like awkwardness. Sometimes i decided to linger in that space for a bit longer. It became laughable.

As time progressed i became more experimental and playful with my actions, also standing in the middle of conversations, uninvited, and walking around the same person several times, making them very aware that i was "targeting" them. I interrupted many people's personal space, and had conversations about this, and i think that we enjoyed the conversations quite a lot, debating what was acceptable or not, and where my space ends and yours begins.

As with all good private views, a number of us progressed onto the pub to discuss things further; it could be that i now take this action of intercepting to many private views, uninvited and unannounced. The action is very ordinary, but when repeated many times in this magnified context it becomes extra-ordinary, i will think about developing these concerns. How does one "frame" a situation?

I have lots of energy now, or perhaps it is adrenalin, i want to make more work; quick, low-tech, playful, curious, provoking, ordinary, extra-ordinary.

Will put videos and images up soon.

Thanks to all who allowed me to interrupt them tonight.

Exhibition Text:

Utilitarian and low-tech methods are employed in the gallery context to heighten the viewers’ awareness of their body in relation to the art works being viewed, and the spaces in between.

Temporary chalk lines drafted on the floor suggest vantage points at which the exhibits can be viewed from, yet allude to the systems and regulations put in place to protect artefacts from the viewer becoming too close. Ambiguously drawn in the middle of the floor, these positions can be stood on, stood behind, or in front of.

Whilst viewing the work, one’s gaze towards the exhibits becomes interrupted as other visitors intercept the space in between oneself and the work displayed on the wall, floor or plinths. The brief moment as gaze and paths cross, avoid or meet heightens awareness of this transitory space.