Outcome – An Exhibition

Outcome – An Exhibition of Three Postgraduate Projects

If you have followed my research for some time you will already know about the philosophical, neurological and political undercurrents that inspire and drive my practice. With the exhibition of Outcome coming to an end, it seems like an appropriate time to examine these ideas and being my Fellowship to a close.

A Thousand Plateaus and Soft Ground Etching

My Fellowship began with soft ground etching. After beginning to read the work of Deleuze and Guattari my first inclination was to begin to explore it physically. For me, the most intuitive way was through the medium of soft ground etching. Adapting the traditional method to suit my needs I allowed the allowed impure water to settle and oxidize on the plates. As the oxidization formed it created pathways that formed streams, which in turn informed the soft ground and eventual etch.

Outcome, Artlab, PhD Fellowship and AA2A 2017 2018 Exhibition Jane Elizabeth Bennett Close Up Etching
‘Outcome’, Artlab, Ph.D. Fellowship and AA2A 2017 2018 Exhibition Jane Elizabeth Bennett Close Up Etching

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Outcome

Outcome Exhibition Banner, PR1 Gallery, PV 19th December 2017

Private View 19th December 16:00 to 19:00

The exhibition continues 20th December 31st January Monday to Friday 10:00 – 16:00 

I am extremely excited to invite you all to the private view of ‘Outcome’. An exhibition of three postgraduate projects based across Artlab Contemporary Printmaking Studios and Silicate Research Unit.

 

Invite to the Outcome Exhibition, PR1 Gallery Preston
Invite to the Outcome Exhibition, PR1 Gallery Preston

Over the past twelve months, I have been working at the University of Central Lancashire as an artist in residence on the Ph.D. Fellowship. Working with staff across a number of departments I have begun to develop a Ph.D. project and refine my practice-based research. The Fellowship has allowed me to develop my practice within an academic context and given me an opportunity to explore the diversity and sometimes restrictive nature of practice-based research. I am excited to be showing four new prints, ‘Intermezzo’ a screen print on Southbank Smooth and ‘Plateau Three’ a series of three new soft ground etchings on Somerset Satin.

Close up of Intermezzo, Screen print on Southbank Smooth, Jane Elizabeth Bennett, 2017
Close up of Intermezzo, Screenprint on Southbank Smooth, Jane Elizabeth Bennett, 2017

The exhibition also includes artists from the Artlab Fellowship, which I was awarded, in 2010. The Artlab Fellowship offers a graduate or postgraduate one years worth of access to the Artlab Facilities, to further develop their printmaking practice. This year’s cohort is showing experimental installations and contemporary prints.

Artists from the AA2A scheme will be showing as part of the exhibition. It has been a great networking experience to work alongside artists with such different practices, methodologies and career paths to my own. I really hope to work and exhibit with these artists in the future.

Phenomenology and Place

Phenomenology and Experimental Screen Printing.

A reoccurring theme in my practice is phenomenology – finding ways in which to articulate conscious experience.

This can seem to be an absurd and somewhat futile task, to create (often) two-dimensional works that capture or express a three-dimensional reality that exists in flux. For this reason, I avoid trying to creating a ‘fixed’ or static image that represents a place. The works are a gateway to a conversation about the place rather than an illustration of place.

My aim is therefore to create work that interacts with the environment in which it is presented. If the lighting changes, then so should the work, because after all, that is what ‘place’ is, as Maurice Merleau-Ponty says in the Phenomenology of Perception.

‘If I walk along a shore towards a ship which has run aground, and the funnel or masts merge into the forest bordering on the sand dune, there will be a moment when these details suddenly become part of the ship, and indissolubly fused with it. As I approached, I did not perceive resemblances or proximities which finally came together to form a continuous picture of the upper part of the ship. I merely felt that the look of the object was on the point of altering, that something was imminent in this tension, as a storm is imminent in storm clouds.’

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A Ph.D. Development Fellowship with UCLan

I have had a fantastic time during the last year, working hard on my Ph.D. Development Fellowship.

The Artlab Contemporary Printmaking Studios is about to close down for the annual Summer break, and most of the Academic staff have left to take on their own research projects. For me, this means that for me the Ph.D. Development Fellowship has come to a close. Over the last year, I have immersed myself in new texts, written proposals and grown a professional academic network; something that I think would have been difficult to fully commit to without the support and guidance provided during this time.

I’d especially like to thank the staff at the Unversity of Central Lancashire

Dr. Andrew Broadey

Tracy Hill

Magda Stawarska-Beavan

Bev Lamey

All that is left to do now is organize the Ph.D. Development Fellowship, Artlab Fellowship, and AA2A Programme Exhibitions which will take place in the PR1 Gallery between the 16th December 2017 and 11th February 2018. I look forward to showing prints and installed works from my ‘1000 Plateaus’ project.

1000 Plateaus, Jane Elizabeth Bennett, Etching 2017 ©

I’d also like to announce that, due to this fellowship I have exciting new prospects on the horizon! I will be announcing these projects over the coming year.

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Multiplicity, Soft-ground and Stop Start Etching

I am so excited to be experimenting with Multiplicity, Soft-ground and Stop Start Etching.

In my last blog post, I spoke about the difficulties in forming a conversation between the marks that were present on the plate. To me, the etch was shouting over the natural striations and oxidisation that I was encouraging to form. Resolved to take an active approach to mark making. Utilising soft-ground, Lascaux varnish, impure water and a pertinent quotation from A Thousand Plateaus I began to experiment.

soft-ground stop start etching rhizome printmaking
The experimental soft ground on a hand ground zinc plate.

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