| Rebecca Erickson Artist Statement | Share This
Guelph, Canada |
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http://rebeccaerickson.com
Exhibition Proposal:
For the past twenty two years I have been an artist and a practicing social worker. For most of that time I kept the two career paths separate.
I attended art school in the late 1970’s and when I free associate memories from that time this is the list I generate
Laurie Anderson
The Residents
Performance art
Vera Frenkel
Site specific work
Earth art
Process content
Time based pieces
Repetitive mark making
Temporary site work
Electronic music
Video art
Conceptual
Drawing was more than graphite on paper
When I free associate from my time of training as a social worker in the late 80’s I generate this list
Family therapy
One way mirrors
Note taking
Genograms are drawings
Family maps
Conversations
Personal networks
Social networks
Structural analysis
Tracking and linking
Solutions
Power differentials
Salvadore Minuchin
Michael White
Narrative
Creativity
I have been mulling for a few years about how these lists. The key components for me are about the narrative of social networks, story telling and mark making. In Social Work I talk to people and make drawings, genograms, of the story of their life and use these talk about their networks. In art I make digital drawings based on the idea of dense layering multiple views.
In preparation for the eventual presentation of this project, I have started work on an ongoing accumulation of the maps of my interviews with people that I meet in my day to day life and those that respond to an open call on my website. The record of these conversations, the genogram, becomes the record of the conversation and these in turn are used to create a large temporary drawing of the networks of every participant.
Method:
The gallery walls become the canvas. The artist interviews anyone that wants to meet and this interview will be translated into a genogram or personal network map of that individual. These will both be transferred to the gallery walls (and later painted over), or, the individual maps will be attached to the walls. The drawing will spread and grow throughout the time allocated to the artist. At the end of the show the walls will be returned to their original condition. Photograph and video documentation may or may not be made. The artist has started interviewing people already.
Focussed conversations about self and family can be an interesting experience for those unaccustomed to a neutral conversation focussed on them.
Exhibition Proposal:
For the past twenty two years I have been an artist and a practicing social worker. For most of that time I kept the two career paths separate.
I attended art school in the late 1970’s and when I free associate memories from that time this is the list I generate
Laurie Anderson
The Residents
Performance art
Vera Frenkel
Site specific work
Earth art
Process content
Time based pieces
Repetitive mark making
Temporary site work
Electronic music
Video art
Conceptual
Drawing was more than graphite on paper
When I free associate from my time of training as a social worker in the late 80’s I generate this list
Family therapy
One way mirrors
Note taking
Genograms are drawings
Family maps
Conversations
Personal networks
Social networks
Structural analysis
Tracking and linking
Solutions
Power differentials
Salvadore Minuchin
Michael White
Narrative
Creativity
I have been mulling for a few years about how these lists. The key components for me are about the narrative of social networks, story telling and mark making. In Social Work I talk to people and make drawings, genograms, of the story of their life and use these talk about their networks. In art I make digital drawings based on the idea of dense layering multiple views.
In preparation for the eventual presentation of this project, I have started work on an ongoing accumulation of the maps of my interviews with people that I meet in my day to day life and those that respond to an open call on my website. The record of these conversations, the genogram, becomes the record of the conversation and these in turn are used to create a large temporary drawing of the networks of every participant.
Method:
The gallery walls become the canvas. The artist interviews anyone that wants to meet and this interview will be translated into a genogram or personal network map of that individual. These will both be transferred to the gallery walls (and later painted over), or, the individual maps will be attached to the walls. The drawing will spread and grow throughout the time allocated to the artist. At the end of the show the walls will be returned to their original condition. Photograph and video documentation may or may not be made. The artist has started interviewing people already.
Focussed conversations about self and family can be an interesting experience for those unaccustomed to a neutral conversation focussed on them.
