Tania Kovats and a reflection of recent work

Tomorrow evening one of my favourite creative writers is going to be giving a talk at Falmouth University. Her book. Drawing Water: Drawing as a mechanism for exploration is one I highly recommend and is one that has helped me develop my practice and way of working. I have a real interest in line and there are particular sections which clarify a certain way of seeing the world for me. I am so excited to hear her speak about current work and her relationship with drawing.

I thought I would share some of her work with you and my thoughts and feelings about it. Her connections to nature and fascination with water is beautiful. I connect to her work because of her expressive nature with how she explores people's relationship and association with the landscape and aspects of it.

Tania is perhaps most well known for her work that is on display in the Natural History museum in London.

Below are images taken from her solo show at the Edinburgh Fruit market Gallery. The show focussed on her fascination with the sea and included work which brought together water from all of the world's oceans. This was able to happen with the help of a global network of people. The work titled 'All of the Sea' compromises of seawater from all over the world. It has been logged, measured and documented by the artist in a library of 365 vessels.

I find her whole interest in documentation very influential in my own practice as she is bringing together something in a single room which in any normal circumstance people would not be able to see. She is making is universal and more accessible. I find this concept interesting as documentation is something I am very intrigued by at the moment. For me this is documenting through drawing and photography. I do this through journals and my Instagram.

My current work is focussing on the idea of what an action can represent. This has been achieved through large scale monoprints (shown below) and experimenting how far I can push myself with printmaking. I have been re-reading Tania's book in the run up to her coming to Falmouth and thought I would share some quotes from the book which are indicative of how she views line and how this can be applied to art.

'In geometry, a line is a straight curve. The most beautiful line of all is the horizon, where the sea meets the sky'.

I relate a lot to this way of seeing because although my work was exploring the action of a roller. It has also turned into an exploration of colour and people's associations with it. I think this series of work has a sense of continuity with the focus on line. This way of working has been a real breakthrough for me because I have enjoyed both the process and end result (something that rarely happens, as for me it is all about process). I think this is because of the plethora of meanings that the work has to me and how this can change depending on a situation.

(All work below are offset prints which has been created in my second year on the BA Drawing course at Falmouth University).