Digital Alchemy - an interview with Sarah Holyfield
Continuing IAWN's coverage of Helfa Gelf's YMYL-2-EDGE, an exciting creative programme that involves fusing art and tech in exciting new ways, we are pleased to present the fifth in a series of interviews with the participants.
Here artist Sarah Holyfield talks with Edge2 Curator, Remy Dean.
Sarah Holyfield is a multidisciplinary artist who uses a diverse array of materials and objects to express the ideas that reside at the core of her work. Photography has always played a central role in her investigations and she will often digitally manipulate images to uncover patterns in natural materials, and use montage and layering to create composite images. She has introduced audio visual elements and more recently has been developing interactive work using digital sensors.
"I’m interested in alchemy and transformation," explains Sarah, "I have always been a bit of a hybrid and interested in both art and science. I became a teacher and began to use digital technology in the early 1980s when personal computers first became available, and long before networks were widely used. More recently it played a core role in my MA in Fine Art."
Sarah describes her process as, "spending lots of time thinking and mulling over an idea or theme, and doing lots of research and collecting before getting into an intensive period of making. Much as I have tried to change this pattern it seems to be how things are! I therefore have many notes and sketches in notebooks, and I make mindmaps, which help me to keep track of my thoughts and my work emerges from these.
"I feel a bit like a jackdaw in that I collect lots of objects and materials and my studio is a bit like my own cabinet of curiosities. I experiment and play with many different types of materials from plant material, to clay, soap, metal etc alongside my photographic work. It may seem rather chaotic to the viewer but it makes some kind of sense to me! When I exhibit my work it tends to be as a combination of works in the form of a collection or an installation. I’m interested in how to make work interactive and I’ve been experimenting with electronic sensors and sound and light.
"I think it’s always been there without my quite giving it a name," she replies, when asked when she 'woke-up' to being an artist, "I’ve always enjoyed making things but it was when I began my part-time degree that I began to learn so much and then gave myself permission to immerse myself in my work."
Who are some of the artists that have inspired and informed your creative journey?
"So many, at different times. When I was much younger, I loved painters like Picasso and Matisse and Paul Klee, but then I began to learn about photographers like Jo Spence, and realised I didn’t have to be a painter to be an artist. Helen Chadwick and Cornelia Parker showed me the way, and more recently artists such as Michal Rovner, Mona Hatoum, Ai Weiwei, William Kentridge, and Jeremy Deller have been significant inspirations. It’s important for me that my work can explore and express some of the political issues that are a focus for me and these artists do this brilliantly."
Has your involvement with EDGE-2-YMYL, through Helfa Gelf, challenged or extended your way of working?
"My work has always involved the use of digital technology and it’s been fascinating to use the 3D printer, the laser-cutter and the embroidery computer in the FabLAB [Arloesi Pontio Innovation - ed.] . Not so long ago these were seen as 'futuristic' and specialist tools - they now suddenly seem to have become more widely accessible and EDGE-2-YMYL has really helped us to explore them. It’s been a surprise to me that my reaction to using these tools has also been a bit questioning because although they are so exciting, their ubiquity now runs the danger of making what they can do become commonplace and part of the automation we experience all the time."
"So whilst these tools offer some wonderful possibilities for artists, I also think it’s no surprise that there is such a revived interest in handcrafts like sewing, carving, textile work, ceramics, printing etc which have at last become part of mainstream art, and I’m drawn to these myself. I was already combining the highly technical with the ‘handmade’ and I think this has made me move further in this direction."
Can you tell us a little about the pieces you are developing, for the final YMYL-2-EDGE exhibition?
"I have been thinking for a long time about the question, 'what is real?' in this time of simulation, artificial intelligence, 'big data' and ‘fake news’, and this has become far more pressing with recent developments involving Facebook, Cambridge Analytica and the role of social media and surveillance in our democracy.
"I’m really interested in how we use technology and what we can use it for, but also what it means and the role it’s playing in our lives. There are so many contradictions now that technology is so ubiquitous. We can communicate with anyone anywhere, and in any language, yet we seem to be more isolated in our own little groups than ever. We can track and monitor very large gatherings of people, such as refugees, but the way we do this seems to prevent us from seeing each person as an individual. We are moving away from paper-based systems, and have access to vast libraries of online information, yet all our actions are stored as data and used to track and target us with ‘personalised’ products.
"For a number of years I have been making work exploring the relationship between the ‘embodied self’ and the ‘digital self’, and for this exhibition I am making a number of pieces which will be displayed in an installation, including photographic collages, and interactive pieces involving electronic sensors...
"I see my role as an artist to explore these contradictions and ask questions about our individual roles in society, but I also want to make work that is intriguing and has aesthetic value in its own right – maybe even beautiful if possible!"
What has been the best thing about taking part in the YMYL-2-EDGE programme through Helfa Gelf?
"It’s offered a great opportunity for us to be able to access the tools in FabLAB and explore what they have to offer each of us. I can see that the other artists have made some fascinating work in all sorts of intriguing ways. It’s wonderful to have the chance to exhibit our work – I’m really looking forward to seeing what everyone has made!"
An exhibition of selected work produced during Helfa Gelf's YMYL-2-EDGE programme will be showing, Saturday 19 January – Sunday 10 February 2019, in the Bocs Gwyn / White Box Innovation Space, Bangor.
More about Bangor University's Arloesi Pontio Innovation - fabLAB - HERE
You can read the YMYL-2-EDGE call-out and brief HERE
Helfa Gelf is now an annual event - an Arts Trail through North Wales during September that involves hundreds of artists, crafters - creatives of all kinds - in an exciting and varied festival of events. Many creatives open the doors of their studios to the public, presenting an opportunity to interact and share their creative practices. The open studios season is during September and is also preceded - and then followed by - a programme of exhibitions, workshops and courses for creative professionals, interested novices, and all those between. Helfa Gelf presents a unique opportunity to meet and chat with artists, makers and doers in their creative spaces, see them at work, perhaps have a go yourself, and see their finished work - which is often available to purchase at special 'trade prices' - ideal if you want to get some unique Yuletide shopping sorted ahead of the rush...
Find out more HERE
Here artist Sarah Holyfield talks with Edge2 Curator, Remy Dean.
"I’m interested in alchemy and transformation," explains Sarah, "I have always been a bit of a hybrid and interested in both art and science. I became a teacher and began to use digital technology in the early 1980s when personal computers first became available, and long before networks were widely used. More recently it played a core role in my MA in Fine Art."
Details from Internal Landscapes
(all images courtesy of the artist)
Sarah describes her process as, "spending lots of time thinking and mulling over an idea or theme, and doing lots of research and collecting before getting into an intensive period of making. Much as I have tried to change this pattern it seems to be how things are! I therefore have many notes and sketches in notebooks, and I make mindmaps, which help me to keep track of my thoughts and my work emerges from these.
"I feel a bit like a jackdaw in that I collect lots of objects and materials and my studio is a bit like my own cabinet of curiosities. I experiment and play with many different types of materials from plant material, to clay, soap, metal etc alongside my photographic work. It may seem rather chaotic to the viewer but it makes some kind of sense to me! When I exhibit my work it tends to be as a combination of works in the form of a collection or an installation. I’m interested in how to make work interactive and I’ve been experimenting with electronic sensors and sound and light.
"I think it’s always been there without my quite giving it a name," she replies, when asked when she 'woke-up' to being an artist, "I’ve always enjoyed making things but it was when I began my part-time degree that I began to learn so much and then gave myself permission to immerse myself in my work."
Who are some of the artists that have inspired and informed your creative journey?
"So many, at different times. When I was much younger, I loved painters like Picasso and Matisse and Paul Klee, but then I began to learn about photographers like Jo Spence, and realised I didn’t have to be a painter to be an artist. Helen Chadwick and Cornelia Parker showed me the way, and more recently artists such as Michal Rovner, Mona Hatoum, Ai Weiwei, William Kentridge, and Jeremy Deller have been significant inspirations. It’s important for me that my work can explore and express some of the political issues that are a focus for me and these artists do this brilliantly."
Has your involvement with EDGE-2-YMYL, through Helfa Gelf, challenged or extended your way of working?
"My work has always involved the use of digital technology and it’s been fascinating to use the 3D printer, the laser-cutter and the embroidery computer in the FabLAB [Arloesi Pontio Innovation - ed.] . Not so long ago these were seen as 'futuristic' and specialist tools - they now suddenly seem to have become more widely accessible and EDGE-2-YMYL has really helped us to explore them. It’s been a surprise to me that my reaction to using these tools has also been a bit questioning because although they are so exciting, their ubiquity now runs the danger of making what they can do become commonplace and part of the automation we experience all the time."
Details from #ICU 2017 and Tulip Petal
"So whilst these tools offer some wonderful possibilities for artists, I also think it’s no surprise that there is such a revived interest in handcrafts like sewing, carving, textile work, ceramics, printing etc which have at last become part of mainstream art, and I’m drawn to these myself. I was already combining the highly technical with the ‘handmade’ and I think this has made me move further in this direction."
Can you tell us a little about the pieces you are developing, for the final YMYL-2-EDGE exhibition?
"I have been thinking for a long time about the question, 'what is real?' in this time of simulation, artificial intelligence, 'big data' and ‘fake news’, and this has become far more pressing with recent developments involving Facebook, Cambridge Analytica and the role of social media and surveillance in our democracy.
"I’m really interested in how we use technology and what we can use it for, but also what it means and the role it’s playing in our lives. There are so many contradictions now that technology is so ubiquitous. We can communicate with anyone anywhere, and in any language, yet we seem to be more isolated in our own little groups than ever. We can track and monitor very large gatherings of people, such as refugees, but the way we do this seems to prevent us from seeing each person as an individual. We are moving away from paper-based systems, and have access to vast libraries of online information, yet all our actions are stored as data and used to track and target us with ‘personalised’ products.
"For a number of years I have been making work exploring the relationship between the ‘embodied self’ and the ‘digital self’, and for this exhibition I am making a number of pieces which will be displayed in an installation, including photographic collages, and interactive pieces involving electronic sensors...
"I see my role as an artist to explore these contradictions and ask questions about our individual roles in society, but I also want to make work that is intriguing and has aesthetic value in its own right – maybe even beautiful if possible!"
Detail from Asemic Writing
What has been the best thing about taking part in the YMYL-2-EDGE programme through Helfa Gelf?
"It’s offered a great opportunity for us to be able to access the tools in FabLAB and explore what they have to offer each of us. I can see that the other artists have made some fascinating work in all sorts of intriguing ways. It’s wonderful to have the chance to exhibit our work – I’m really looking forward to seeing what everyone has made!"
- Thank you Sarah Holyfield!
To see more art by Sarah Holyfield check-out her
An exhibition of selected work produced during Helfa Gelf's YMYL-2-EDGE programme will be showing, Saturday 19 January – Sunday 10 February 2019, in the Bocs Gwyn / White Box Innovation Space, Bangor.
More about Bangor University's Arloesi Pontio Innovation - fabLAB - HERE
You can read the YMYL-2-EDGE call-out and brief HERE
Helfa Gelf is now an annual event - an Arts Trail through North Wales during September that involves hundreds of artists, crafters - creatives of all kinds - in an exciting and varied festival of events. Many creatives open the doors of their studios to the public, presenting an opportunity to interact and share their creative practices. The open studios season is during September and is also preceded - and then followed by - a programme of exhibitions, workshops and courses for creative professionals, interested novices, and all those between. Helfa Gelf presents a unique opportunity to meet and chat with artists, makers and doers in their creative spaces, see them at work, perhaps have a go yourself, and see their finished work - which is often available to purchase at special 'trade prices' - ideal if you want to get some unique Yuletide shopping sorted ahead of the rush...
Find out more HERE
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