Tamara Violaris BA (Hons) - PG Dip (Distinction) - MA Sculptress-Inventor: Artist Statement
artist – As a material hungry artist I am always collecting, sorting, playing and displaying, the objects and materials I gather. I mainly work with found materials because of the history that they already contain. This forms the core of my creative practice alongside re-appropriating these materials into the sculptures I create. Please see my ‘Found Objects: altered meanings’ article below.
I create sculptural automata and installation pieces, which grow from transposing materials, ready-mades and found objects from natural and man-made sources. The quintessence of nature fuels the work I create and I am stimulated by extremes: organic and the inorganic, oversized to the microscopic. I have cat-like curiosity about what nourishes the human spirit like walking in the rain, feeling the droplets on your face, a sensory experience that enriches life. I am driven to re-awaken a sense of wonder in the audience and this is what I look to introduce into my pieces.
maker – The physicality of the way I work is a core part of my creative practice. As a maker I have a passion for materials, forms and texture. I work intuitively with them, revealing there intrinsic qualities, to give them a new identity. Materials and surfaces have a richly complex language of there own that can evolve and change over time through there own decay and the makers interventions.
My art-works are either a 3-dimensional self-contained object or an installation piece in response to a space or place. I am inspired by motion and movement through the curiosity and observation of people and nature. There has been quite a theatrical influence in my life and I find myself in that quite child-like state of play, where the true inventor lies, bringing materials and objects to life in an animated fashion.
Found objects: altered meanings
'Found objects and materials, transposing materials from various industries and
utilising assemblage, bricolage and transposing techniques to create works of art'. T.V
Introduction
The defining movements of the 20th century like, Fauvism, Cubism, Futurism, Expressionism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art and New Realism had very definable structure, whereas now there is much more of a sense that we are in free-fall. There are not necessarily any rules to follow, any structure for artsists to be a part of. It feels like we are without boundaries, anything goes, like wearing your Prada with your Primark.
In the 21st century I see certain types of freedom within the art world, which now has so much incredible richness of art history behind it. It is a time where artists have a multi-disciplinary set of skills, which they utilise in ever-diverse ways. This should set the scene for any artist to become expert assemblers, bricoleurs and transposers and produce work that reflects our transient society.
Chapter 1 – ‘assemblage’
The cultural ideas of assemblage, bricolage and transposing of materials, objects and images, collectively, has a huge influence on the production of contemporary art. This is achieved by the way it changes the use and established meaning, of the material, object or image.
It is a continuous cycle of borrowing, adoption and appropriation. So much of today’s mass production, batch production, and production of contemporary arts is not laying new ground but is a re-configuring, reworking and recycling of what’s gone before. The current buzzwords are recycling, reuse, sustainable, organic, fair trade and eco, which seem to be unavoidably infused into the majority of products and services on offer to us.
‘Cultural appropriation is the process of borrowing and changing the meaning of commodities, cultural products, slogans, images, or elements of fashion by putting them into a new context or in juxtaposition with new elements. Appropriation is one of the primary forms of oppositional production and reading, when, for instance, viewers take cultural products and re-edit, rewrite, or change them, or change their meaning or use’.
The oppositional nature of our society appears to be in a constant flux of reinvention and bringing opposing elements together is now the norm. This forms the basis of what we have termed “shock culture”, the marketers battle to shout the loudest and get the most attention. Saatchi’s ‘Sensations’ exhibition at the Royal Academy in the 1990’s highlighted this notion of media driven sensationalism. Anything goes, the real value of art was questioned and the notion of boundaries of what could be classified as art, were debated at length. The exhibition contained strong links to the surrealist ready-made’s and Assemblagist artist’s, which were once again in question.
Found objects: altered meanings.pdf
Tamara Violaris BA (Hons) - PG Dip (Distinction) - MA Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey - Brighton, East Sussex, UK - Xativa, Valencia, Spain visitus@feltish.co.uk T. +44 (0)7941 416637
'Sound Scented' - wild rose installation, Kamloops, B.C, Canada
‘kinetic-essence’ : dowel, willow twigs, dried poppy-seed heads, insulation tape, Olfa art blades, found mix-wood blocks - 7ft x 14ft
'PTFE Tape Weaving' - skeletal forms, Natural History Museum
'Photogram Print' - Copper Wire Weaving
Creative Workshops : artists statement
Workshop facilitator – As a Tactile and Visual Arts Facilitator I create and run workshops and supported learning experiences in the arts and health sector, privately, in schools, shops and at festivals. I cherish the learning exchange that occurs when a group come together for a workshop. I can design and run workshops in felt-making, weaving, kumihimo, willow, rag rug and peg loom.
My interest lies with creative techniques that have a direct hands-on connectivity with the materials and do not need excessive tools to manipulate them. I have always loved making things with my hands and I find a real sense of calm when working in direct contact with materials.
My passion is based on encouraging this meditative, relaxed and often transformative state to occur through not only my facilitation and the materials but also the social interaction of the group working together.
“Tell me, and I will forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I will understand”. Confucius c450 BC
Bound: A Series of Collaborative Experiments
Tamara Violaris & Lee Borthwick
Giant Felt Workshop - Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital, Children’s Festival April 2008
Dates:14th – 19th April 2008 & May 2008
Brief: Collaborative textile installation art project for patients in the new children’s hospital in Brighton as part of the Children’s Festival
Client: Brighton & Hove City Councils Arts & Creative Industries & Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital
Project Facilitator & Designer: Tamara Violaris BA (Hons) Tactile & Visual Arts Facilitator
Artists: 2
-19 years old
Textile Installation Sculpture Project
I was commissioned to design a textile-based installation that would be hung in the six floored atrium in the new children’s hospital and was a collaborative project with the patients of the Royal Alexandra in Brighton, East Sussex, for the children’s festival. My clients were Brighton and Hove Children's Festival, BSUH NHS Trust and The Friends of Brighton and Hove Hospitals.
Concept/Vision:
My idea was to create a giant felt installation for the stark clinical atrium and fill it with a lot of colour, softness and life. What I loved about this unique space was that naturally by design, it’s a multi-viewable gallery.
There were many constraints embedded within the creative brief such as infection control of the patients, health and safety of the structure hanging over a public space, the possible fire hazard suspending material in an atrium and the challenge of how to hang a structure in an atrium that high.
There were two distinctive halves to this project, one being the GIANT FELT WORKSHOP for six days to teach and create the felt pieces for the sculpture and the other assembling and hanging the Giant Felt Installation.
The aim was to teach the patients a new creative skill and in the process create an installation for the atrium of the hospital. We worked with children ranging from 3-19 years old. The concept needed to be flexible so that my team could respond to the individual needs of each patient and make the whole project accessible and inclusive, so we could reach my target of making 162.
Outcomes: “Fantasy Felt Foliage” installation @ the Royal Alexandra Children’s hospital & the Princess Royal.
The Giant Felt Sculpture grew form the original target of 162 to over 300 pieces of felt. The Royal Alexandra’s austere atrium has been transformed with a visually stimulating piece of installation art and remains there on a semi-permanent basis.
This project has been a total privilege and joy to be a part of, filled with everlasting memories of all the people I met and worked with. The biggest compliment of all is that the BSUH NHS Trust, board of trustees has commissioned me to create a permanent piece which will extend the project to level seven, which is the children’s surgical ward. There is corridor leading to theatre that has a long wall, upon which they would like me to create a hanging wall of felt which will be encapsulated in Perspex and called ‘Tamara’s Felt Garden’. I will be enlisting the help of the children on the wards to assist in making the garden grow.
University of Brighton - MA Inclusive Arts Practice
Epsom School of Art & Design
London Guildhall - BA (Hons) Design Studies
West Dean College - PG Dip Tapestry & Textile Arts
Visual merchandiser
Felt & Nuno felt maker
Kumihimo weaver
Sculptress
Facilitating felting workshops
Sculptural willow weaving
Collaborative installations & projects
Exhibitions - various
Artist in residence
Project Lead - collaborative textile project
Creative Kits - How to knit...?, How to felt...?
Influences:
Annette Messager
Ernesto Neto
Alexandra Calder
Joseph Cornell
Ruth Asawa
Claes Oldenburgh
Frida Khalo
Georgia O'Keefe
Nora Fok
Anne Wilson
Cornelia Parker
James Turrell
Chris Drury
Severija Incirauskaite-Kriauneviciene
Richard Long
Measure of Bodies - collaborative exhibition, Brussels, Belgium
28th May - 24th September 2010 (part of the medical conference)
Automata: An Uncanny Curiosity 22nd March – 15th May 2010
The exhibition brings together the work of influential designers and makers of automata from across the UK. It explores the wit, skill and individuality that combine to make the character of these objects. Like the Victorian children's toys, Automata conjures up a feeling of childlike nostalgia, but it is an uncomfortable sensation, where the unfamiliar becomes unnervingly familiar.
Venue: Arts Centre Washington, Biddick Lane, Fatfield, District 7, Washington,
Tyne & Wear, NE38 8AB T: 0191 2193455
Artists in the exhibition: Caroline Parrott(featured work), Bryony Knox, Dean Turnbull, Tamara Violaris, Ian Mckay, Samantha Bryan, Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre - Eduard Bersudsky, Melanie Tomlinson
VISUAL ARTS STUDENTS’ END OF YEAR SHOW Saturday 4 July to Friday 10 July 2009
Sixteen artists from West Dean College’s Visual Arts programme will be exhibiting their work at the West Dean Gallery from Saturday 4 July to Friday 10 July 2009.
The end of year show, West Dean 09, is a celebration of their work and is an opportunity for astute art-lovers to discover and invest in new artists, as all works are for sale.
The sixteen students are at various stages in their careers, studying across the range of Graduate, Postgraduate and Professional Development Diplomas the College offers in the areas of Painting & Drawing, Sculpture and Tapestry & Textile Art. A number of students are continuing their study at West Dean on the MFA and MA Visual Arts pathways.
Sophie Adams, Clare Calvert, Emma Dexter, Carole Foster, Keith Hope-Lang, Helena Hoskova, Hinchee Hung, Des Kilfeather, Jane Meikle, Robert Olliver-Jones, Christine Paine, Ana Marie Torres, Nina Troitzky, Kathryn Young
Tamara Violaris - Postgraduate Diploma, Tapestry & Textile Art:
"I work with the energetic resonance and infused history of materials, spaces and ultimately the sensatory experience of the spectator. The quintessence of nature fuels the ephemeral and diaphanous installations I create, which stem from an exploration of what nourishes the human spirit."
Children at the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital
create a giant sculpture
As part of Brighton & Hove Children’s Festival 2008 textile artist Tamara Violaris was commissioned to design a sculpture to be hung in the six floored atrium in the new children’s hospital on eastern road.
The project is collaboration between the Children’s Festival and the new Children’s Hospital and the artwork has been made by over 150 young patients at the Royal Alexandra.
Tamara and two other artists ran six days of creative felt-making workshops in the hospital to create the felt pieces for the sculpture. The aim of the workshops was to teach patients aged 3-19 a new creative skill and promote the therapeutic nature of creative activities. The workshops were designed to be flexible so that the artists could respond to the individual needs of each patient and make the whole project as accessible and inclusive as possible.
Tamara said of the project ‘My idea was to create a giant felt installation for the empty atrium space and fill it with a lot of colour, softness and life.’
She continued ‘The project has been a total privilege and joy to be a part of, filled with everlasting memories of all the people I met and worked with. The biggest compliment of all is that the hospital has now commissioned a second project, in the children’s surgical ward, a hanging wall of felt encapsulated in Perspex and called ‘Tamara’s Felt Garden’. I will of course be enlisting the help of the children on the wards to assist in making the garden grow’
The project was funded by Brighton and Hove Children's Festival, BSUH NHS Trust and The Friends of Brighton and Hove Hospitals.
