Artist in residence at Mottisfont, National Trust. October 2017 - October 2018
'For the Time Being'
End of Residency Exhibition
3 May - 7 July 2019
Mottisfont House Gallery, details of individual works can be found in the 'For the Time Being Exhibtion' section of the webiste.
Eileen and fellow artist, Suna Imre, spent a year as artists in residence at Mottisfont. By researching and visiting the site together, they developed their respective practices using meditative processes, creating ceramic compositions, prints and artist’s books. Their choice of particular materials and processes, quietly created a narrative about time and place and the beauty of nature within the cycle of decay and renewal.
For Eileen the project at Mottisfont meant that she was able to bring a new dimension to her practice, allowing her work to develop quite literally over a long period of time. Her investigation into different ways to capture and illustrate time, using a variety of camera-less and mark making techniques became both a scientific and poetic experience of Mottisfont’s landscape. Eileen's background in Fine Art Textiles has consistently used a combination of traditional ‘slow’ methods and material as a way of describing and embedding time in the context of historical sites.
Her residency at Mottisfont continued these themes, exploring with wonder the minute details of the Mottisfont landscape over twelve months. From dawn to dusk, over long periods and in all weathers, she experienced the intangible elements and relationships between time, place and experience. The estate with its constant changes over the course of history, from its beginnings as a medieval meeting place, pilgrimage route, and abbey to name but a few, have always been accompanied by the patterns in nature, cycles of growth and decay aligned with celestial pathways, which continually return to the same point.
Using this as the basis for her work, Eileen’s awareness of the ever-accelerating pace in environmental as well as a spiritual sense of unease, prompted a shift in her work, focusing on processes and materials that demand not only patience, reflection and bodily presence, but draw attention to the fragility, vulnerability and beauty of our environment.
The ongoing work of the National Trust and its preventative conservation practices became key elements in her research. Positioning herself as a facilitator, she compared herself to a custodian charged with caring for something without owning it, investing in an unknown future. This idea developed further with regards to the present issues surrounding climate change, especially the ‘Biophilliea hypothesis’ where people identifing with nature are more likely to partake in environmental and conservation efforts.
The processes and materials Eileen used are as important as the final outcomes. Making handmade photographic equipment, or physically monitoring work on site for weeks and months enabled her to physically be in the landscape and thereby offer an honest and real personal rendition of the spirit of Mottisfont. Ultimately the collecting of this evidence, of being in a particular moment and place, gave the feeling of both presence and acceptance, along with a powerful sense of connection and being part of something much bigger.
Sarah Manguso’s meditation on time and memory crystallizes this paradox: ‘Perhaps all anxiety might derive from a fixation on moments — an inability to accept life as ongoing.’
'For the Time Being'
End of Residency Exhibition
3 May - 7 July 2019
Mottisfont House Gallery, details of individual works can be found in the 'For the Time Being Exhibtion' section of the webiste.
Eileen and fellow artist, Suna Imre, spent a year as artists in residence at Mottisfont. By researching and visiting the site together, they developed their respective practices using meditative processes, creating ceramic compositions, prints and artist’s books. Their choice of particular materials and processes, quietly created a narrative about time and place and the beauty of nature within the cycle of decay and renewal.
For Eileen the project at Mottisfont meant that she was able to bring a new dimension to her practice, allowing her work to develop quite literally over a long period of time. Her investigation into different ways to capture and illustrate time, using a variety of camera-less and mark making techniques became both a scientific and poetic experience of Mottisfont’s landscape. Eileen's background in Fine Art Textiles has consistently used a combination of traditional ‘slow’ methods and material as a way of describing and embedding time in the context of historical sites.
Her residency at Mottisfont continued these themes, exploring with wonder the minute details of the Mottisfont landscape over twelve months. From dawn to dusk, over long periods and in all weathers, she experienced the intangible elements and relationships between time, place and experience. The estate with its constant changes over the course of history, from its beginnings as a medieval meeting place, pilgrimage route, and abbey to name but a few, have always been accompanied by the patterns in nature, cycles of growth and decay aligned with celestial pathways, which continually return to the same point.
Using this as the basis for her work, Eileen’s awareness of the ever-accelerating pace in environmental as well as a spiritual sense of unease, prompted a shift in her work, focusing on processes and materials that demand not only patience, reflection and bodily presence, but draw attention to the fragility, vulnerability and beauty of our environment.
The ongoing work of the National Trust and its preventative conservation practices became key elements in her research. Positioning herself as a facilitator, she compared herself to a custodian charged with caring for something without owning it, investing in an unknown future. This idea developed further with regards to the present issues surrounding climate change, especially the ‘Biophilliea hypothesis’ where people identifing with nature are more likely to partake in environmental and conservation efforts.
The processes and materials Eileen used are as important as the final outcomes. Making handmade photographic equipment, or physically monitoring work on site for weeks and months enabled her to physically be in the landscape and thereby offer an honest and real personal rendition of the spirit of Mottisfont. Ultimately the collecting of this evidence, of being in a particular moment and place, gave the feeling of both presence and acceptance, along with a powerful sense of connection and being part of something much bigger.
Sarah Manguso’s meditation on time and memory crystallizes this paradox: ‘Perhaps all anxiety might derive from a fixation on moments — an inability to accept life as ongoing.’