For these “woolie wall works” I was interested in the process of making. I wanted to emphasise how the works where made, in this case from crochet chain stitch and what they were made from, different coloured acrylic wool. There are no secrets with these works, they are what they are. There are no double meanings, nor are the colours chosen meant to represent anything. I chose the colours because for me they complement each other, these works were made because they are interesting to view.
They look different depending on what angle you view them from, if you look at them front on they almost look like a drawing, from the side they look more solid and look like a painting, look at them directly from the side and they start to turn into a something heavy and solid. The black wool acts as a background to the coloured wool that has been loosely formed to resemble squares.
They have been informed by abstract art, artists such as Mondrian and to a lesser extent Rothko come to mind. I am definitely attracted to the abstract artists, I really like Robert Motherwell's large scale black and white paintings and Sean Scully's stripes. However, when making these works, I wasn't conciously thinking about these artists or their work but it is my view that because I like these artists work and read about their work and have seen their work some in galleries and in books, it all filters into the process of making and influences the outcome.
Ahn Wells
Studio 25
Newcastle Community Arts Centre
October 2010
4 Green Woolie Squares (2010) was exhibited at Newcastle Art Space in the group exhibition On the Run (1 July - 18 July 2010)
3 Blue Woolie Squares (2010) was exhibited at Newcastle Art Space in the NCAC tenant exhibition MATE 10 (9-19 September 2010)
A letter from artist Mazie Turner
4 Green Woolie Squares (2010)
80 cm x 60 cm
acrylic wool and nails
29 October 2010
Dear Ahn
I have been attracted to your work many times before and am touched you should wish me to write my response and hope my lines coincide or expand with your thoughts and work. I have seen in your previous work craft materials and techniques pass through your fingers making art that engages my mind and senses. I am making your 4 Green Woolie Squares (2010) on my kitchen wall. Installing each bundled unit lead to involving myself, on a smaller scale, in mimicking your process by individually attending to each thread-line of woolen yarn looped in crochet chain.
On graph paper a design with four green squares set in black is a simple idea but when translated to wooly yarn looped and knotted makes something more than its visible parts and accommodates various spontaneous responses. Paul Klee arrives in my mind for the way he encouraged a line in drawing to perform all the actions you do with thread to loop, knit, knot and weave.
Hung from nails equally spaced across a wall it became pattern and here what intrigues me is when pattern becomes form. The natural language of pattern and form is mathematical, small units come together and interact, these units don’t have to be identical or repeat regularly. We perceive them generally as patterns expanding into space and over time, form is a more individual affair.
Combining colour with black helps to contain colour, absorb its energy and yet allows colour to stand out. The green rather than square shapes made a greater impression, calling out an apple roundness and then traveled into my colour memory for a similar green. A green made fertile in the skirt worn by Giovanna Cenami in ‘The Arnolfini Marriage’ by Jan van Eyck painted in 1434. The history of green in painting and our culture show a colour transformed and is another story.
The is work now installed on the wall that acts as a light background to wool looped and knotted threads, together these features soften all the edges between green and black. In becoming irregular this work slips away from the geometric organizing structure. The irregular softened edges and variations in length show the hands tension and produce differences in the green squares proximity and relationship to each other. Squares on graph paper become green cubes under the influence of material and technique moving through your fingers thus bringing together the spatial qualities that makes the work dynamic.
There are other parallels I am stimulated to connect to your work because of the repetition of geometric shapes, a certain kind of patterning and recurring structures point toward abstraction.
If I take other definitions to abstraction they would also lead to your work. As well your use of materials and techniques relate to the creative pursuits of women and in the basket of crafts highlight a separation created by Modernism through specialization and categories of material attributed to particular disciplines. But rather I found it is the reality of materials and techniques employed that make this work something more and abstract.
What makes the things you make into art, is in the way they play with our concepts and perception and go beyond appearances.
Through installing and re-making the work, viewing it veiling and softening my wall has been a space for being conscious of perception and vision. I remember Agnes Martin for her ‘… Joy is Perception …’
And find the full quote, as it is apt for the experience I have received.
“As it was in the beginning, there was no division and no separation … Joy is Perception. Perception, reception and response are all the same. Sometimes we perceive, sometimes we receive, and sometimes we respond but it is all the same. It is all awareness to reality”
(from the book: 3 x abstraction: new methods of drawing, Hilma af Klint, Emma Kunz, Agnes Martin by The Drawing Center, 2005)
Thank you Ahn
Cheers Mazie
Dr Mazie Turner
Studio 26
Newcastle Community Arts Centre
October 2010
exhibited at Newcastle Art Space in the group exhibition On the Run (1 July - 18 July 2010)
Art verses Life
by Rachel Otto
this is a Character Profile written for the subject Introduction to Professional Writing offered through the University of Newcastle
The walls of her studio are covered with pieces of her work, and as Ahn Wells hands me a hot cup of camomile tea, I feel I have entered her personal sanctuary.
At the Newcastle Community Arts Centre in Studio 25, Ahn looks comfortably at home behind her desk, eating her hot chips for a late lunch and relaxing after a busy morning. With balancing her artistic development, plans of an exhibition in October, her job at the Lake Macquarie City Libraries and now her time as a volunteer for Lifeline Australia, Ahn is constantly trying to keep up with herself.
I am immediately curious to know how this woman, who sits in front of me timidly drinking her tea, comes to control such a continually updating, multifaceted and seemingly satisfying lifestyle. Ahn’s development in artistic knowledge and her transitions from one art form to the next has shifted constantly while studying at both the Hunter St, TAFE (1997-1999) and the University of Newcastle (2000, 2002- July 2003) in the Newcastle region.
However, there is more to Ahn’s artistic growth then simply her learning from education organisations. Ahn informs me she was born in Seoul, South Korea, but was adopted at nine months old by Barbara and Geoff Wells, residents of Lake Macquarie. Contrasting to the common desire of adopted children to find their biological parents, Ahn looks and feels comfortable in saying “I have no want to find my Korean parents, Mum and Dad are my family”. “I have revisited Korea but I didn’t have any light-bulb moments, I thought I might’ve felt a sense of belonging, but I didn’t.” Ahn’s face shows no disappointment.
Her ‘belonging’ in Lake Macquarie is clear and she appears grateful that her upbringing has fuelled her most creative and fulfilling passion. “I don’t think I’d be doing art if I hadn’t grown up here.” The artist’s daily blog reflects a lot of development in her art, especially her influences, and also helps keep track of her thoughts and invites others into an artist’s world. Her comments upon the issues discussed in her blog consider the influences of her mother’s homely crafts as well as the historical aspect of art.
“Part of being an artist is knowing the history behind what you’re doing,” she says looking around the room at her artworks. “Mum has always been doing crafty stuff and is probably the major influence in my current works in textiles.” A hint of nostalgia and the satisfaction of her acquired knowledge are written all over her face as she speaks. The appreciation for her life in Australia is undoubted as she takes another sip of tea and continues to smile to herself.
I feel there is a deep bond between art and Ahn Wells and feel almost invasive in this meaningful moment. While her past presents itself as growing up amongst the world of art and having the homely predominant influence of her mother’s craftwork, it is a surprise to hear when Ahn tells of how her interest in the art world began with photography. As a first year student at Hunter St, TAFE in Newcastle, Ahn explains of her incorporation of not the search, but the formation and satisfaction of recognising her identity in her early photography. “I started with concentrating on domestic themes around home, family and identity,” Ahn explains. For Ahn, “self identity is important”. Being an adopted child has risen many questions for Ahn, but through her art she feels she has been able to find herself; who she really is.
As she furthered her artistic knowledge and experimentation, the desire for an ‘artistic identity’ became apparent. “For any artist, their identity and ability to be recognised through their work is a valuable thing.” “I would like to exhibit at least once a year, as a solo artist or with another artist,” that dreamy face reveals itself again as her she talks of these ambitions, “however, that’s not always possible”. “It sounds a bit egotistical but it’s just what you do as an artist, to put your stuff out there and say ‘Hey, look what I’ve done’,” Ahn jokes, coming back to the conversation.
Ahn and Anne McLaughlin who also shares Studio 25, will be hosting an exhibition later on this year in October at PODspace Gallery in Newcastle. With this exhibition in place, Ahn says how satisfying and fulfilling it is as an artist to exhibit and share your passion with others. Alternatively, Ahn does comment that “some artists do not want to exhibit; they do not have to exhibit,” which to new and nervous artists can be a comforting thought.
With her exploration for artistic identity, Ahn comments that some of her influences have not plainly based themselves around her home life, but also majorly the discovery of other artists. Ahn tells of her involvement in the art world, and how the immediate reaction of people is “Oh, do you paint? Or do you draw?”. Ahn’s latest shift in genre focuses more on “3D Fibre-Textile and works on paper”, a less common art genre, but to her, it is exciting.
Ahn emphasises that the discovery and exploration of art genre helps you realise what you want to be doing with your art. For Ahn, two influences of her more recent transitions into abstract art are Eva Hesse and even more recently, Sean Scully.
“I’ve moved to abstract because I’ve found it is art I like to do. It’s the way I see everything.” Ahn explains
Quoting herself from her blog, Ahn comments on her individual “obsession with repetition; obsession with a material; obsession with a design; obsession with a process but within this obsession lies a yearning to discover, reveal and accept difference and variation”.
As Ahn expresses the meaning and importance behind exploration in art, in allowing yourself to go beyond your comfortable zone, it is clear these are lessons she has learned and willing to teach. “I now concentrate on using materials as the meaning. What you do is use the materials to form meaning, not to conceal it.” As I ponder upon the meaning that is usually hidden and needed to be found in art, Ahn continues on how these realisations had come to form a desire to be an art therapist.
“When I finished Uni, I found about art therapy. This was a job though that needed experience as a counsellor, which is how I found out about Lifeline Australia” “It’s nice to do something outside the art stuff. I try to break up the stifling nature of art with other things.” Although Ahn’s volunteering with Lifeline is fairly new to her, her face depicts her desire to help others. “I like it. This is the way I can give something back.”
While Ahn is still in the early stages of her life, the experience already gained from her involvement in this organisation has helped her gain knowledge about where she wants to be, as a person and an artist. “It’s all experience really. It’s a big eye-opener.”
Ahn demonstrates the growth as an artist and person and is an idealistic model to those wanting to follow similar paths. Identity is important to her and the meaning in her work is taken from personal experiences, both outside art exploration and the processes within. Ahn confesses that just like as a person, being an artist you will never stop growing and there will always be something more to discover.
However her advice may be that “it is important to have interests outside of art and the art world”, as a fellow artist to students or individuals who find themselves wanting to be creative and learn, Ahn says “give it a go. If you want to have a go at it, just do it”.
Just like her artworks, the meanings from Ahn’s experiences are upfront and clear: there are always lessons to be learnt, knowledge to be acquired, and things you will continue to discover about yourself.
As an artist, Ahn illustrates the growth from beginning to success, the ability to reach goals, and the prospect of living with satisfaction with one’s self as well as the possibility of helping others along the way.
Reflection
As I was not at all familiar with the way artist’s take experience and put it into their work, I felt that Ahn’s story helped me to discover all the possibilities in art. As a journalist, I wish to feel creative in the same manner as I feel the creativity in art and in writing are very similar. Getting to know another person and the ways their mind works is also another aspect that has helped me gain knowledge about the diversity in society and also the similarities amongst occupation and people. We all have different backgrounds, different stories and different perspectives, Ahn has taught me how to explore the possibilities and to remember there is always a way to your success that involves helping others as well.
As a journalist point of view, I feel I have much to learn from this experience. There is much more out there that I do not know about the career choice I am making. It has made me excited to know about what I do not know. Ahn Wells is a role model to anyone aspiring to do something. Whether you have the talent or the upbringing, Ahn’s story speaks to me as anything is possible if you strive to get where you want.
As the Profile is aimed at the Herald, a Newcastle-based paper, I feel Ahn’s story reaches out to young artists, fellow artists, and also could be the beginning for better things in the future for Ahn as well.
Rachel Otto
first year student
B. Communications
University of Newcastle
June 2010