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Being in place:
Mapping the
spaces-in-between
art space & mind
I use art, drawing and photography as a particular way of engaging with the natural world.
For my MA I have been working in one wood over two years. Unlike the fixed point of traditional maps my work is concerned with shifting processes of time. It is a mapping of interrelations between things, through repeated visits, writing, walking, detailed observation and marking moments spent in place. Rather than an aerial view, this is an on- the-ground embedded view, an experiential personal geography. In a traditional map the place does not have a voice. This however is a map of porous edges and overlays; the patina of place registered in the smudge of ink or weathering of paper.
The work becomes a way of exploring the interrelations between the environment, self and the creative process; a way of navigating the spaces in between.
Biography
Karen Howse is an artist and mother of two, living in North Cornwall. Her background is in stitch, with a BA from Winchester. Karen has participated in a number of international touring Textile Art Exhibitions. A residency in a Swedish Animal Reserve (1997) and a Launceston Paper Factory (2000) expanded her ideas of where art can occur. Exploration of the relations of drawing, place and mind during the MA has led Karen to navigate new contexts for her process-led practice, from areas of health, meditation and wellbeing to ecology, and nature study.