Sketchbooks and scribblings

At the end of my school years, I remember feeling like I was stuck inside an impenetrable, gauze bag. I could get light from the outside, but make no sense of it.. Sounds and small snatches of reality seemed to sift through the breaks in the material, but I couldn’t understand what it possibly meant.

I had completed all the academic requirements asked of me, and had graduated a year earlier than my fellow students, with access to any course at uni of choice. But, it wasn’t enough. I knew there was something more, and I knew it came from inside me, and was connected to the arts. From the first moment in deciding to go to Art School, my journey with my art practice has been a combination of these two things, searching inside myself for this deeper meaning to what it is to be here, now, human, me… and striving to make connections with others and external realities I cannot fully glimpse yet.

It has been a journey into the unknown. And in fact a commitment to value and treasure the unknown as a potent space of being and a valid and vital space for creation and knowledge formation that I believe is at the centre of our humanness. I have in fact, become addicted to art. Addicted to it as a preferred mode of communication. Addicted to it as a preferred mode of being. Addicted to it as a preferred mode of seeing others be human. And a deep belief that it is one of the most powerful way to cross any boundaries and fears we possess about difference and otherness, and a huge tool in helping us acknowledge ourselves as one in our humanity.

One thing I learnt from Art School, was that art is not about a school…art is about life. Art comes from life…and somewhere along the line..a strange thing happened for me, where I realised that life could come from art….this tipping point of which comes first is one of the most wonderful mysteries of life….and it is from this mystery that I find experiences of great joy, and profound meaning. Another thing I have learnt in life is that I have a terrible love of humanity….i just can’t stop it…! I love to share, to connect, to feel……x..i love to see humans for the best they can be, and encourage them to be that. I love to see others feel too..see them be vulnerable..see them be afraid..see them be strong.. see them experience wonder..see them be moved..and I feel art does this.

On the journey of completing this piece of writing, I returned to some old papers and sketch books in the studio, and looked again at old paintings and drawings, messages I have scribbled to myself on the wall of the studio over the last ten years, collected art catalogues, magazines and journals. I wasn’t sure what I would find…but these feelings seemed to come up again and again in my work and writing. “what is art for?

‘It is to inhabit the spaces which are taboo, uninhabitable, due to social demands, it allows freedom and meaning to those who must or choose to do work being something other than themselves’ 2009

‘Why do I want to make art? it has always been to awaken the soul-to inspire the spirit. to give love, and be loved in return’ 2009

‘Art is my church. please let me go there.’ 2017

Catherine Morse

March 2020