a visit with Yael Brotman
What is your starting point, subject matter or form?
My starting point is always a combination of the two. Every new body of work is an extension of the work that came before it. In the case of Scaffolding, my current suite of paper sculptures, the houses and trailers that I had previously constructed led to an examination of bridges, piers and related abstracted structures.
The underlying concept
continues to look at mediating loci. In Mnemonic
Stoop (2010) the houses I constructed mediated between the present and
memories of childhood homes – the building blocks of personal identity - and
between private and public spaces. The trailers and shacks in Shipping and Receiving (2012), dealt with national identity and our
relationship with the wilderness. The trailers were a mediating point between
urban comfort and wild landscape. The piers and bridges of Scaffolding (2014) consider our relation to bodies of water – how
we cross them or get near them – and also imply the positive and negative
aspects of that proximity.
The use of form and
materiality develops along with the concept. In the new work, I transform the
etched Japanese paper into miniature lumber of various colours and sizes. I
also further explore how a straight solid hard-edged piece of foam core can
become rounded, curved, softened. So my starting point is two-pronged along an
already existing trajectory of an idea.
How has your practice changed with time?
I began my practice with a
parallel interest in drawing and mask making. I made the masks out of handmade
felt and later handmade paper. I was trying to bring these two and three-
dimensional approaches together without too much success.
I found that I could not make the marks I wanted to on the masks. I was then
introduced to printmaking that allowed the use of freehand drawing along with
the craftsmanship of preparing plates, that I enjoyed.
After many years of etching
and silkscreening flat work on paper, I had an epiphany when I tried to recall
the layout of my early childhood homes without the use of photographs. That was
the beginning of the movement into sculptural paper constructions. But I
continue to sketch before I build, and then to draw from the sculptures when
they are completed. Drawing, I feel, is the base upon which all else grows.
What is inspiring your practice these days?
These days I am very
conscious of construction sites around the city. I seek out architectural
models. And I research architects that I like – Zaha Hadid, Hezog and De
Meuron, Frank Gehry. I am deeply inspired by the engineering of complicated
structures and by the fine craftsmanship of woodworkers and carpenters. I am
also inspired by Froebel, the 19th century inventor of the concept
of kindergarten, and his building blocks and ‘Gifts’.
What are you currently reading?
Right now I’ve got a few books on the go. I just finished Rites of Spring by Modris Eksteins (a social history of the early 20th century looking at music, dance, art and war, beginning with Diaghilev and the Ballet Russes). I am also reading Seige 13 by Tamas Dobozy (very dark) and The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (things are not always what they seem and sometimes you can miss a critical clue and misread the whole thing). I am going to re-read Inventing Kindergarten by Norman Brosterman (about Froebel and his influence on the Bauhaus movement and on Frank Lloyd Wright).
Right now I’ve got a few books on the go. I just finished Rites of Spring by Modris Eksteins (a social history of the early 20th century looking at music, dance, art and war, beginning with Diaghilev and the Ballet Russes). I am also reading Seige 13 by Tamas Dobozy (very dark) and The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (things are not always what they seem and sometimes you can miss a critical clue and misread the whole thing). I am going to re-read Inventing Kindergarten by Norman Brosterman (about Froebel and his influence on the Bauhaus movement and on Frank Lloyd Wright).
Do you have a studio ritual?
In good weather I walk from
my home to the studio. It is a 50- minute walk and provides a time for me to
clear my head, look at people’s gardens and plan what I will do in the studio
that day. I pick up a coffee on the way – I never make coffee at home because I
know I would drink way too much if it was so accessible, My studio is in the
basement of 87 Wade Ave, a building full of artists. I can feel the collective
creative hum of the place when I arrive. Inside my studio, I turn on the lights
and the radio – I listen to CBC 1 and 2 and to the jazz station at different
times of the day. And then I begin to work. This year I was on sabbatical and
could do this every day.
What an absolute pleasure!
Thanks for the visit Yael!
Yael's exhibition Scaffolding runs until April 20th at Loop Gallery.
To see more of Yael's studio, check out these video tours:
http://youtu.be/uojKddgdVQc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr3yUkNTxZc&feature=share&list=UUSUcxI-RM5VFDrEvFuIghKA
