Katie has been commissioned by Longhouse to take part in a period of research to develop her own practice and explore new contexts of work through the Action Research programme.

Project

Action Research for me is the opportunity to take the time to further research Alzheimer’s disease and other degenerative diseases, a subject dealt with within my artwork. I hope to raise awareness about the disease and offer subtle support to people whose world is affected by it.

I will be exploring taking my artwork out into the public realm, using green spaces and a rural setting. I also hope to be able to work collaboratively with other artists including using online resources, exploring creating work with artists I have never met.

Project Update – September

The first Action Research task I set myself was to look through old sketchbooks and pick out notes I had made about things I would like to explore but have not yet had the time to do so. This was quite a therapeutic exercise and what was most reassuring was that I actually get around to doing a lot of the stuff I say I want to do. But one area I felt needed looking at first was my knowledge on the specific subject I am dealing with in my artwork. I have been producing artwork about Alzheimer’s disease for the past three years based entirely on my experiences of caring for my Grandfather, in order to continue to develop my work I feel that I should try to look at the disease from another point of view. So this meant I was allowed the luxury of buying myself some new books to read.

The most interesting thing that has struck me whilst beginning my research, is the conversations that have started from people spotting the book that I am now reading ‘Learning to Speak Alzheimer’s.’ People I have worked with and known for years are suddenly opening up to me about their parents or grandparents, it appears many of us have unspoken worries about relatives suffering from Dementia. The number of dementia sufferers, specifically with Alzheimer’s disease, is dramatically increasing with the aging of the baby boom generation, as such more and more people like myself will be caring for older relatives with the added difficulty of a degenerative disease. It is important that these carers are given support, in order to care for their relatives correctly and more easily, but also to reassure the carer through a difficult time. Through my Action Research I hope to develop my work in order to raise awareness about the difficulty of caring for someone with Alzheimer’s disease and to give gentle support to those doing the caring. I want to do this through placing artwork in public spaces; confronting people with an unexpectedly altered world, much like the world that an Alzheimer sufferer sees. But also offering reassurance to carers with affectionate and encouraging notes in the most unexpected places.

The next stage of my research is to look for places in which to produce this work. I have been researching GPS devices, as I am interested in producing the work in a more rural setting. I live just outside of the Peak District and would like to explore the area for possible sites. Using the GPS will allow me to record sites that I am interested in and to then locate them on a web based map once the work has be produced.

Another important part of my Action Research is that I am interested in collaborating with other artists, the conversations sparked from the book I am reading has helped here too. I have arranged to meet with another artist working in Leek to discuss a possible collaboration, as she too has had to care for a relative with dementia and believes there should be more support for carers. I am also now working on a project with Stoke-on-Trent Museums, where we will be developing activities for residents of an EMI residential home.

Project update (September to November 2010)

Listening To Your Eyes: I think I’m obsessing

www.listeningtoyoureyes.blogspot.com

A: ‘I was travelling on the train the other day and spotted a crumpled up chewing gum wrapper that had been left on the table in front of me. I started to think about how far the wrapper had travelled, how long had it been there? Who had sat next to it? What conversations had it witnessed? Who had left it there? I rather poetically began to think that the answers to all of these questions are captured in the folds of the wrapper.

I took the wrapper and put it in my pocket. But then started to feel guilty, that I was somehow preventing it from completing its journey. I decided to put it back. When I got off the train and put my hand in my pocket it was still there, I had forgotten.’

I have started a blog, a place to keep all my thoughts and a record of my explorations. I’m being quite specific about the things that I keep on there, as it is also the place I’m directing people to through my intervention work. The intention is to keep it quite honest, as I feel that’s the easiest way to support people in a similar situation as you: they can see that I am still learning but also feel my empathy. At the same time I want that to be honesty about things that will help them with their situation, rather than my ramblings about my art work.

A really strong theme that is emerging with my work is the continued discussions I am having with other people about their experiences. A lot of these experiences are people who are only just realising that this is something they are going to have to deal with. Particularly with friends, they are coming to me for preparatory support; they want to know how to behave around their loved ones who are in the early stages of dementia. This further encourages me to believe that this kind of support is really needed and the more people that know about places you can get this support the better; the need for this support is only going to increase as the population increases and people continue to live longer.

I attended a Dementia training day in October, where I learnt a bit more about the history of dementia and the many different types that exist; it also covered the science behind the diseases and confronted a few of the myths. This was in preparation for me going in to a residential home for people with dementia, where I took part in an activity that involved introducing residents to selected objects from The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery Social History Collection. I found this to be useful for my understanding of different types of dementia and to see the varying levels that people are likely to face. I also enjoyed interacting with the people at the residential home and was able to see techniques that professional carers use with the residents. Thus began my obsession with the colour yellow.

Two of the techniques that have stayed with me are more to do with the visual techniques that are used at the residential home. The first is that out of bounds areas at the home, such as big kitchens and caretakers’ cupboards are disguised by continuing the wallpaper or border over the door that leads to the area. This means that the door remains mostly unnoticed by the residents, which in turn means less confusion for the residents, who might wonder why they are not allowed into certain areas. I really like this idea that I can remove the things that I don’t like or that I wouldn’t want someone to see, simply by placing a border around it. The second is that rooms they are allowed in that might need explaining, like toilets and offices, are labelled with big yellow signs; yellow is the last colour on the spectrum that a dementia sufferer loses. This has given a theme to my current practice; I am currently generating a lot of artwork around the colour yellow. I began by using yellow post it notes to leave notes in public spaces (see ‘What time is it?’ and ‘When words fail’) this then led to my creating some yellow postcards, with the intention of leaving them in public spaces for people to pick up. I have also explored the idea that this could become an obsession, I could try to hold onto the things that I need by turning them yellow, which could in turn lead to me turning everything yellow and getting lost in a world where one thing cannot be distinguished from everything else (see ‘toothbrush’ and ‘frame’).

One of the most difficult things for me has been the actual placing of my work in public spaces. I am surprisingly nervous about just putting my work out there; I’m not sure if it’s a fear of judgement, that I’m simply not happy with what I’ve done or that it is a practice I am just not used to. I have begun placing notes around public spaces and have been happy with the result achieved, although I think more abundance is required.

Another approach with my artwork that I wanted to explore was that of collaboration. I was lucky enough to be able to take part in the Interrogation: Collaboration residency at The New Art Gallery Walsall in September. For this I was instructed to work with Agent Strain. Although I found the residency to be enjoyable, on reflection of this experience I have found that I did not enjoy collaboration for collaboration’s sake. If I were to work with another artist it would be because we have a similar idea that we want to explore or a particular project we want to work on. Although decision making with Agent Strain was surprisingly quick and easy, I felt that as we did not know each other well we were unwilling to be as critical as we might normally be.