We are pleased to be able to say that over the next eight weeks we are going to publish a series of chapters jointly written by two of Scotland’s most interesting artists working with environmental and ecological issues. In an interesting intersection both artists completed MA studies in environmental philosophy, on the MA Value and Environment (MAVE) at the University of Lancaster and the University of Central Lancashire respectively.
Samantha Clark and Judy Spark: two artists, both aware of the other’s practice and the possible parallels. One e-mailed the other, by way of lessening the gap. It transpires that they both have an interest in nothing as well as things in common.
More tangibly perhaps, both artists have also made a commitment to writing; about ‘things’ and also ‘no things’ – those things in which the first clue to their existence may be their apparent absence.
Using these shared concerns as a sort of lens, the two then set out to make an analysis of the terrain between writing and the physical artwork. A small group of researchers and staff at Gray’s School of Art were invited, through a conversational presentation, to join them in exploring the between.
Samantha Clark is a practising artist and Reader in Art at The University of the West of Scotland. She has had written work published in Environmental Values and Green Letters: Studies in Ecocriticism. She is currently undertaking a PhD in Creative Writing at St Andrews University.
http://www.samanthaclark.net/
http://www.uws.ac.uk/staff-profiles/cci/samantha-clark/
Judy Spark is a practicing artist and lecturer in Contemporary Art Practice at Gray’s School of Art. She has recently had work published in PhaenEx the electronic journal of the international Society for Existential and Phenomenological Theory and Culture (EPTC).
http://www.judyspark.co.uk/
http://www.rgu.ac.uk/dmstaff/spark-judy
The first part will be published tomorrow (Wednesday 30 July 2014) and then weekly on Wednesday mornings. We will produce a pdf of the whole sequence at the end and include this as part of the ecoartscotland occasional papers (ISSN 2043-8052).