Jessie Joins In 16/03:

 I'm going to start with the rainbows...

I don't work with rainbows as such, but rather rainbow colours.

It's definitely something that has become important to me later in life, that is, I was never really into rainbows or colours even as a kid. It started in the final semester of my undergrad degree - I had just returned home from my time in America, had started to get on a bit of a role with the kind of work I make now but was still experimenting with materials etc. I had bought a packet of permanent textas from the supermarket that came in all the colours of the rainbow and some toothpicks and was sitting in the studio on my own late one night in an attempt to have a play without anyone there to comment on what I was/should be doing. I started colouring the toothpicks in but couldn't decide on a combination - using just two or three colours had all kinds of connotations or ideas connected with them already (mostly sporting teams) so I just decided to use all of the colours instead. A way of making a decision without having to in a way I suppose, although I didn't include browns, greys or blacks and still don't to this day (they aren't 'happy' colours). And putting them in rainbow order (the way they came in the pack) made the most sense at the time. Again, I guess it was an easy way of making a decision. 

I realise of course that rainbow colours have their own connotations (gay pride for instance) but funnily enough, Henry Jock is the only one to raise that point with me, and that was only last year, somewhere in Northern NSW. I tend to think/use it as more of a hopeful, beautiful, joyful, happy thing and so far it seems to come across that way.

Like you Claire, I have people send me pictures of rainbows and of the spectrum that is cast on the floor, ground etc. when the sunlight passes through glass windows (although I know technically not a rainbow, it brings out a similar joyful feel the way a rainbow does). I also used to collect pictures of these moments myself but have stopped (unless it is truely spectacular) because it is about the experience of these things that makes them magical and special. A photo just can't capture, doesn't make my heart jump, or the corners of my mouth turn up, the way that see these things first hand does. 

I think it is this that is one of the biggest things I am trying to achieve when I make my work - the moment, the experience of that moment, when I see a rainbow, and how it makes me feel. I know that I am far, far away from recreating a natural phenomena in a way that is as successful as the real thing (indeed if anyone can) so I try to recreate that moment as best as I can in whatever ways I can - finding a rainbow in a crack on the pavement, or on the top of a wooden post, or finding that the dirty bubblegum on the ground has suddenly become colourful again - its about that surprising, joyful, heart lifting moment when you discover something lovely out of the blue.

There are lots of other things I think about when making my work too (to the point where I wonder if I should actually go and speak to someone and work through a few thoughts/issues on my own existence) - like Polly mentions, the drawing attention to everyday environments, raising the lowly, an encouragement of being mindful of where we are as well as lots of others - but this is the one that relates most closely to the rainbow. I won't go into everything right now but maybe in future emails if it comes up in/seems relevant to the discussion.

More so lately, the use of rainbow colours is also dependent on the material that I am using. As with the textas at the very beginning, I limit myself to what is available in whatever material I have chosen, which quite often comes in a pack. I also find that the rainbow colours helps make it something special - unless the material I am using is sparkly, or glittery or something else - just one colour, no matter how bright or lovely it is, doesn't make it anything great. Multiple colours, especially rainbow, help show that it is something deliberate, an art work etc. as opposed to a material used by the council on the street. I guess this is dependent on the site as well (gallery v public) and what I'm highlighting.

And if I am working with rainbow colours, I try where possible to find materials where there is more than just the basic 7 colours - multiple shades of each colour or at the very least, not just the stock standard shade that is typically found. Maybe more pastelly, or bright or whatever if that makes sense. I spend a lot of time in toy departments, craft departments just looking, searching for something perfect. 

Last year I tried to move a way from rainbow colours a bit (it was very much dependent on the sites I was working with and that I was forced to think of other colours that suited the project more wholly) but have come back to them after driving round Tassie with Henry. We spotted more rainbows there than ever and it has sparked a whole conversation/argument (that you were both privy to seeing a tad of last year) and a collaborative project between the two of us (which is awesome because we've spent so long working out how to combine our two completely different practices).

So its nice to come back to them again here - perhaps I can't escape them just quite yet!

Maybe thats enough about the rainbows? If I think of more I'll write again.

I also really love writing, and have been doing lots of it lately (both creatively and a little bit of critical/arts writing). I only sometimes think it helps me flesh my ideas, other times I think it keeps me stuck in the one place, focusing on a problem rather than getting out there to work on the solution but in this context I think its beneficial so I'm looking forward to how this discussion develops!

I'm sure there is more to say - but I'll just hit send before I leave this any longer!

My website Claire is plasticineandthumbtacks.wordpress.com. I need to update it a bit but you'll get the gist of what I do from there. And if none of this makes sense without a more in depth description of how I actually make my work (which I just realised you might not know) sing out and I'll go into things a bit more.

xx. Jessie

Ha ha about your old email address Claire! Why on earth do you not still use it?