Saturday, 17 October 2026

Much of this early research was set aside but some strands were pulled through to the end so I want to keep it here for future reference.

Monday, 30 December 2024

Full text and reference list for: Seafloor, Research, Theory and Practice presentation by Terrill Welch

Welcome! I am Terrill Welch. 

In my Sea Floor painting series, I will practice the Zen theory of seeing with the whole body and mind and moving through this awareness to be able to function in the ordinariness of our lives as discussed by John Daido Loori in 2004.

I also consider that art theory, as described by Cynthia Freeland, “involves the effort to organize a dizzying variety of phenomena so as to try to say what they have in common that makes them special.”  (Freeland, 2003)

In addition, in the words of bell hooks “… I find writing – theoretical talk – to be most meaningful that which invites readers to engage in critical reflection and to engage in the practice…” in her case “of feminism.” (hooks, 1991, p. 8) 

Though hooks is talking about writing and readers, I suggest that the same principle can apply to art theory being most meaningful when viewers are invited to engage in critical reflection and to engage in/with the practice of making art. 

I propose that art theory is embedded in our making practice and lived experiences where one continuously revises and informs the other. 

The purpose of my Seafloor series is to engage in an intimate conversation between land and sea and the art of painting with the intent that development and completion of a work will instil inner peace, wellbeing and resilience. However, this is not an isolated new beginning.

As a white, rural, post secondary educated mid sixties woman of settler ancestry living on the unceded lands of the Coast Salish People along the southwest coast of Canada, I was born after the 1940’s and 50’s American Abstract Expressionism movement which included the likes of Mark Rothko and before the gestural figurative and gauging work of Canadian painter Patterson Ewen in the 60’s and 80’s, which has then led me to the thrill of performance art such as the significant contemporary work of Joan Jonas and Dana Claxton and their powerful installation art. Through all of this, I have remained a practicing painter for the past 50 years with primarily figurative, semi-figurative, semi-abstract and impressionist leanings.

I can and do experiment with painting fully abstractly. However, the process and the results seem incomplete to me for the conversations I wish to have with my subjects in paint. Both figurative and abstract elements in my paintings are imperative to the depth, movement and full expression I want to create in my work. 

With this context in mind, I propose that positioning figurative versus abstract in contemporary art is possibly a false dichotomy. I suggest that in my painting practice for this series, figurative and abstract painting are on the same continuum and have an elastic tension between whole body and mind awareness and the functionality required within our ordinary lives. 

This both/and approach to figurative/abstract painting has strong historical beginnings with French painter Paul Cézanne (1839 – 1906) through to American painter Richard Diebenkorn (1922 – 1993) and Canadian painter Patterson Ewen (1925 – 2002) to those referenced in 2021 by Julian Delarange in contemporary art such as David Hockney (1937 -) , Gerhard Richter (1932 – ), Alex Katz (1927 – ) and the youngest at 65 years old, Peter Doig (1959 -).

In 2023, Camille Cohen continues to explore why figurative art has maintained its relevance through time citing the iconic work of Frida Kalho (1907 – 1954) and the figurative abstractions of Cecily Brown (1969 – ). (Cohen, 2023)

However, there are risks within this making approach. As Loori cautions, once we name something, by giving it figurative meaning, we risk no longer noticing how what we have named is perpetually changing. (p. 73 Loori, 2004) We risk missing what else our subject is and what it might yet become. 

I address this risk by beginning again and again, breath by breath, brushstroke by brushstroke through to the quivering notion of naming before it is named – leaving room in each painting for future possibilities and discoveries. 

Video publicly available to view on YouTube: https://youtu.be/LOOo6ipMBcg?si=koFBO4x6UMfu9MfH

Reference list

Claxton, D. (1997) Buffalo Bone China, Dana Claxton. Available at: https://www.danaclaxton.com/artwork/buffalo-bone-china (Accessed: 6 December 2024).

Cohen, C. (2023) What is Figurative Art ? A comprehensive guide, COHLE GALLERY. Available at: https://www.cohlegallery.com/blogs/stories/what-is-figurative-art (Accessed: 20 December 2024).

Delagrange, J. (2021) Contemporary Figurative Painting: A Complete Overview – CAI, Contemporary Art Issue. Available at: https://www.contemporaryartissue.com/contemporary-figurative-painting-a-complete-overview-and-list/ (Accessed: 20 December 2024).

Diebenkorn, R. (1957) Sea Wall [Oil on Canvas]. Available at: https://diebenkorn.org/objects/220/?group=52ae518792775b11d5b4a4cddb7f6f80 (Accessed: 20 December 2024).

Drouin-Brisebois, J. and Diviney, D. (2024) JOAN JONAS: WE COME FROM THE SEA, Gallery.ca. National Gallery of Canada. Available at: https://www.gallery.ca/magazine/your-collection/joan-jonas-we-come-from-the-sea (Accessed: 20 December 2024).

Ewen, P. (1983) Ice Floes at Resolute Bay [acrylic on gouged plywood].

Freeland, C. (2003) Art Theory: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/actrade/9780192804631.001.0001.

Griffin, K. (2018) ART SEEN: Only British bone china allowed for Buffalo Bone China, vancouversun. Vancouver Sun. Available at: https://vancouversun.com/news/staff-blogs/art-seen-only-british-bone-china-allowed-for-buffalo-bone-china (Accessed: 21 December 2024).

Hatch, J.G. (2018) Paterson Ewen: Life & Work, Art Canada Institute – Institut de l’art canadien. Available at: https://www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/paterson-ewen/biography/ (Accessed: 13 November 2024).

hooks, bell (1991) Theory as Liberatory Practice bell hooks. Yale Journal of Law & Feminism: Vol. 4: Iss. 1, Article 2., pp. 1–12. Available at: https://www.ias.edu/sites/default/files/sss/pdfs/Crisis-and-Critique-2018-19/hooks_theory.pdf.

Joan Jonas: Good Night Good Morning (2024) The Museum of Modern Art. MoMA. Available at: https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/5367 (Accessed: 19 November 2024).

Jonas, J. (2023) Joan Jonas in ‘Fiction’ – Season 7 – ‘Art in the Twenty-First Century’ | Art21, YouTube. Available at: https://youtu.be/x2WkckhWRxw?si=NhphxzLbyAm498tq (Accessed: 19 November 2024).

Loori, John Daido (2007) The Zen of Creativity: Cultivating Your Artistic Life. New York: Ballantine Books.

Lynk, M. (2024) ‘We come from the sea’: American artist Joan Jonas on the pull of oceans and Cape Breton, CBC. Ideas in the Afternoon, Radio One. Available at: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/artist-joan-jonas-cape-breton-and-oceans-1.7358491 (Accessed: 19 November 2024).

Meiers, A. (2020) How the Rothko Chapel Creates Spiritual Space, JSTOR Daily. Available at: https://daily.jstor.org/how-the-rothko-chapel-creates-spiritual-space/ (Accessed: 30 October 2024).

Trant, A.J. et al. (2016) ‘Intertidal resource use over millennia enhances forest productivity’, Nature Communications, 7(1). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms12491.

Welch, T. (2022a) Future Fragments Study [acrylic and oil on gessobord]. Available at: https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/terrill-welch/artwork/future-fragments-study (Accessed: 30 December 2024).

Welch, T. (2022b) Sandstone Serpents at the Entrance of Active Pass [acrylic and pencil crayon on gessobord]. Available at: https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/terrill-welch/artwork/sandstone-serpents-at-the-entrance-of-active-pass (Accessed: 30 December 2024).

Welch, T. (2024a) A Long Land and Sea Story [acrylic, walnut oil and bone china on wood].

Welch, T. (2024b) Drifting with Seashells in a Receding Tide [digital sketch using Art Set App].

Welch, T. (2024c) Late August Morning [oil on canvas]. Available at: https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/terrill-welch/artwork/late-august-morning (Accessed: 30 December 2024).

Welch, T. (2024d) Rhythms on the Sea Floor with Crab [acrylic on gessobord]. Available at: https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/terrill-welch/artwork/rhythms-on-the-sea-floor-with-crab (Accessed: 30 December 2024).

Welch, T. (2024e) Sea and Seals [oil, ceramic tiles, screws and wire on wood]. Available at: https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/terrill-welch/artwork/sea-and-seals (Accessed: 30 December 2024).

Welch, T. (2024f) Sea Floor at Reef Bay [walnut oil on canvas]. Available at: https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/terrill-welch/artwork/sea-floor-at-reef-bay (Accessed: 30 December 2024).

Welch, T. (2024g) Sea Floor, Research, Theory and Practice presentation by Terrill Welch, YouTube. Available at: https://youtu.be/LOOo6ipMBcg?si=6a_eNxmBZWSAjdKi (Accessed: 30 December 2024).

Welch, T. (2024h) Shells Gathering Study [walnut oil on gessobord]. Available at: https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/terrill-welch/artwork/shells-gathering-study (Accessed: 30 December 2024).

Welch, T. (2024i) Strait of Georgia Blues [walnut oil on gessobord]. Available at: https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/terrill-welch/artwork/strait-of-georgia-blues (Accessed: 30 December 2024).

Welch, T. (2024j) Varnish Clamshell in the Flow [walnut oil on linen]. Available at: https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/terrill-welch/artwork/varnish-clamshell-in-the-flow (Accessed: 30 December 2024).

Rough capture of research considerations

Tuesday, 10 December 2024

I am beginning to muse about research considerations.

Do I restrict geographic site or sites for my field work?

Are there other materials and ways of engagement other than paint and a surface that are compelling to me when having a conversation with nature?

How does being with nature, specifically the sea instil inner peace, wellbeing and resilience.

What marks or rhythms of marks and shapes on a painting surface convey inner peace, wellbeing and resilience?

Action: Must investigate theories and research – My biases are that these aspects of self engagement, realizations or vibration achieved by both the maker of the work and the viewer of the same work allows for the best opportunity for living a full, rich life with compassion, accountability,  and endurance. I question whether this is true or simply long held assumptions.

• Use of “instil” as defined the Cambridge dictionary – “Instil means to put a feeling, idea, or principle gradually into someone’s mind, so that it has a strong influence on the way that person thinks or behaves.” https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/instil

Now to get on with some painting in the studio. It is only 9:30 and I should be able to get a couple of hours in at least. Then we have the “Making Day” tomorrow for school. This should make for a nice warm up for then.