Art practice: drawing teaching travelling
Drawings on paper make up a significant amount of my output along with objects, installations and lithographs. My primary concern is the conception of drawing as a way of thinking visually. I connect the physical and psychological aspects of drawing with journey. For me there is a direct correlation between travelling across a landscape and the path of a graphic mark which transforms a blank page into an imaginary space: The path of a gesture of one's hand across a page can be traced in the same way we can map our journeys across the landscape of a place.
This points to the central theme of my work: drawing’s capacity as a cultural repository, which asserts the individual’s presence in contemporary urban spaces. I am interested in the sensual-emotional and socio-cultural dimensions of places. From this perspective place can be understood as a framework of life branded with personal memories. This play between personal and social, private and public reinforces my interest in collaborative arts projects in the fields of education and interdissiplinary research.
I have been involved at various educational institutions during the last 7 years. Since 2006 my time has been divided between teaching 1st and 3rd year drawing at the University of Stellenbosch, travelling and completing my dissertation (Drawing near: inscribing urban spaces - 2008) towards an MA in Visual Arts.
Travelling, teaching and research is integral to how I function as an artist. It provides focus for my visual and academic reseach, which explores the interconnections between drawing and our everyday 'journeys' in and through urban spaces.
Travelling and working in different locations, my approach and process alternate between two poles: nest-builder and nomad. In my work I build temporary shelters for thoughts - wandering from one place to another, collecting observations, experiences and meaning. I tend to understand this notion of travel as a gesture that enables one to re-view one's position emotionally, socially and politically within a particular geographical locality. In this sense drawing can be used as a tool which allows the mind to wander along the more distant paths of memory and imagination to return with a more acute awareness of the present.
Jeanne Hoffman
