Working with an art mentor
In their first blog, Collaboration Inspiring Growth, Lindsay Hussey and Penny Sharples discussed their decision to continue their creative collaboration. They first worked together on a major artwork, Ensemble, created for the Creativity Cluster 2022 exhibition Melbourne: Our Creative Heart, which was funded by a grant from the City of Melbourne. In this blog, Lindsay and Penny discuss how working with an art mentor has provided stimulus and confidence to push the boundaries of their creative expression.
Why have an art mentor?
One of the most rewarding aspects of our first collaboration was that we both produced better work than we would have done alone. The supportive and trusting environment we created together supported us to push our work further.
We knew this would continue in our next collaboration. It was one of the reasons for wanting to do another project together. But we wanted to find a way to accelerate our individual development. As we have both benefited from doing courses and working with more experienced artists, we decided to seek a mentor.
Who to choose as our art mentor
The question, of course, was who? Someone who we knew and respected as an artist, and who also had the ability to help us broaden and deepen our thinking and understanding, and would be emotionally supportive. We are both fairly accomplished technically in our preferred technique, so we didn’t need an artist who was even familiar with oil and cold wax or textile art.
An art mentor is found
After discussing the options, we agreed that Lindsay would approach Nicole Barakat, an artist she did a course with in 2022 which had a strong mentoring component. Nicole was very happy to take us on and we scheduled our first mentoring session. Unfortunately, we are in Melbourne and Nicole is in Sydney but we have the magic of modern technology. It means sharing photos of our work rather than her seeing our actual work but this has been a minor disadvantage.
Our first mentoring session
We had our first mentoring session in late 2023. Nicole Barakat is a warm and emotionally generous person and her genuine support for us and our desire “to make better art” was immediately evident. First, she asked us why we made art. Having given satisfactory answers, we then went on to talk about the samples we had made for this new project, and why and what they meant to us.
No answers – instead new possibilities to explore
Nicole responded with her reaction to our samples and then went on to discuss other possible areas of exploration, aspects we hadn’t thought of. She didn’t give us ‘answers’ or comment on what was right or wrong with our work. Instead, she opened new trains of thought, new possibilities for us to explore.
Creative expression exercise
During this first session, Nicole gave us an exercise to help us understand what creative expression we might consider including in our own work.
Penny found this particularly enlightening. Consequently, this became the launching point for Penny’s more adventuress experimentation on our project theme, experimentation that felt authentic.
Penny writes:
“I used charcoal and ink to create quick works and then ripped them into diverse size pieces to represent the different dislocations I have experienced.
I added a gold thread linking them together to symbolise the constant essence of myself that remained the same throughout my life.” (Figures 1 and 2).
The second mentoring session – taking our samples further
At our second mentoring session, Nicole suggested that Penny push her work further by enlarging the images. Nicole also noted how important the gold thread was to her concept and suggested that Penny paint with the thread. Lindsay suggested that Penny could also stitch the thread onto the paper. (Figures 3, 4, 5 & 6)
Take time to explore
A key message from Nicole is not to jump too quickly to finished work. To take the time to research our subject and our inspirations. Not to reach conclusions too soon.
For example, Lindsay is using the game of Snakes and Ladders as a metaphor. (Figures 7, 8 & 9)
Nicole suggested that Lindsay research not only the game itself but also ladders, snakes and board games separately.
The same with making samples – take the time to make lots of samples as ideas arise and to see where these samples take us.
A stronger work will emerge from the culmination of the broad research and sample making than going immediately with a first idea.
Practicing professional artists
As well, Nicole encouraged us to have a stronger sense of ourselves as practicing, professional artists. And to consider different strategies and pathways for exposing our art to a broader audience.
