The role of drawing in the work of Charlotte Hodes

Abstract

This article is based on material from Hodes' Inaugural Professorial Address at London College of Fashion, which was conducted as a conversation with the author. The article considers the role of drawing within Hodes' overall fine art practice, particularly in relationship to her large-scale papercuts and ceramics. It addresses the manner in which drawing is used by Hodes as a primary research tool, to gather information and assimilate influences, and how digital technology works in conjunction with traditional means of drawing. The article focuses on particular projects to examine how Hodes engages with collections and archives as starting points for a more personal investigation, which invariably involves the female figure as a central motif. In this respect, how Hodes uses herself as the model offers insights into an embodied approach to creativity.

Acknowledgements

The author would like to acknowledge Professor Charlotte Hodes, London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London for her cooperation in the writing of this article. The research carried out by Hodes for Fragmented Images was supported by two Arts Council England Grants for the Arts: Collaboration with the Wallace Collection, London 2004 (LAG090403348) and Decoration and the Picture: A Contemporary Response to the Wallace Collection 2006 (G090703379). It was also supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council through the Small Grants in Creative and Performing Arts Scheme entitled A Practice Based Inquiry into the Decoration and Pictorial Imagery of the Sèvres Vase 2005 (119594). The research for Drawing Skirts was also supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council through the Small Grants in Creative and Performing Arts Scheme 2007 entitled Collaborative Investigation into the Role of the Handcraft and Digital Processes within Creative Practice (AH/F012071/1).

Notes on contributor

Paul Coldwell is Professor of Fine Art at the University of the Arts London. He has exhibited widely, his work having been included in numerous public collections, including Tate, V&A, British Museum, the Arts Council of England and Musée d'art et d'histoire, Geneva, and elected for the Ljubljana Print Biennial (1997 and 2005), the International Print Triennial, Cracow (2000, 2003, 2006 and 2009), Imprint, Warsaw (2008, 2011 and 2014) and the Northern Print Biennial (2009 and 2011). His recent exhibitions include A Layered Practice Graphic Work 1993–2012, a retrospective staged by the University of Kent, and Re-Imagining Scott: Objects & Journeys at the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, 2013. He writes regularly for Art in Print, Print Quarterly and Printmaking Today and his book Printmaking: A Contemporary Perspective was published by Black Dog Publishing in 2010. His essay ‘The Printed Image: A Space for Writing and Drawing’, is published in The Drawn Word (edited by Professor Stephen Farthing and Dr Janet McKenzie, published by Studio International, 2014). www.paulcoldwell.org

Notes

1. Inaugural Address by Professor Charlotte Hodes in conversation with Professor Paul Coldwell, with introduction by Professor Frances Corner, 11 March 2014, London College of Fashion (hereafter cited as Hodes 2014).

2. Fragmented Images, 2007, Wallace Collection, London. Charlotte Hodes was Associate Artist at the Wallace Collection, London from 2005 to 2007, supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Arts Council England.

3. http://www.uffizi.org/artworks/the-birth-of-venus-by-sandro-botticelli/.

4. http://www.nationalgalleries.org/collection/artists-a-z/p/artist/francis-picabia/object/sotileza-subtlety-gma-4074.

5. http://wallacelive.wallacecollection.org/eMuseumPlus?service=direct/1/ResultDetailView/result.inline.lightbox.t1.collection_lightbox.$TspTitleImageLink.link&sp=13&sp=Sartist&sp=SelementList&sp=0&sp=0&sp=999&sp=SdetailView&sp=0&sp=Sdetail&sp=1&sp=T&sp=0&sp=Slightbox_3x4&sp=0&sp=T&sp=10.

6. Fête Galante in a Wooded Landscape, Antoine Watteau, 1719–1721, The Wallace Collection, London. http://wallacelive.wallacecollection.org/eMuseumPlus?service=direct/1/ResultDetailView/result.inline.lightbox.t1.collection_lightbox.$TspTitleImageLink.link&sp=13&sp=Sartist&sp=SfilterDefinition&sp=0&sp=3&sp=1&sp=SdetailView&sp=5&sp=Sdetail&sp=1&sp=T&sp=0&sp=Slightbox_3x4&sp=0&sp=T&sp=5.

7. Drawing Skirts, 2008, University Gallery and Baring Wing, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.