DAVID REEKIE: CREATIVE PATHWAYS 1

I studied at Stourbridge College of Art from 1967 to 1970. The attraction for me was the multi media nature of the course as at that time glass seemed to be only one aspect. I feel very fortunate that the course was divided evenly between sculpture, glass and ceramics.

The sculptural element allowed me to explore other techniques and materials, and more importantly it allowed me to develop ideas away from the constraints of glass and design. This process gradually reversed itself and I began to adapt these materials and freedoms into my glass work. Towards the end of my time at Stourbridge I developed ideas and techniques in kiln forming glass that are still very much part of how I work and think now. Also, within the fine art element of the course, drawing was a regular weekly component. This was very important to me as it linked well with my love of drawing developed at foundation level. To me drawing is a tool that enables me to unlock my ideas and gives me confidence to work my ideas through into glass. It all starts with a sketch book, which I use almost like a diary, it acts as a store for ideas which I can use now or refer back to.

CREATING YOUR OWN PATHWAY
Using a 1996 sketch book as a starting point I wish to illustrate how my ideas, drawings and final glass work feed each other, cross over and influence future projects. The sketch book was taken at random from a pile stretching back to 1964 and is only a small slice of my working life.

At this time I was coming to the end of a series of lost wax cast glass sculptures involving the juggling figure. The original idea stemmed from thoughts about how other people, especially politicians, juggle with our lives. As I worked on and developed these pieces I became fascinated by the position of the arms and their assumed movement and how far the relationship between the head and the arms could be taken. This allowed the figures to develop into surreal pieces of theatre.



Figure 1. Sketch Book Juggler, 1996
Figure 2. A Kind of Juggler, 1994 Cast Glass

I was also at a stage where I felt I had exhausted this idea, I use the word exhausted because there was great pressure on me, from both galleries and collectors, to continue with this series, as it was very popular and I was tempted to stretch the idea further than I would normally do. It is an on going concern that you could be sidetracked or your work could be diminished in importance and quality by market pressure. It is important that you have well established themes and a continuous set of ideas to move on to.

So I moved on, taking the figure into the realms of the acrobat and the insecurity we feel when we watch someone perform dangerous acts; there is always the possibility they will fall!

The apparatus on which they performed, and the introduction of objects on top of their heads, would in their turn lead to other projects, but at this time they allowed me to develop difficult casting techniques and introduce other materials in the work.



Figure 3. On Shaky Ground VI, 1997 Cast Glass
Figure 4. Living in Confined Spaces V, 1998
Figure 5. Sketch Book, Living in confined Spaces

These pieces led me to think about performance and theatre and how the stage is an isolated and restricted space. In the drawings for Confined Spaces, I toyed with ideas about how we restrict our own lives and build prisons for ourselves. This led to thinking about how we would entertain ourselves within these confines and find things to do.

Drawing heavily on Surrealism within these ridiculous tableaux I made the figures struggle to enjoy their confinement.

The remainder of this sketch book investigates the use of hats. At first I saw them as decorative additions to some of the On Shaky Ground pieces, perhaps adding to the surreal nature of the pieces. But with these drawings I started to develop the hats as an extension to the head form. I took these ideas no further at this time but they would re-enter my work more decisively at a later stage.

Drawings are a fundamental part of my creative process and being taught to observe and draw at art college was very important to me. The skill of drawing allowed me to explore my thoughts, opened doors and created avenues for me to explore. This has enabled my ideas to flow steadily over the years. The drawings I made after leaving Stourbridge College of Art in 1970 kept my creative process alive until I was, once again, in a position to work on my ideas in glass.



Figure 6. Sketch book
Figure 7. Construction with Figures, 1978 Cast Glass

The Construction pieces I made in the early 1970s, using thin sheets of kiln formed glass, allowed me to visualize some of the qualities and feelings I was getting in the drawings at that time. These pieces, with the introduction of the figure in the late 1970s, started a narrative in my work which laid the foundation of the ideas I produce today.

More recently, at the exhibition, Exchange of Information, with Dan Klein Associates in London, January 2008, I used my drawings as an adjunct to the overall look of the exhibition. Seeing drawings related to the exhibited work gives the observer an insight into the creative process of the artist and as these drawings were for sale it also allowed the viewer to own part of that thinking process at a much more affordable price than the work itself. In this way the exhibition affected those who came to see it more deeply and there was a good response to this cross over of work and drawings.

It is usually extremely difficult to persuade specialist glass galleries to display drawings along side the work. This is a reflection on how many consider contemporary glass, not as an art form, that has depth and background through ideas and skill, but merely as a commodity to be traded in.

The Drummers presented in the exhibition, Glass Routes was in some ways a reaction to this steady flow of ideas. I had become somewhat tired of the literal use of the human figure and needed to work with something simpler and more basic. The idea for the robot form came through planning a workshop I was to teach in New Zealand. I wanted to use a figurative form that the students did not have to think about and that would remove all preconceptions and fears of the inability to model in wax. The robot was ideal in that it was a familiar icon and could be constructed out of simple body and limb parts with unlimited shape permutations. The workshop produced some wonderful objects.



Figure 8. Exchange of Information, 2007 Drawing
Figure 9. The Drummers I, 2004 Cast Glass
Figure 10. Different Hats, 2005 Cast Glass

The series that I created from this concept was both social and political in essence. The robot figures became symbols for mindless political thinking and action. The power walking and arrogant posture of modern day politicians, as they move from one political disaster to another, seemed to be summed up in these figures.

The Drummers was made towards the end of this series and I saw these figures as sentinels drumming a warning to future developments.

Finally I will return to the 1996 sketch book and the hats. In 2005 I made work for an exhibition at the Thomas R Riley Galleries in Cleveland, Ohio, entitled, Talking to Strangers. The pieces in this exhibition explored our relationship with one another and themes such as trust and misuse of information.

I used the robot head to suggest a cold receptor of our information who may use it against us. I kept to a simple format with these pieces with just an indication of a body form so that all your attention is drawn to the heads. I now returned to the hat images in the sketch and felt that they could be used here. Titles like Different Hats came to mind, we put on different hats to perform different roles and perhaps hide our identity under them. This in turn led to thoughts about different people and how we make barriers and differences where none may exist.

Within this dialogue I hope I have shown how I have created my own pathways for my work and ideas. In some ways it has been one continuous pathway with tracks crossing here and there.



Figure 11. Different People I, 2007 Cast Glass


David Reekie,
International Glass Artist

Creative Pathway 1 pdf

FOREWORD
Professor Tim Collins: Foreword

ESSAYS
Professor Andrew Brewerton: Glass Routes
Professor Keith Cummings: Continuity and Change in Glass History
Stuart Garfoot: The Glass Baton, A Personal Overview
Susanne Frantz: Glass Tiger
Associate Professor Xiaowei Zhuang: The Development of Studio Glass at Shanghai University
Associate Professor Guan Donghai: Creating With Glass
Dr Kristina Niedderer: Developing Glass Practice Through Creative Research
Xue Lu (Shelly): Growing With the Soil of China

Stuart Garfoot: Introduction to Creative Pathway
David Reekie: Creative Pathway 1
Katy Holford: Creative Pathway 2