P4973 6WAY | Diana Chisholm | Project Space

March 10th – April 22nd, 2016

Homo Faber, Ceramic, Metal Leaf, Rubber Dust, 2016.

DIANA CHISHOLM: P4973 6WAY

"Every good craftsman conducts a dialogue between concrete practices and thinking; this dialogue evolves into sustaining habits, and these habits establish a rhythm between problem solving and problem finding.... There is nothing inevitable about becoming skilled, just as there is nothing mindlessly mechanical about technique itself." 1

- Richard Sennet, The Craftsman

Through a consideration of materiality coupled with the semblance of a systematic process, my practice evolves in both a responsive and intuitive manner. I am building an intimate physical relationship between the object and myself as a maker. In turn, this creates a constant physical engagement throughout while making and opens an arena for contemplation and consideration.

My work is positioned in the actualized space of three-dimension to explore the possibility of form, and the illusionary space of photography as a document to the historical. Pitted against each other, my material concerns range from traditional casting methods, the low materials of industrial construction, to the craft supplies of domestic production. The blending of two and three dimensional approaches combined with high and low materiality serves to position my work between preconceived boundaries, while simultaneously absorbing arbitrary, or even absolute, dividing lines.

In this instance I am considering an object, a multi tool of sorts, a unique wrench as a conduit to consider a recurring question. Do I approach the domestic aspects of my process in a different manner than the building and construction aspects? Or framed in alternate way, how do I move between feminine and masculine ways of making? This installation is the result in an attempt to overlap the construction and domestic aspects of my practice. Through the use of casting, creating multiples and the installation of a repeating object I have allowed myself the time to contemplate this question. I have chosen an object and manipulated it in a way to highlight how important tools, materials and processes are to the maker. By turning a steel object into something that looks to be made of bone or velvet for instance, and considering or disrupting functionality it becomes understood that the intimate relationship between the maker and the object through production does not need to be contained inside strict boundaries. My approach to making is most often a dialogue between materials and ideas.

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Diana Chisholm was born in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Chisholm completed a BSc. in Interdisciplinary Studies in Biology and Aquatic Resources before pursuing a career in the arts. Chisholm completed a BFA at Grenfell Campus, Memorial University in 2012 and a MFA from the University of Saskatchewan in 2015. Chisholm now splits her time between Newfoundland and Saskatchewan, currently living in Estevan, Saskatchewan where she is the Artist in Residence for the Estevan Arts Council.

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1. Richard Sennett, The Craftsman, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008), 9.