Rooftop archive 6: more dreams

In previous "rooftop archive" posts I have discussed selfies and early work here and here, other people's work here, other dream drawings here, and the Tidal Series here, which is more vision than dream and remains a major influence on my work still.

Here is some 80s dream work from the rooftop archive. I have been interested in dreams and psychoanalysis for a long time with a dream diary spanning four decades. Imagery from my dreams is often used as a starting point in both my writing and my visual work. I had picked up a number of oilsticks (as opposed to oil pastels) while visiting my parents in Ireland one year and absolutely loved drawing with them. The diptych of swimming angels was created directly from a dream that reflected my obsession at the time with the Wallace Stevens poem “Our Stars Come From Ireland”. This diptych from 1987 is quite large, each panel measuring 102 cm x 67 cm.

Dolphins often appear in my dreams, and this depiction of them churning up the sea is also a direct dream image. “Dream of Dolphins” measures 82 cm x 66 cm and is also from 1987, when I was still living in Toronto.

When I first moved to Ireland, I lived with my parents in Bray and one of our morning rituals was to discuss our dreams over breakfast. This image of a double bass in the water is related to one of my Dad’s dreams; oilstick on oil paper, 51 cm x 76 cm, 1988. 

This chalk pastel drawing is my attempt at visualising a specific dream of my own. It measures 56 cm x 76 cm and is also from 1988.

In 1988 I worked on a number of oilstick drawings, which were an amalgamation of recurring dream images (ladders, the sea, the red-sailed boat, dolphins) before I finally settled on a theme and medium for my 1989 solo exhibition in Dublin. Ladders to the Sea, 77 cm x 57 cm, is one of these dream amalgamation drawings.

Rooftop Archive 3

For previous posts on the rooftop archive, see here, here and here. One of the large portfolios from the roof archive had some large prints that friends had traded or given to me – some even inscribed “Happy Birthday, Lorraine” or “To Lorraine”.

This is an etching my good friend, Elizabeth Canfield created in our final year at CTS art school (1981). Although it is undated, I remember her working on it in the print room. It is the second print of an edition of four and the image size is 60 cm x 45 cm. 

This print is also by Elizabeth Canfield and is an undated photo-etching from when she studied printmaking at York University in Toronto (1982-1986?). It is entitled “The Ride” and is 45 cm x 60 cm. 

This etching is by my friend Jay Dampf (RIP) and is from our final year CTS art school printmaking class. Though unsigned and undated, I remember Jay working on this and giftng me the piece. The image size is 60 cm x 45 cm. 

This is a unique serigraph by Scott Gwilliams, who went to the same art school in Toronto, though in a different year than I. It is entitled “David” and dated 1983 by which time I was attending the fine art department at York University. The diptych image is 50 cm x 70 cm and dedicated to me for my birthday.

rooftop archive 2

 A few months ago I decided to go through a number of portfolios that were in storage on the rooftop section of the attic (the other side of the wall from my studio). I blogged about opening the portfolios and finding things here and wrote about some of the early works here.

Going back a little bit further even, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had held on to a few prints from CTS art school in Toronto. I think Blue Egg, an undated silkscreen print measuring 70 cm x 59 cm in an edition of 10 (this print is 10/10) is from late 1980 when I was in my third and final year. 

Also from my final year at CTS, though early the following year (1981) is an untitled etching. I did a test print of the linework before I added the aquatint.

 I remembered being teased mercilessly at the time by my friends/fellow art students for always painting and drawing sleeping subjects!

Although I did not pursue printmaking again till decades after art school, for awhile I enjoyed making monoprints - simply painting on the back of zinc plates and pressing them to paper with a wooden spoon as I didn't have access to a press. That summer of 1981 I became obsessed with tulips and I remember creating a series of monoprints of them in the basement of my parent’s house in the wee hours of the morning listening to an old record of Cream on a 1970s space-style Panasonic stereo. I loved the song Deserted Cities of the Heart, both the lyrics and Ginger Baker’s drumming. As I used the same zinc plate, the untitled works were all 38 cm x 28 cm. My good friend and cousin was visiting Toronto that summer and I gave her two from this series to take home with her – they are framed and on her wall in London to this day. Only those two, this one and one other from this series still exist. 

By time winter came along that year, my tulips became stemless and were more abstract. I remember creating this piece while minding a sister’s apt in downtown Toronto. It began as an oil pastel drawing within a matte frame and then I painted the surface with turpentine, so I am not sure how to categorize it (painting or drawing?). Untitled, 40 cm x 23 cm.

rooftop archive 1

Happy New Year! Last year seems ages away now and before I got caught up in all the December activities, I had begun another purge by going through a number of portfolios and portfolio boxes that were being stored on the rooftop area adjacent to my studio. I blogged about that here and what had prompted the exercise. I never did find the specific drawing I was looking for, but this did lead me to find other things, properly document work, and finally, destroy quite a few unnecessary and/or substandard works. But here are some of the earlier works that I am keeping.

I destroyed most drawings from various life drawing sessions in Ireland (I decided I didn't need proof that I was able to draw!) but decided to keep this life drawing from my third and final year at CTS art school in Toronto. Pastel on paper, 81 cm x 56 cm, 1980

This graphite drawing is dated 1981 and measures 59 cm x 45 cm. It is signed as S. Lorraine (my first initial and my second name, as I am called by) and though not technically drawn as a self-portrait, I always thought of it as one. I find it interesting now as a precursor drawing to the work done for my first solo exhibition, held in Dublin in 1989 (I will do a future blog on that exhibition's work, which was also in one of the rooftop portfolios). 

Although this chalk pastel drawing is unsigned & undated, I am sure I drew it in 1983 either shortly before or shortly after my parents left Toronto to return to Ireland; it measures at 61 cm x 46 cm.

archive from the rooftop!

A few weeks ago I remembered having done a drawing of Macha running with horses (something she was forced to do while pregnant and so cursed the men of Ulster to be severely debilitated in time of greatest need) when I lived in Kerry. I was sure the drawing must be in one of the portfolio or flat storage boxes that have been relegated to the attic roof for the past few decades. I was determined to, at the very least, do an inventory of the work in these portfolios while looking for the drawing and perhaps purge a few things on the way. First up was a flat box portfolio that I recall being made to house a submission of drawings to Canada's Artbank in the early 1990s, prior to my big move to Ireland. 

My work wasn't bought (I don't even remember what I submitted) but the durable portfolio has proved itself very useful for unframed work.

The work inside was a nice surprise too and I began an inventory. Photographs and measurements were taken of all works, and then I began separating work into piles to keep or to purge.

I'm glad I kept the two self-portraits from the early 1980s and they went into the pile to still keep.

When I worked in the Records, Archives & Museum Dept. of the Toronto Board of Education, a clean-up/clear-out of perceived junk was being done. I was offered a huge, double-handled porfolio and gladly took it off the TBE's hands! All kinds of things were inside it that I didn't expect to see. I had been searching for years (in the wrong places, obviously!) for my copy of a Day in the LIFE of a Bull Dyke magazine by Canadian artists Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan. There was a photocopy of a memorial to my Dad that appeared in The Bray People in 1995. There was a large, handmade calendar page from my busy final month in Toronto in 1993 giving a daily account of my doings (packing, garage sales, meetings with friends, gigs, literary readings. I was also surprised to see some fine drawings that I did for a Community Employment Scheme in which I participated in 1990: my task was to create drawings of historic sites and sites of interest around Wicklow for possible use in tourist walks brochures. The brochures were never made, so nothing came of it, but it was nice to see these illustrations again.

That large portfolio also contained art postcards and invitations from friends' exhibitions that were mounted in acetate so that I could hang them on the walls of my apt for inspiration. The relevance of some of the press clippings I found wasn't apparent to me - I guess I liked the pictures! There were also some experiments with media for specific projects; these items I know can be discarded once I have pictures and measurements.

In another portfolio there were smaller bodies of work, idea sketches and work belonging to my husband. 

It was interesting to see some of this work again, much of which I had entirely forgotten about. I never found the Macha drawing, but at least I have organised the works that I am keeping. I only returned TWO portfolios to the roof for storage!

There was also a large rectangular box that contained unwieldy plates of glass and some oversize pictures. The last portfolio I went through was a makeshift wooden portfolio that I was sure hadn't been opened since the late 1980s. So I cut the tape! I was wrong, there were some things from the early 1990s, mostly life drawings from various sessions -- all of which have been purged (again, after they were photographed and measured). After nearly four decades as a professional artist, I finally don't feel that I have to prove I am able to draw! Of more interest to me in this portfolio were several posters - one from the play Boss Grady's Boys by Sebastian Barry and another of an exhibition of paintings in Dublin, Local Colour by Pat Moran (RIP). I had met both Sebastian and Pat at The Tyrone Guthrie Centre in the spring of 1989. Pat gave me the poster from his exhibition the previous year and I attended the premiere of Sebastian's play at The Peacock Theatre in Dublin that summer.