Artist in Focus: Anne Teahan
Brief biography about me…
I originally studied Painting at Byam Shaw, followed by art-related work in diverse settings (psychiatric admissions ward, children’s workshops, an inner-city secondary school, adult education) which I combined with motherhood.
Ten years ago, with the onset of Laryngeal Dystonia and an energy-sapping auto-immune condition, life, work and the ability to speak, ground to a halt.
This experience and the process of restarting and retrieving voice and energy changed my approach to making art as did a challenging Drawing MA at Camberwell. My current work explores themes of fragility, recovery and reconstruction.
What are you working on at the moment?
I’ve been selected for ‘Revealing Culture’ an international group show about the relationship between Disability and Art at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington next year. They are showing paper sculptures & related digital prints.
I am also starting to explore Irish stories of trauma & memory through paint, paper sculpture and digital printmaking.
If you had the chance to go back in time what artworks would have you like to see being made?
Seurat’s drawing: The Artist’s Mother
http://www.abstract-art.com/abstraction/l2_Grnfthrs_fldr/g014b_seurat_embroidery.html
because it deals with visibility
and Marisol Escobar’s Last Supper
http://www.artstamps.dk/Images17/12-Escobar.jpg
because she plays with 2 & 3 dimensions, - the drawing is elegant and beautiful.
What do you despise?
Tick box concepts crudely applied to art and the word ‘issue’.
Who is your heroine?
I admire Gwen John for her persistence and for the air and space within her paintings.
(Japanese Doll)
http://encorepetite.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/jjj.jpg
What is the biggest challenge for an artist today?
Finding quiet time and space. Affording to make art.
Do you think that the attitude towards working with disabled and deaf artists has changed over the last 10 years?
My experience only started 10 years ago – and it took 3 years to get a diagnosis and start working/teaching art again whilst managing treatment. So it took a while to risk coming out about the chronic nature of my Dystonia. At interviews I would try to give ‘the panel’ the impression my struggle with voice was temporary. The existence of DDA definitely enabled me to ask employers for help.
The Shape mentoring programme also helped with art-related work. Access To Work is currently a lifeline. A few years ago they said ‘no’ to most requests. For the last 2 years they have said ‘yes’. So within my limited experience, I think things have improved.
But I don’t think there should be a compulsion for people to overtly illustrate disability in their art to get work opportunities; authentic and complex experiences emerge in different ways according to the nature of the art within the artist.
Click here for information about Anne's work.
This interview is Anne's own words.
