Year 3, Bachelor of Visual Arts, Nelson Marlborough
Institute of Technology.
Tutor Catharine Hodson took the final
painting studio year.
Other core subjects were
· Art Theory (tutor Jules
Findlay)
· Professional Practise (tutor
Kate Walker and various visiting artists and dealers)
· Independent Research Paper
- Elective (tutor Jules Findlay).
Year 3 Studio comprised of a yearlong
personal project involving various stages – research,
concept development and realisation. Paula chose to do installation.
By using constructed and existing pieces of furniture to represent
woman’s body and function, she manipulated material and
meaning to demonstrate how women are raised from birth to accept
their given identity and role according to their sex. Also the
duality in which they are allowed to express their sexual freedom,
or not. The year culminated in a combined student exhibition,
showcasing the year’s work at the Suter in Nelson, November
2003.
Tutor contact by this stage
is minimal, as students become more independent and strong in
their sense of direction. Although each year for the student
has become increasingly self-directed (effective time-management
being essential) the tutors are there for well-placed prompts
resulting from structured seminars to discuss progress, both
one-to-one and in groups. The students are continuously primed
for life outside the protective nest of art school and what
is needed to forage a personally rewarding career in the arts.
Paula’s
Concept Statement for ‘Naughty Girl’
Coming from a background strongly
influenced by the patriarchal hierarchy - I have a longstanding
interest in psychoanalytic theory and the behavioural sciences.
I am particularly intrigued
by the ways in which women immersed in the beliefs of patriarchy
- define and express their sexuality in modern society. I agree
with Rose’s claim that Freud’s psychosexual development
model with its recent refinements, is still the best available
interpretation of sexuality and the difference between the sexes
to date.1
In my work I am exploring an
expressing the following key concepts - involving the theorists/writers
Freud, Lacan, Cixous, Foucault and Bartky.
-
The idea that femininity
and sexuality is constructed by patriarchal culture and not
nature – that some women are psychologically programmed
from birth not to express or experience sexual pleasure and
pursue a selfless existence attending to the needs of others.
Effectively, woman is castrated and lost from her true sense
of self.
- The patriarchal construction of love, romance
and myth surrounding the human biological instinct to procreate
in order to control women. I.e.: Marriage, monogamy, romance,
love and vaginal orgasms to subjugate women and to procure domestic
service.2
- That the patriarchal social order is embedded
into language and behaviour concerning sexual mores’ -
resulting in double standards that disadvantage women in expressing
sexual freedom.3
- How being ‘constructed’ as
a woman in modern patriarchal society, affects her sense of
sexuality in her everyday life. Aware of being the object of
the gaze, she constantly ‘self-objectifies’. She
learns to monitor her appearance and behaviour in accordance
with her own ‘panoptic’ surveillance – an
image which is confirmed by visual mass media.
1
Rose, J. (1987). Sexuality and the Field of Vision. London:
Verso.
2 Koedt, Anne.
(0000). The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm
3 Cixous, H.
(1976).The Laugh of the Medusa.
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‘Naughty Girl’
- 2003
installation at the Suter,
Nelson - November
© Paula Cunniffe
‘Lazy Girl
Recliner Rocker’ - 2003
Constructed stool; steel, MDF, screws, cotton poplin, Marabou
feathers, bicycle bell, chrome spraypaint.
© Paula Cunniffe
‘Lazy
Boy Recliner Rocker’ – 2003.
Original Lay-z-Boy vinyl chair, spray enamel paint, dyed meatcloth,
possum fur, stirrups and leather, modified remote control and
whip.
© Paula Cunniffe
‘My Screw’
– 2003.
Laser printed digital image.
Approx. 2.5 x 1.5m.
© Paula Cunniffe
‘Heirloom’ – 2003. Quilt
– constructed of impasto-print diary pages on cotton lawn,
organza, satin ribbon, dacron filling, embroidered flowers, pins
and eggshells. 210 x 210 cm.
© Paula Cunniffe
‘Heirloom’ –
2003. Quilt
Close up view
© Paula Cunniffe
The above photos were taken
and kindly supplied for use by Eleanor Gorrie of Nelson
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