Published 07 February 2022 in Interviews
Artistcloseup
Interview - Natasha Norman
Artistcloseup
Published 29 November 2021
Natasha Norman
Natasha’s mastery of printmaking enables her to work across various print techniques, in order to produce work that aims to connect a viewer to an experience or place. This requires a movement of imagination, a transcendence of the self in order to access a poetic visual language to something greater: whether profoundly beautiful, terrifying or comforting.
Natasha Norman completed her Honours in 2005 and her Master’s degree in Fine Art in 2011 at the University of Cape Town. She currently works as a part-time lecturer, arts writer, and practicing artist. Throughout her art training and career, she has consistently been inspired by the medium and technical challenges of print. She trained in traditional western print methods at the University of Cape Town and subsequently attended residencies in Japan to study the Japanese relief print method, Mokuhanga.
In recent Mokuhanga works, Natasha has taken much inspiration from the Japanese cultural aesthetic wabi sabi. Her study of this term that defies translation has fostered an appreciation for the beauty in transient natural moments and a sense of spiritual well-being centered on imperfection and simplicity. The theme of her work tends toward expressing the momentary and experiential in a pared-down language of mark and form that seeks to evoke a resonant response in the viewer rather than portray a particular event.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“My art world journey started with a Fine Art degree from the University of Cape Town. I then apprenticed with a recognised South African artist and activist, Sue Williamson, and was inspired to return to study a Masters degree at University. I have exhibited consistently throughout my part-time work as an arts writer, lecturer and academic.
At the time that I first entered the art world in South Africa, there was very little arts writing in the country, so my practice has always gone hand-in-hand with writing and education. I am drawn to printmaking as a medium that disrupts conventions of value in the art market, and admire its historical link to struggle-politics in my country. My art journey has taken me to Japan where I studied the traditional woodblock printing method called Mokuhanga. This was a watershed experience and I devote most of my current practice to exploring the techniques and aesthetics of this medium.”
How would you describe your work?
“A calligraphic artistic mark that can evoke an experience of natural beauty. Visual poetry of a place, experience and being.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“Wabi-sabi - that beautiful untranslatable Japanese term - is a theme in my work. I think the Japanese have understood since the medieval age how connected we are to natural cycles of change. I value a pared-down aesthetic that requires an ongoing relationship with the viewer.”
“My message, as well as my method, is one that seeks to connect to viewers, to reveal that by my mark and their engagement one can access an empathic imagination: a type of thinking that I feel is vital to redeeming humanity's concern with ecology and environmental wellbeing.”
What inspires you most?
“Transient moments of natural beauty. The refraction of light on rivulets that form after the rains. The textural bliss of tall grass that dances in inexplicable patterns in an afternoon breeze. The impossible tonal depth of spring green leaves in dappled shade. The ever changing shoreline that reveals treasures from the bay or sand marks made by wind or tide.
My work is deeply inspired by my experiences of the natural world. In the manifestation of the shifting layers and planes of marks and tones is an elementary, sensory memory of place. My artistic subjectivity is influenced by my experience of Wabi philosophies concerning the relationship between humans and nature.”
Which artists influence you most?
“I am influenced by the American abstract expressionist Helen Frankenthale, South African painter Sanell Aggenbach, French painter Jean-Baptiste Besançon and Australian artist Danielle Creenaune. I am also influenced by the woodblock prints of Hasui Kawase and contemporary woodblock printers Cam Bailey and Matthew Lintott.”
What is your creative process like?
“Like a calligrapher, my sketchbooks are filled with mark articulations from brushes, sometimes sketches of things or landscapes if I feel my naturalistic eye needs fine-tuning. But these are just exercises. My artistic process begins with my day-to-day experiences outdoors. I look, I feel. Whether it is the sunlight glancing off a crashing wave before I am swept into its embrace, or the tentative bending of a fruit-laden tree branch.
I bring those experiences back to the studio where I find a palette and a type of mark best suited to express that event. I use monotype print processes to create colorful layering for more active events or a more time-based, carved Mokuhanga block for a more sedative moment.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“In such an image-rich society, I think the artist has an important role to play in developing visual literacy. The artist can challenge and inspire viewers to critically engage with image production. In a humble way, I think that when a viewer connects with an artist's creative practice, they transcend their own reality and this is a very powerful tool for change. I see the artist's role evolving to highlight the ethics of the entire supply chain of artistic production in order to highlight consumption and production values in the world today.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“I have been making work for group exhibitions - which has been lots of fun and led to very rewarding experiences - but I am looking forward to consolidating my ideas with a forthcoming solo exhibition next year.”
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