Artist Profile - Caroline Hands
Biography
Caroline is a full-time visual artist who works in painting, drawing, textiles, batik, felt making, copper and enamel, mosaic, 3D, photography and book illustration. Born in London Caroline went to Art School initially studying Fashion, but developed into a mixed media course incorporating theatre design, photography, sculpture and visual research. On leaving college Caroline worked on community arts projects in and around Notting Hill Gate, and it is at this time batik, painting and photography became her main focus, and has absorbed her ever since.Caroline also lived in Oxfordshire and Staffordshire before making Herefordshire her base in the late 70’s. She has devoted an enormous amount of energy into local community projects and public art works throughout her life. Highlights including; Hereford Dancing, Festival Director of the Hereford Three Choirs Fringe Festival, first resident artist at the Hay-on-Wye Festival of Literature, many school residencies and more recently a commission by Archenfield Archaeology, which depicts the history of Newport Street in Worcester. Throughout Caroline’s life and work runs a core theme of dance, or rather movement and change, interweaving her other passions of gardening, culture, community and travel. The thirst to feed this focus has taken her all around the world, in particular to the East where she has spent extended periods, most recently in Sri Lanka and China.
Artist Statement
Since as long as I can remember I've made things with whatever materials were available, natural or man-made. At 11 my parents entered me for a competition at Harrods in London judged by Augustus John. 1000's of entries. I was lucky to come 5th. Looking at the picture of Noah's Ark now, I am interested by its balance and space, and see a knowledge that I hope to have still retained. Later they sent my photos in for a photographic competition, I won but was annoyed as I had not known of the entry and had given no permission to use my work and competitiveness was not naturally part of my nature.
Art, a horse, and silence that's mainly what occupied my childhood. A bit of a loner. Another thing I remember as special is my father taking me to the British Museum regularly on a Sunday. This I feel has probably helped shape my life long interest in other cultures. Seeing the links and recurring images that run through many cultures and religions. Intuitive understandings of how we all link. The generosity of colour and forms, the playfulness and sanctity.
At Art College in London, young and naive, I started in fashion but really had no interest in the industry but loved the challenge of ideas and the sensuality of the fabrics. The absurdity and anarchy. Copper wigs, body paint. Any material made into costume. I persuaded the principal to let me design my own course. Photography, theatre design, sculpture, general visual research. This was one of the first mixed courses, though now of course it's commonplace. I danced in the street every Saturday with the buskers and we put on a show which attracted large crowds. To my surprise later shown representing the 60's Notting Hill Gate with Michael Gambon and Paul Merton in Room 101.
I worked on adventure playgrounds in Notting Hill Gate also with Ronnie Lazulate who helped start the carnival. Later I helped run one of the many street festivals in London, All Farthing's in Wandsworth. By now, after working in a photo lab for a bit, that had never employed women before, I took to doing Batik inspired by a wonderful Nigerian artist friend Emmanuel Jegede. I did large batik hangings and exhibited them in and around London, in Paintings, libraries and universities.Also there was a cottage industry in silk scarfs. As well as being sold to Liberty's in London they were being exported, even to Hong Kong! After living in Oxfordshire, many trips to Canada, it was back to London again and a strict discipline of self taught painting. Later there was a return to the country, sadness of a marriage break up and life fell apart, a craziness took over, a great loss.A helpful suggestion from a friend, and back to college as a mature student. I wanted to use the life model. I drew and drew, worked from early morning until late at night, day after day. At this stage I began to grind my own pigment realising how important to me the depth and richness of colour was. Much of my work continued to be archetypal and my interest in Jung intuitively fitted; though it seemed to resonate in a philosophical way rather than academic. I made a strange intuitive friendship with Claude Curling sub dean of London University at the time. The artist and the scientist (or maybe it was just I was quite a pretty young girl!)
I was on a bit of a moonscape in many ways and some of the work was almost like automatic writing. At a Jungian conference when the batiks were shown I had people telling me how I helped them go on living, I didn't really understand. Another time they lay on top of me in a pile, maybe to earth me.Yes earth was what I needed, so from the heavy clay of Stoke on Trent and the Potteries I moved to Herefordshire, where I could create gardens and vegetables as well as pictures. I travelled to the East which I took to immediately, being rather spoilt by going to Nepal first. Tears streaming down my face when the plane took leave of the Himalayas. Later I went to India and Sri Lanka. Staying at a dance school for a short while in South India and searching out dance Kathakali etc.The East and Earth resonated through my work and life. The constant instant of change and movement.In some ways the complete lack of suitability to live in Herefordshire, the lack of mixed races that I miss so much. But the sound of the land, the ancientness of it feeds and attracts.
Inventing projects, having had experience of Artist in Schools residencies through the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham and Art link projects working in the Probation service among other places, I had quite a lot of experience in working in the community. I persuaded the old West Midlands Arts and the old Herefordshire Council to fund me to do a project called Hereford Dancing. Many nights of the week I sat and drew different forms of dance, anything from Morris men to jazz dance and all in between going on in different venues around Hereford. In a few lines the different dances reveal their steps and music. People of all ages dancing every night of the week. What a celebration. It ended in my work paintings, drawings, batiks all around the city, shop windows, sculptures in the main shopping mall etc. But I felt it was the dancing participants that should also be celebrated. So I persuaded the council to put on a small festival to celebrate them. This later joined Worcester Dance fest.The next year the Three Choirs , that famous old choral festival, was looking for a director for their fringe festival which was pretty well non existent. The then arts officer, the pianist Veronica Jamsett, asked me. Recently I watched a programme with Orson Wells speaking, talking about how he made Citizen Kane. He said: "Ignorance". That was pretty much how I did it, so there were no rules, no fear. That's how I ran the Fringe! for 4 terms every 3 years. It grew enormous and 1000's of people were involved. The programme had no star status. Edmund DeWaal world famous potter, Anne Stevenson, winner of recent prestigious poetry prize and many more next to the girl and boy in the street having a go. The streets were packed, so were the halls. Talks ranged from environmental to fishing to Elgar to Rap etc. Again at the time mixed programmes at festivals were not common place. I had a team of young people and Jackie Francis, now my very good friend, who used to be an opera singer in Italy. It was a time packed with community creativity, not quite as wild as the world in London in the 60's but an enormously interesting mix that all ages and backgrounds took part in.
Times change. Then it was time for the earth again. Materially, recycling and imagination has gone a long way in my life. Doing batik silks which people could swathe themselves in. Drawing and painting. Many exhibitions. Artist in schools projects mainly primary's (which I love to work in ) Hay-on-Wye Literature Festival (first artist in residence, way back) Ross on Wye International Festival. Many workshops, recycled materials and batiks. I was one of the two artist representatives as a trustee on an arts education board dealing with artists in schools for Herefordshire and Worcestershire.
Then there was China. It had always been somewhere in my consciousness. Having read much Chinese poetry and literature and loved their painting and artefacts. I knew China was special for me. I met two women separately Xirang (a wonderful writer of Good Women in China and Sky Burial among other books), the writer and Annie who now works with flower remedies.
"Come to China!" they said. I realised it was time to go. So on my ever growing overdraft I bought a ticket to Shanghai and later on to Chengdu to see Annie. That was definitely the time to go as China was changing so fast. Everything started opening. I experienced such intelligence, warmth and generosity from people.
"You're an artist we'll look after you," and they did and do. With that backing the work flowed.The essence of a place and its people, that's what I'd like to get. Though the road takes you everywhere it will open to that space in between, where the magic lies. There are choices to be made and I do hope they (the paintings) can nourish and uplift rather than constantly pointing out the dark and the negative. Some people may call it illustrative but I don't see it that way. Some may call it unfinished but neither of these are correct in my point of view. What I am doing, that space left, a generosity for the viewer to wonder and find the depth of their own creativity.
The other, the depth, the stroke and the love.That the pictures speak for themselves and give out a warmth, passion and gentleness and intelligence!That for me is the alchemy, the refined clarity out of the dark, the pure jewels. Though of course it varies!All I ask is that I am given the great honour that people will rest in the work a while and be taken in deeper and deeper. My work is my prayer.