If you take the spiral, the winding path of being human, and stretch it out, pull it open, we arrive at the ever-looping…
At its core, I understand, this loop-de-loop is ultimately
about fun
about acceptance
about questions
about playful discovery
about our wild intuition
and encoded messages
At first I was just scritchy-scratching with pencils and pastels on old book pages and cigarette boxes back in December 2020. The same repeated looping spiral began to emerge, spreading wider and bolder across the plane, carving clean lines into the pastel beneath or smooshing together in multiple layers. I tentatively nurtured these childish marks and took care to gently quiet the voice of doubt as I planted this fresh and vulnerable seed.
It all started to make more sense when I was chatting with the sisters I looked after as an au pair, about the toys they had as kids (and gosh, I LOVE toys). What particularly stuck with me were their Lalaloopsy dolls- isn’t that just such a fabulously joyful name for a doll?! Lalaloopsy… it just conjures up silliness, imagination, sipping on pink plastic cups of make-believe tea.
In hindsight, and “present-sight”, I realise that the meeting of Lalaloopsy and my creative-self-doubt laid ground ripe for questions and exploration.
If we are on a never-ending rollercoaster of life, how do we allow this experience to loop-de-loop into something more fun and playful?
How can grown up humans, adults (yikes), create space for play and silliness?
The winding path of experience and discovery is a movement that pendulums between forwards and backwards motion. How can we accept both progress and regression as part of the metamorphosis of growth?
And when the loop-de-loop encodes messages, what deeper, beneath-the-layers treasure awaits patiently for us to discover it? This question reminds me that I cannot omit mentioning the great Cy Twombly and the profound influence his work has had on my practice. In particular, Twombly’s Bacchus series and “chalkboard” series express energy and the mark of the hand on canvas, as well as demonstrate a sense of transliteration of thought into marks. For me, Twombly’s work has encouraged my embracing of the scribble and the “un-understandable” importance of abstract feeling. There is far more to say about Cy Twombly and his creative practice, and this is just a small droplet of introduction.
Cy Twombly, Untitled (Bacchus), 2008, Acrylic paint on canvas, 3175 x 4683 mm
Lalaloopsy is about fun, about enjoyment - I think of enfleshment, entanglement, and the physicality denoted by these words. Enjoyment is about being in joy, allowing ourselves to exist with joy, finding joy in our enfleshed existence. The Lalaloopsy process will continue throughout my practice as unravel these questions and creative hunches in clay. Let’s see how it goes!
At its core, I understand, this loop-de-loop is ultimately
about fun
about acceptance
about questions
about playful discovery
about our wild intuition
and encoded messages
At first I was just scritchy-scratching with pencils and pastels on old book pages and cigarette boxes back in December 2020. The same repeated looping spiral began to emerge, spreading wider and bolder across the plane, carving clean lines into the pastel beneath or smooshing together in multiple layers. I tentatively nurtured these childish marks and took care to gently quiet the voice of doubt as I planted this fresh and vulnerable seed.
It all started to make more sense when I was chatting with the sisters I looked after as an au pair, about the toys they had as kids (and gosh, I LOVE toys). What particularly stuck with me were their Lalaloopsy dolls- isn’t that just such a fabulously joyful name for a doll?! Lalaloopsy… it just conjures up silliness, imagination, sipping on pink plastic cups of make-believe tea.
In hindsight, and “present-sight”, I realise that the meeting of Lalaloopsy and my creative-self-doubt laid ground ripe for questions and exploration.
If we are on a never-ending rollercoaster of life, how do we allow this experience to loop-de-loop into something more fun and playful?
How can grown up humans, adults (yikes), create space for play and silliness?
The winding path of experience and discovery is a movement that pendulums between forwards and backwards motion. How can we accept both progress and regression as part of the metamorphosis of growth?
And when the loop-de-loop encodes messages, what deeper, beneath-the-layers treasure awaits patiently for us to discover it? This question reminds me that I cannot omit mentioning the great Cy Twombly and the profound influence his work has had on my practice. In particular, Twombly’s Bacchus series and “chalkboard” series express energy and the mark of the hand on canvas, as well as demonstrate a sense of transliteration of thought into marks. For me, Twombly’s work has encouraged my embracing of the scribble and the “un-understandable” importance of abstract feeling. There is far more to say about Cy Twombly and his creative practice, and this is just a small droplet of introduction.
Cy Twombly, Untitled (Bacchus), 2008, Acrylic paint on canvas, 3175 x 4683 mmLalaloopsy is about fun, about enjoyment - I think of enfleshment, entanglement, and the physicality denoted by these words. Enjoyment is about being in joy, allowing ourselves to exist with joy, finding joy in our enfleshed existence. The Lalaloopsy process will continue throughout my practice as unravel these questions and creative hunches in clay. Let’s see how it goes!