Biography

I started in my late career outside of art to formalise my interest, initially through design, in particular interior design. The processes involved   assignments or commissions which would later come to help to formulate critical aspects of my practice as an artist and maker today, such as the need for form, colour balance and harmony and particularly the nature and properties of materials.

My initial interest started with ceramics, the texture and endless possibilities of the material, from the rough textural quality of earthenware clays to the strength and simple beauty that porcelain affords. This was explored firstly through an HND Ceramics, glass and metals course at the Plymouth College of Art. It allowed the exploration of material and form across a wide range, often using abstract sculptural forms combining clay, metal and wood. This continued on to BA (hons), which afforded me the time to develop my thought processes, investigate more fully the contemporary as well as the historical aspects of visual and applied art. The result of which allowed me to push the boundaries of materials used, both in the abstract sculptural sense whilst at the same time allowing me to treat the material surface as a canvas.

As a result my current practice is mainly centred on painting, continuing to apply the techniques previously acquired. I use material to inform my work in an intuitive way, whilst colour, expresses the mood, during the engagement process on the canvas surface. I am currently influenced by the so-called ‘New York School’ of American artists of the 1950’s and 60’s, particularly Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline and Robert Motherwell, also a longstanding interest in Japanese aesthetics. My way of making could be described thus,

The doing is the thinking. The thinking is the doing. It is by painting

the canvas, or making, in my case ceramics, that the entire act as

expression and knowledge takes place, and takes its rightful place.

In other words to quote Robert Motherwell, “The activity itself is the point, more than the product, which is simply its record”.

Kelvin Harvey

March 2009.