Artist Statement

My approach to ‘making’ is informed by my practice as an art psychotherapist and, more recently, as a doctoral researcher in the fine arts.
Working through a range of media, my practice resists definition and does not settle comfortably in one place, constantly changing and reconfiguring itself. At its core is an interest in exploring fluctuating emotional states, the vulnerable, messy, and conflicted nature of being human, and the way in which engaging with artistic processes can help put us in touch with the more affective dimensions of experience.
Led by process rather than outcome, artworks are rarely planned in advance. Rather, they come into being through a responsive, iterative, dialogue with the making experience, the materials to hand, and the context in which work is made and presented. Seen as sketches, fragments, or weavings of something which invite response through what is evoked and provoked, both in myself and others, my practice is concerned with how art ‘works’ rather than what it means. Whether participating in the making or viewing of it, I have come to understand art as a potential place of encounter where things can and do happen – a place in and around which resonances, feelings, imaginings, and thoughts may gather and come together in a way that, although often unsettling meaning, might also make some sense of experience.
While the work for Derbyshire Open Arts 23 features my studio practice(s), mainly based in ceramics and mixed media, artworks relating more specifically to my research include site specific projects, installations, sound pieces, writings, and other ‘things’ all of which may be thought of as multi-layered weavings and entanglements of ‘undergoings’ and ‘goings on’ that respond to the particular stimulus or situation.
You can find out more about my research and the artwork(s) produced at https://www.debbiemichaels.co.uk