Kirsten Kampinga

Interview met Rachel Goodyear

Why did you became an artist? Was this a deliberate choice?

I wanted to be an artist from as long as I can remember. As a child I was always making, drawing, and thinking up stories. I didn't really understand at first what it meant to be a fine artist, and I must admit, I struggled in the very beginning at college, but persevered, as I knew this is all I'd ever wanted to do.

You followed your education at the Leeds Metropolitan University, In which way did the education help you
in your later career? The course I did wasn't rooted in a particular area, such as painting or sculpture, rather it was Fine Art with the freedom to explore any medium or approach. I started on my course painting, and experimented with a few things such as photography, and performance, before focusing on sculpture and installation. I was drawing the whole time, but tended to keep them private in my sketchbooks. I hadn't realised at that point, that this art form that I loved so much could become the core and focus of my practice. My course opened my eyes to new ways of looking, and how to continue asking myself all those questions I'd face in tutorials and crits. The sculptural element has long since influenced my work, both in my use of a lot of surrounding white paper, but also imagined space within it. What path did you follow after your school? Did you got the attention from a gallery immediately or did this come later in your career?

Not immediately, but I did start working straight away within the arts and continued my art practice. It also wasn't until 2 years after graduated that I started to display my drawings publicly. I worked as a volunteer at Castlefield Gallery in Manchester, which was really good experience for me to meet other artists, curators and get to know how things worked within the art world and how to get involved in exhibitions. I also collaborated for a few years with friends as artistcurators, networking with artists outside the city and abroad, exhibiting them in Manchester. I co-ran a little independent gallery in the basement of an architects office for a couple of years called Floating Ip. It was pretty hard work as this was all done with no pay, so I had paid work as well, plus still making time for my own art practice. That was one of the reasons I moved to Manchester, as at the time it had a good reputation for artist run spaces with a really supportive network. This was really valuable experience, as it enabled me to meet a lot of curators,other artists, and lots of research also meant a lot of input into the development of my own practice. In 2005, I decided I wanted more time to dedicate to my own art practice, which was round about the time I began working with The International 3 gallery, who represent me here in Manchester and who presented my work in Amsterdam. Can you live from the art you make? Or do you have to do other things next to being an artist? And if so, how do you combine those things?

I have been making a living from my art for nearly 5 years now. In the beginning it was more a leap of faith, which fortunately was a good decision.....Up until beginning of 2007 I had been working in a bookshop, cinema and as a gallery technician to make money, but was very strict in making time in the studio....I also made a lot of drawings whilst I was at work, which is why a lot of my early works are drawn on paper bags and note-paper! Between 2006 and 2007 (with the support of the International 3) there had been a couple of successful art fairs and some collectors had begun to show interest in my drawings...I was also very ill throughout 2006 and decided life was too short and gave up my paid jobs to focus solely on my art. It wasn't quite enough to live on, but gave me more time in the studio to really develop my work. Early 2008 I was in an article in Art Review which was seen by Pippy Houldsworth in London, whom I began working with shortly after. I continue now to be represented by both galleries they both actively present my work to collectors whilst promote my ongoing development and help me secure exhibitions. Working with both galleries began to bring me in enough income to live off. It's a pretty modest living allowance, but this is exactly what I want to be doing! Who are your inspirations, in- and out-side the art world?

Grayson Perry, Louise Bourgeois, Frida Kahlo, Kiki Smith, Charles Avery, Peter Doig, Heironymous Bosch, Goya....the films of David Lynch and Werner Herzog....literature of Margaret Atwood, JG Ballard.....and all time hero David Attenborough. How do you start on a series of works, where do you get your inspiration from?

The beginnings of my work usually starts as complete chaos and one body of work will always merge into the next. Inspiration comes from many places.....I mention David Attenborough as I have been a devoted fan of his nature

documentaries since I was a little girl (I would sit and draw the animals I was watching), and this fascination with natural history is a continual inspiration. The inspiration is a whirlwind of various interests that I weave together......I look a lot at characteristics within nature, particularly harmonious and parasitic relationships between species. This I'll then add into the mix with thoughts of human nature, fears, desires, miscommunication, breaking down borders of social etiquette. Sometimes merged with echoes of personal stories, mixed with my own re-workings of mythology, folklore and superstitions. I do think of my studio and my head as being an ongoing collage.....it is filled with collected bits of text, photographs, old books, cuttings, ephemera that I'll use for reference or begin placing together to begin new narratives for my works....quite chaotic in comparison with my bleak little drawings. I tend to have binges of pouring ideas spontaneously as crude scribbles into a book, then paste the pages around the walls, I'll then spend a few months focusing in and developing a few ideas and creating new bodies of work. One body of work will always spill into the next, as I'm always adding more scribbles into the mix! Why do you choose to make your work the way you do, considering technique, size and materials.

My drawings over the years have developed from quite quick, stylistic line drawings to much more intense and intricate works. The scale is still relatively quite small. I use the delicateness of the minute and precise pencil lines, the images deliberately within an expanse of untouched paper, to bring the viewer in for a closer look, so they are up close and personal. This is where you notice that things are not quite what they seem, at a first glance something may seem pleasant, but a closer look may reveal a macabre twist. I like that intimacy that you can get with fine detail, both making the work and also the way they are viewed. Scale only gets bigger when it is appropriate, for example Fallen Tree, 2009, is my largest drawing to date at A0.....I wanted to have both the detail of the whole toppled tree, but also allow for enough space to tangle the skeletons in the roots, small enough to be camouflaged within the roots at a first glance, but large enough to hold enough detail and still have plenty of white space around. Youve been away for three times as an artist in residence? How did those experiences influence your work?

I'm a real creature of habit, usually only feeling comfortable working in my studio with all my junk around me! Residencies, for me, are usually good in that they get me out of that comfort zone and just a slight shift in environment can help me reflect and re-address my work. Each of these residencies were very different experiences. Berlin was a self-organized residency I wanted to get away for a bit, to find inspiration in a new environment and also give myself a challenge. Me and a few creative friends got together to rent a live-work attic space in Kreuzberg for a year, each of us having a month to ourselves there. I'd never done anything like this before and never spent more than a couple of nights alone in a foreign city where I didn't know anyone. It was very liberating and I loved exploring the city, finding new inspiration, and also getting over my shyness and finding it easy to meet other artists and like-minded people! Having this month away and challenging myself, both artisticly and personally, meant that I came back to Manchester and my studio with fresh eyes. The second residency was also self-organised. I wanted to try working on a larger scale, but my studio was too tiny. I asked my friend who owns the Islington Mill (a brilliant studio mix of creative practitioners with a gallery and events space that put on some amazing music gigs) if I could use the empty gallery for 6 weeks to try out some new ideas. It was only round the corner from my own studio, but working in a large space without my familiar clutter was quite refreshing. Once I was in there, I decided to make the most of having the use of a whole gallery space, and also the fact that there were so many other artists, designers, musicians, crafts people in the building. I had group discussions in there, invited people in to draw with me, which was again very liberating as I am usually a very solitary worker. It ended with a public performance in collaboration with a sound-artist I created drawings live in the space upon the walls, whilst he had microphones hooked up to the wall and made a composition with the recorded sounds of scribblings. It was a lot of fun and again, a personal challenge! It immediately led to me moving out of my tiny studio down the road, and returning to a much bigger studio back at the Islington Mill. This move was so good for my work, as I now have the space to work on many ideas at once, and think more in terms of bodies of work, rather than one drawing after another. The third residency, at the Banff Centre, was just incredible! This was a real artist-retreat. It is set up so that artists have time in stunning surroundings where they can focus on their work without the usual distractions of everyday life. Accommodation is on site and meals are provided so all you do is make art and meet other artists! This had a profound influence on me, not only did I find so much inspiration from the mountains and forests, but also the wealth of creativity inspired me to try new techniques out, which has led to me introducing animations and sculptural works into my practice. I am now doing another residency at Manchester Metropolitan University mostly based in the ceramics department. I recently introduced little ceramic sculptures as extensions of my drawings, so this residency gives me a few months to

make use of their workshops, facilities and technical support. How do you place the position from drawings in the art world?

When I was still studying, I don't remember drawing ever taking much of a centre stage as an artform it always seemed to be considered the supporting sibling of much more serious painting and sculpture. John Berger wrote on the historical and contemporary importance of drawing, yet these writings weren't brought to my attention until a while after graduating. I was aware of the Drawing Center, est 1977, in New York, yet places that put so much focus on the importance of drawing as an artform seemed to be few and far between. I do remember a couple of years after graduating noticing an explosion of drawing and it being considered an important artform in its own right, with more discussion on the theory of drawing and shows such as Drawing Now at MOMA. I notice now, when visiting art colleges and giving tutorials how many students are focusing solely on drawing in such diverse ways. Drawing has always played a crucial role within art, yet from my perspective it seems the last decade or so has seen it climb out onto its own pedestal. How do you see your own position as an artist in this world?

I'm still trying to work that out! I began showing my drawings around the time Drawing was really appearing everywhere. However, this timing was mostly down to luck! Drawing excites me, but I endeavour to create my own individual identity within it. I always try to be very aware of the artworld and try to get a perspective of its landscape. However, I have never made art according to trends, so I imagine whatever the climate of the art-world I'd still be drawing and making in the way I am now. What is your dream to accomplish?

My dreams have changed over the years as my work and life have developed. Drawing is my passion, and so too is the imaginary world I create..... I am increasingly inspired by the idea of occasionally allowing my drawings to slip out of the paper and creep around the gallery space. The last couple of years I have been thinking not just about the drawings on paper on the walls, but also the space they occupy, too. I have been looking towards installation, introducing animations and sculptural pieces too, that all speak a similar language. My most recent exhibition at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park has been a real opportunity for me to publicly present these new directions, with tiny animations projected onto drawings and little porcelain sculptures sitting upon drawings on gesso surfaces. It is all very exciting and liberating at the moment and I want to see how far and how ambitious I can get with these new ideas. My dream is to always carry on creating, but always to be excited by creating. Whenever things begin to feel too comfortable, I do try to shake things up a little bit. Last question: can you give me any advice about being a drawing artist?

One of the beauties of drawing, is that theoretically you can draw anywhere. Any place and situation can be turned into a studio, even if it is scribbling a couple of lines on the back of your hand waiting for a bus. This is something I constantly have to remind myself as I have become so used to drawing in my studio. I like to set myself little out-ofstudio drawing challenges every now and then, with minimal materials, to freshen my mind a little. As a drawing artist I would say be very aware of the volume and diversity of drawing that is out there and find your own niche within it. My advice to any artist is to carry on, always continue creating and find inspiration, even if you think no-one is looking.