Dogma19 3rd Anniversary

Each member has an individual response to their participation in the group and their reports follow below with examples of work from Dogma19 shows, and from their main practices.

Nicola Siebert-Patel

“At a key planning meeting for the MFA Crypt Show 2019, Hamish and I proposed to the MFA students that we should all commit to using the same primary material for our work for the Crypt Show. In so doing we would add ‘medium’ to MFA Course Leader Edwina fitzPatrick’s two criteria of ‘site’ and ‘theme’. We believed this would create a much more coherent and newsworthy show.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, only a handful of our cohort thought it was a good idea…and after the meeting we few gathered round and decided to go ahead anyway.

I was inspired by the DOGME 95 collective with their manifesto and strict rules for film making, so we adopted the name Dogma19. Later the new Dogma 19 group met to consider which material would fit the site and curatorial theme of ‘Immurement’, and cement was agreed as our inaugural challenge.

During the MFA I explored spiritual themes using a variety of media and scale. Cement was added to the list of lead, polystyrene, wood, and printing. Since then, my journey has been helped by the repeated challenges presented by a new unfamiliar material.  As each one has been addressed, I’ve experienced a growing need to express a narrative – for example my work ‘Daily Bread’ for our show ‘Full’, with food as our primary material.

There’s not an immediate jump to what I’m doing now in my main practice, but as I reflect, I can see that perhaps unconsciously the work I’ve done as part of Dogma19 has led to a revival of my long-term interest in figuration, as expressed through painting.”

Hamish Pringle

“For my MFA I decided to suspend my long-term exploration of ‘attrition’ and the related use of sandpaper and other abrasives. Instead, I embarked on the process of validating, or not, William James ‘as if’ hypothesis. In short, if people participate with an artwork, does it create a more powerful and compelling experience? I was unable to satisfy myself that this was true and moved on to investigate the Beuysian contention that “everyone is an artist”. This was done with a series of collaborations with my colleagues on the course and other students at Wimbledon. This too was unsuccessful in terms of the quality of the work that resulted. There was one exception to this which was the work using cement for ‘Immurement’ at the Crypt Gallery. This led back to my ‘attrition’ theme and convinced me to develop it for my Degree Show.

Since graduation I have continued with ‘attrition’ in parallel with my work for Dogma19 and there has been a productive symbiosis between the two.  The most obvious example is my work ‘Lockdown’ using abrasive belts, and ' ‘If I can still see, I can see a way out’ for ‘Wired’.”

Joana Passos

“I arrived at Wimbledon with an interest in materiality being the driving force of my work. I modeled different materials to explore their different behaviours. The relationships between weight, space, and stability fascinated me and several of my works had a trompe l’oeil quality, for example where similar forms in juxtaposition with each other concealed the fact that they were made of different materials.

The opportunity to be a founder member of Dogma19 was attractive and I have found each new material inspiring.  The first show using cement was a turning point for me.  To embrace the ‘Immurement’ theme and address the crypt, a site where people had been buried, I introduced a figurative element into my practice.  While these concrete pillows, with indentations where peoples’ heads had laid, were poignant and received well, I resolved then to return to my real passion for abstract forms. The molding of the cement also triggered the desire to explore ceramics, and this is what I’ve done since graduation. As my skills have developed and I’ve had to deal with commercial pressures, there’s been a natural progression towards useful, saleable pottery.  But in such a competitive market it’s vital to differentiate and my approach is to create products which are both functional and original in form.

In this context the need to address new materials for successive Dogma19 shows has also been a great source of ideas and techniques which can be applied to my pottery business. Here are examples of work for Dogma19 on the left for the ‘Junctures’ show featuring zips, and for my commercial work on the right.”

Claire Michel

“My fine art practice is primarily as a video performance artist and most of my work for my MFA was of this nature.  In this context my participation in Dogma19 has been a fruitful continuation. In agreeing as a group on the materials to use for our shows I’ve found myself liberated from personal experience as my initial source of inspiration. With the material a given, I’m forced to construct a narrative which circles round, and then embraces both. And as I search for meaning and associations the ideas flow.  For instance, the Dogma19 show made using false fingernails led to me drawing with them as nibs dipped in black ink.

My commercial work is based upon illustration and graphics which are independent of my performance art. However, I can see there’s a productive cross-fertilisation.  Most of my drawings are in colour but this performance for Dogma19’s ‘Nailed’ show using false fingernails reminded me of my love of black ink. Another show ‘Sacked’ involved hessian and I created an object with faces drawn on it. Maybe this extension of my graphic line into 3D resulted in my new merchandise line?”

Gail Theis

“I arrived at Wimbledon as a painter with a strong interest in portraiture and figuration.  A key source material were old family photos I found whose dated clothing and faded colours evoked a bygone era.  During my investigations I was reminded of my Mother and Grandmothers’ skills in quilting.  So, I bridged from 2D to 3D during the MFA and used the semiotics of quilts to explore themes of identity. Constructed piece by piece, weaving shapes, colour and texture, my quilts develop their narrative as a symbolic thread of connections with family, community and the challenges that intersect and overlay, forming the essence of life as a human being. I select iconography to illuminate the narrative, and layer by layer, assembling each quilt using a combination of fabric, pattern, diagrammatical images, stitching, décollage fabric photographs, and biomorphic interpretation based on the limitations imposed by the shape of the quilt pieces. In combining all these diverse components, I gradually assemble a fabric impasto chronicle.

As a recent recruit to Dogma19 it’s too early to draw any firm conclusions. However, I can see my fascination with grids extending into my work for Dogma19.  The latest show ‘Off-grid’ uses graph paper as the primary material, this has fed into my recently rekindled love of drawing. Who knows what will emerge from out next two: leaves and leather…?”