Whether jumping from a plane or moving about in her studio, Bridget Harvey is hardly ever still. Bright colours and intense movements describe Bridget’s work. Her lightweight materials, which float in the spaces they inhabit, can be set into motion by a breeze or by the shifting of air as onlookers pass by. She is fascinated by the human body and experiments with manipulating scale and perspective.
Bridget’s practice focuses on drawing, collaging and multidisciplinary installation. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts where she also studied art history and got experience in painting conservation and batik. She also studied at Studio Arts College International in Florence, Italy. This education in painting, printmaking, sculpture and art history gave her a strong interest in combining traditional methods with contemporary ideas and themes in art.
She is currently participating in the 48th round of our International Residence Program. Our Remote Culture Journalism resident Victoria Nabulime had a chance to ask her some questions.
intro by Fanni Papp
Bridget seeks to include the viewer
Victoria: Professionally, what is your goal?
Bridget: I want to make art accessible to people without sacrificing creative control and authenticity. So my goals are to maintain a studio practice of some kind and work in leadership role, possibly as an art or creative director.
Victoria: What does your work aim to say?
Bridget: I try to make work that gives the viewer more to say about the meaning than I do because for me, the meaning is the process of creation. I make art because I feel in my blood that I must. Because art is something that people share between each other, I want everyone to feel included. I try to generate art that can trigger something in everyone. The associations, memories and emotions that a work sparks in a viewer are so important and interesting to me because even if someone says my work reminds them of something I wasn’t thinking about when I made it, that’s still a legitimate connection my work has formed with someone.
photos by Fanni Papp for PILOTENKUECHE
Full of energy
Victoria: How has your practice changed over time, are you progressing and how?
Bridget: I hope I’m progressing! My work has grown in scale over the years, from regular notebook sized to several meters. I have always subject-wise focused on the body, which has allowed my technical skills and understanding of anatomy to impose as well. Most importantly though, I feel my work has become more free, full of energy and life. This has come from putting in the studio time which then resulted in becoming more confident in myself as an artist.
Victoria: What inspires you? Please describe a real life situation that inspired/inspires you.
Bridget: Intense physicality. The kind you find in Renaissance paintings and the kind you find in extreme sports. One of the best things I’ve ever done in my life is skydiving. To me it feels like total freedom, ecstasy and peace. It is dangerous but I think because it puts you so near catastrophe, it gives you this incredibly powerful appreciation for how precious life is in a way that I’ve never experienced before.
Learning from loneliness
Victoria: Do you think the artistic life is lonely? What do you do to counteract it?
Bridget: I think that depends on the artist and how comfortable they are with themselves. I spend a lot of time alone while I’m working on a project or doing research. But in that solitude, there’s so much I’ve learned and continue to learn about myself. Of course sometimes it gets painfully isolating to be stuck in the echo chamber of your own mind. But that’s also the place where all the ideas come from. When I experience that kind of immense loneliness that so many artists know, I try to just let it happen. You have to let yourself cry and curse, scribble all your anger into a notebook and sometimes scream into a pillow but you have to get it out or it’ll consume you. It doesn’t completely eliminate those feelings, but the action of expressing emotions is how you begin to control them.
Positive change
Victoria: How has the pandemic affected you personally and professionally?
Bridget: The pandemic totally reconsidered and organized both my professional and personal lives. I graduated from my undergrad in December 2019 (I’m very fortunate to have been able to avoid completing my thesis in isolation) and then in March 2020 I was laid off from my day-job as a barista so suddenly I didn’t have a job or school to complete which was the most unoccupied I had been in my entire life. I have been working since I was fifteen. Therefore, the sudden shift into having no external obligations was a really foreign feeling.
Having no occupation outside of myself and my art gave me some critical time and space. I took thorough moral inventory and re-evaluated my priorities. Now I have a much healthier work-life balance. This has also enabled me to be more efficient, confident, and mindful. The pandemic has been so terrible and destructive to so many people and communities, so I am extremely grateful for all the time, lessons and positive growth I have been able to get from it.
A new chapter
Victoria: How is your experience working with PILOTENKUECHE, what have you gained so far?
Bridget: I was supposed to begin my residency at PILOTENKUECHE in the summer of 2020, but because of the pandemic it was not possible until this year, 2021. Having to wait was very disheartening at first but it gave me some very necessary time to focus on my creative goals, motives and discipline.
The directors, Julianne Csapo and maeshelle west-davies, are such incredibly kind, helpful, welcoming and creative people who are such an honor to get to work with. They have made the pandemic-postponement totally worth the wait and are the blood and soul of PILOTENKUECHE. I would without a doubt love to have more time working with PILOTENKUECHE.
Catch up with Bridget’s activities on her website and her instagram or in person at the following shows in Leipzig.
airy democratic spirituality
Alte Handelsschule.
Giesserstr 75
vernissage:
20 Aug
19.00 – 22.00
open:
21-25 Aug
12.00 -16.00
sublime generous odyssey
PILOTENKUECHE
Franz-Flemming-Str 9
vernissage:
Sat 18 Sept
19.00 – 22.00
open:
19-22 Sept
14.00 -18.00