Q&A with Andrew Mackenzie

Q&A with Andrew Mackenzie

We are delighted to showcase work by Andrew Mackenzie, in the exhibition Work on Paper at our North Junction Street Campus. Andrew teaches on the Painting course here at Leith School of Art, and leads our Advancing Studio Practice course.

This exhibition brings together a new large-scale drawing in soft pastel and gouache, with lithography, etching, oil on card, watercolour and preparatory charcoal drawings.

We spoke with Andrew about the exhibition and his thoughts on the courses he teaches on.

Working on paper can be exploratory, or it can become a finished piece. This is reflected here by presenting a selection of experimental studies and charcoal drawings, never intended to be exhibited, alongside ‘completed’ work. Now that they are exhibited, do you feel that these studies and drawings have evolved into ‘complete’ works?
 
Yes, but when I was making them they were exploratory – I had no expectations they would be ‘finished’ things. At the same time, I kept the formats the same across different work, such as the charcoal studies, with some idea that they might work together as a series. I loved making them, and they grew into more than I expected. Now I’m thinking of ways they can feed back into the oil paintings on panel, with their immediacy and, in the case of the watercolours, fluid handling. I find making oil paintings quite labour intensive, sometimes taking months, or even years. The studies are deliberately counter to that, and I enjoy their freshness.

I included the studies here because of the fact it is a show in an art school, and they chime with some of the things we teach. I have learned at least some of this exploratory approach from the act of teaching, which is very much a two-way process.

A series of small watercolours depicting a barn features in this show. The inverted use of colour gives a ghostly quality to the subject. Do you know much about the barn and its history, or is it a happy mystery?
 
The barn motif was selected partly for it’s ordinariness, building on the idea that the ordinary world is extraordinary, depending on how you look at it. I like the fact it’s nearby where I live, and that there is nothing remarkable about it, on the surface. It stands in for many similar farm buildings, and for the idea of farming (and land use) more broadly.

But I am mainly interested in it because of the situation there on the edge of the moor against a dark bank of pine trees, with delicate newly planted birch nearby. It gives me everything I need to make work. There’s something slightly unsettling about it, and I have removed the sense of function (hay bales and sheep) in order to allow the viewer to enter imaginatively. Has something happened in that particular barn?

The inverted ghostly quality comes from the fact that since I started making work based on this place, the barn was deliberately burned down, leaving just a framework, a line drawing in space. It has become a ghost. I’m thinking about the landscape over time, where farming practices change, buildings and woodland come and go. We leave impressions on the landscape which gradually fade.

Some of your paintings can appear to have a print-like quality to them, particularly in the striking use of strong colour against a delicate backdrop. Up-close, however, these marks have much more of a painterly quality. How has printmaking influenced your practice (if at all)?
 
I was working like this before I started to make prints. In 2008, I saw that the artist Graeme Todd was making co-publications with Edinburgh Printmakers. I contacted them, and they agreed to make some Lithographs with me. They worked well, so I have gone back every few years to make new prints with them. Two of the lithographs in this show, River Print 1 and 2, were made in collaboration with EPW.

I’m glad you notice the painterly quality to the marks – they are hard to see in reproduction!

You teach on the Painting course and lead the Advancing Studio Practice course here at Leith School of Art. What would you say are the main differences between the two courses?

They do certainly feed into each other, as I’ve taught on the Painting Course with Catharine Davidson for several years, and have applied some of that experience to the ASP Course.

Differences are that from the beginning of the ASP Course, students will have prior experience of making work and sustaining a project to some extent. The Course takes drawing as a starting point and is aimed at those who have completed courses like the Painting Course, or a degree in an art school, but need support in developing confidence to plan, sustain and deliver creative projects. These projects can be broad, though most current students are focusing on 2D projects.

Students are encouraged initially through a series of short projects which become more sustained, personal and focused as the course develops. They explore many practical methods of working, such as drawing from life (inside and outside) using various drawing processes, developing drawing for research using notebooks/sketchbooks as a research tool, collage, mono-printing/mono-types, and painting but responds to whatever the student wants to develop, and to the ideas the student brings to it. Many are on the course to gain structure and critical feedback as part of a supportive peer group, while setting up their own practice. As well as practical support, there is also a focus on professional development.

And what is it you’d be looking for in an applicant to the Advancing Studio Practice course?

I am looking for someone who has made some work already, and demonstrates the ability to develop a project, even if tentatively at first. Someone who draws, someone who looks, someone who is curious about the world and has been able to demonstrate that curiosity in some way. Someone who perhaps has a body of work from art school or students from other year long courses, whether from LSA or elsewhere. Someone who would benefit from a year of further professional development, critical input and support, or as a catalyst to progress to further study.

One of the current students on the course for example has a science background, but demonstrated in her interview that she was engaged with making work (drawings, paintings, ink drawings) and that she had strong ideas for a project she wanted to develop. This has evolved on the course, and she is now making some very interesting and ambitious work using print-making, collage, photo transfer and paint.

Work on Paper continues at our North Junction Street Campus until Friday 20th June, Monday to Friday 9.30am - 4.30pm | Price list available on request from enquiries@leithschoolofart.co.uk