Dana Hargrove

Excerpt from an interview with Bridgette Mayer, Philadelphia, PA

BM: How long have you been and artist and how did you get started with being an artist?

DH: I've been an artist or an up and coming artist for a long time now, since I was a 5 or 6. I can remember going through a few phases of wanting to be a potter when I was 10, a cartoonist a little later and other sorts of artists. I always knew art could be a career thanks to my Uncle, he is an artist and I visited him in Art School when I was really young. I thought it was wonderful. I think I might have set my sights on art school even at that young age.  I was 7 or 8 at the time. A few years later my Uncle gave my sister and I lessons in his big artist studio in Scotland. It was all very inspiring. Since I always knew that I wanted to go to Art school, I set my sights on that and it was very much a bee line of getting accepted into College and sticking at it all the way through. I've always known it was what I wanted to do.

BM: When did you move from Scotland to the US and why did you move?

DH: I moved to the US from Scotland a year after I graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee University, in Scotland. During my final year there I was informed of a MFA program in the States that offered a 3 year program without fees along with teaching experience. It sounded too good to be true, since most of the post grad courses in the UK are quite expensive and have no teaching experience. When I realized that a few of the professors from Southern Illinois State University were coming to visit our degree/thesis exhibitions I was really excited. I went out of my way to meet them and they were very interested in my work. In the end they took the credit by saying they recruited me, along with 3 other students from my school to come over that next year. That was in 1999 I think.

BM: How was your experience getting your MFA from Southern Illinois State University?

DH: I loved it!  Carbondale, Illinois is a little out of the way, with only a few galleries, but the allowed space and time to make art alongside a group of fellow grads that I have formed life long friendships with was perfect. I am so glad I decided to attend school there. Since it was a three year program I really was able to develop my ideas further and mature as an artist. The professors were really encouraging and challenging, the facilities were great, a huge big studio to work in and a 10,000 foot gallery space to have exhibitions in. I also learned a lot about myself as I began to teach art. 

BM: How did you feel as a native of Scotland coming into the US and being in a graduate program?

Actually, at first, my experience during the first six months or so, were quite rocky. I felt like a fish out of water, I didn't expect to get culture shock since I thought the cultures were so similar. But I think I did experience culture shock for those first few months. Of course I missed my friends and family back home and also the strange landscape of Illinois, with its flatness and repetition, houses repeated over and over, strip malls all looking the same. The newness of it also got to me.

BM: What was your MFA work about at that time?

 I turned that frustration into my art, and started making painting and computer art using the icon of the house. I researched the history behind track housing such as Levitt towns and other projects such as Celebration in Florida, and started a series that used the house as a metaphor or subject that could represent the self.

BM: What are some of the main threads and ideas that have been in your work since grad school?

DH: The main thread that has run through my work, even since high school, has been the landscape. Since I grew up in Scotland with magnificent natural landscapes all around but also the contrasting industrial manmade landscapes in the cities, I was always aware of the stark contrasts that are evident in the landscape. Mountain ripped open while mining or oil rigs resting on the shore of the Tay Estuary in Dundee. I was always conducting some sort of investigation into the landscape, studying my sense of place, my dislocation while in the USA, my awareness of the manmade systems on the landscape, looking at travel systems and how we traverses the land or how it is controlled through mapping, the military and even through games such as golf. My concern seems to center around how man interacts with the landscape, and how the residue of that is often enlightening on some grander scale.

BM: Where do you place yourself within these investigations into the landscape and with your work?

DH: That has changed over time. In the past I have felt like an observer, my job was to document, but as I developed as an artist, I felt it was my job to make people more aware of their surroundings, to stop and notice them a little more. This was very much the case in Scotland where a lot of my work was site specific. I would make paintings of a space and then leave it in the space for passers by to notice, or not notice. If they did, they would suddenly be aware of their surroundings. My work these days comes from a more personal space and is linked with the connections I make to the landscape, be it personal or political. Since I make connections within my art work, of linking one idea with another, one visual with another seemingly disparate visual, I hope to make my viewers make their own connections and conclusions. 

BM: I would like to switch gears and talk about your recent residency...you attended a residency in Cape Town, South Africa this past summer from May through July.  Could you tell me how this residency came about? Why you decided to go specifically to Cape Town and a bit about your artistic intentions and the program.

I wanted to visit Cape Town for an extended period so that I could build a relationship with my biological father and my sister. I had met them both once before, but had never visited them in their home country. I knew I wanted to take an extended trip but I also knew I wanted it to be art related, since I was sure that the journey would be rich with experiences. I researched Artist Residencies in Cape Town, and found Greatmore Studios and applied there. I was accepted though the application process and received a grant from Rollins College to fund my three months there. I was able to make art in the program there while also interacting with the community, through Greatmore's outreach program. It was such a fruitful experience where I was able to reconnect with my Father and Sister and learn about their family and personal histories but also learn about the history of Cape Town. Greatmore was very supportive, there were a number of resident artists who work there all year round and three visiting artists every three months. I was a visiting artist alongside an artist from the North West Province in Africa. I came over to Cape Town without a definite goal in mind as far as my art was concerned. I knew I wanted to soak up my surroundings and the differences from where I had come from. I let all these new ideas and surroundings infiltrate first and then I started to respond to them through my art works. 

BM: What was it like to be in Cape Town doing an artistic residency and what were some of the things you noticed about Cape Town that make it different from Orlando, Florida where you work or Scotland where you were born?

DH: I really enjoyed my time at Greatmore Studios making art and getting to know the other artists, working along side them during community workshops and events. However, I was struck by Cape Town's crime rate, though not as bad as other cities in South Africa, it certainly was a lot higher than I had ever experienced before. Every day there was another news article about a car hi-jacking in my neighborhood and it took a while to remember all the safety precautions I was taught on my arrival.  Greatmore Studios itself is relatively safe, it has a high security fence all around it with barbed wire and spikes, a neighborhood watch person across the way keeping a watchful eye and multiple keys and security codes to remember. The neighborhood is safe during the day with a vibrant community buying and selling vegetables on the street and an artsy feel to it. But, I couldn't help but feel a tension as I got used to living with so much security around me, something that is so different from the way I lived in Scotland or Florida, it definitely had an impact on my work and is evident in some of the pieces I completed there. There were a few scary moments, but I remained watchful throughout my trip rather than fearful.

BM: Are there any commonalities between Cape Town, Florida and Scotland?

DH: They are all Westernized really, with the same luxuries we are used to in our lives here, malls, bars, supermarkets etc,  but with Cape Town the contrast between the rich and poor is so much more evident, it is really sad to see. That is a major reason for the crime rate and the division between the cultures and the rich and poor. I was glad that the following year I could visit Tanzania, a less westernized country, here I was really able to feel like I was in Africa, and not just a part of Europe. It is a amazing that at times in Cape Town you can forget you are in Africa, parts of it are so European and so full of tourists. I was really interested in this strange intersection between my ideas of Africa and the actual Africa that was in front of me, how it has been shaped my tourism, preconceptions, and colonization

BM: How long did it take you to become acclimated?

DH:  It took me a month at least to start settling into my new home and making art. I was also forging my new relationships with my dad and sister, they were so great and really helped me in my transition, showing me around and inviting me into their lives.

BM: What were the people like?

DH:  I was really lucky that I had family there who helped me transition, I also have an Uncle and Aunt who live there, so I was surrounded by family. Thanks to that I met so many interesting people and developed friendships with many of the different groups who came from various backgrounds. The Artist Residency brought these people all together to work under the same roof, so artists from the town houses, or shanty towns, worked along side artists from the richer parts of Cape Town, I think this was healthy in uniting different classes and ethnic groups, to heal some of the damage done by the recent segregation of the Apartheid.

BM: How do they support art and artists in Cape Town?
 
DH: There seemed to be many programs there that offer support to up and coming artists or craft persons. It is really great since they have many workshops or programs that teach art and crafts in order to enable people, give them confidence and get themselves out of poverty. Through Greatmore itself the artists are all required to complete community engagement on some level every month, be it workshops or presentations or visits to under privileged schools. I did a few workshops myself, one of them was a Cape Town police initiative with a large group of deserving children who had been victims of broken homes some of which lived on the street. It was rewarding teaching them some basic collaborative skills as we worked on a collage project, they were so eager to learn, Cape Town also has a thriving contemporary art scene, there were many art galleries there that were showing some really interesting artists.

BM:  What did you start to do in your work after you became acclimated?

DH: To help get acclimated I began working in my sketchbook and taking photographs of my surroundings. I started off by noticing the patterns and intricate ironwork that are visible in a lot of the Cape Town security fences surrounding homes.  I was very interested in the idea of security, of the efforts to keep people out, to keep yourself safe, and how this creates a frame of mind, where perhaps it spills over into our personal relations. The Broekie and Spikes pieces both deal with that idea of creating barriers and protection, particularly in a Euro-centric way, that inhibit our ability to cross over and fully enjoy the differences, to allow ourselves to really belong or feel a part of that culture or family. Personally I was trying to break down some of my 'British reserve' so I could become more open and receptive, it was hard at times due to the unknown issues of safety and also the fact I was getting to know a Father who had not been in my life previously.

BM: How does this tie in with earlier works?

DH: I've dealt with issues of communication in some of my earlier works. Especially in the piece 'Misconnections' that was shown at the gallery a few years ago. I've always been interested in finding references in the landscape that hint at something larger, hidden metaphors or connections that I bring attention to through changing their context or highlighting it through a painting. The landscape is so laden with meaning, both political and personal conclusions can be drawn out from it especially when they are reframed and examined within an art context.

BM: If you could go back and re-do the residency would there be anything you would change or do differently?

DH: I think I approached it in the right way for my work, I didn't come into it with a particular project in mind and allowed myself to be influenced by my surroundings. It gave me so much material to work with as I was developing my current exhibition 'Divide and Consider'.

BM: How has this experience impacted you overall?

DH: Both my Africa trips last year, to Cape Town and Tanzania, have opened my eyes to how so many people in the world are struggling to survive. I learned so much by visiting these places including how Imperialism and the British Empire and Europe physically effected the landscapes and cultures. I learned more about the slave trade at the iziko slave lodge, http://www.iziko.org.za/slavelodge/index.html, which certainly opened eyes  and learned more about the Apartheid at the District Six Museum http://www.districtsix.co.za, all of it is really sad. I see how far Cape Town has come though, it has changed so drastically for the better and continues to do so.

BM: Talk about one of your favorite pieces in your new exhibit and what it is about?

DH: I have a short video piece I am very happy with.  It is an interesting edit of an old family slide show I filmed, where my family and I are looking over the old Rhodesia slides from their childhood back in the 60's. It's a time period in the past now, where white farmers were welcomed into the land and worked alongside Africans. My Grandmother and Grandfather went out there post war and started a chicken farm and a large family. The piece is called 'Rhodesia Slides'  and gives another angle into the reasons why I am interested in ideas of Colonialism and Imperialism where we see the destruction of a country like Zimbabwe as it rejects its colonial past. I hired the talented editor Jethro Senger to help make this piece in Final Cut Pro and it turned out exactly as I had envisioned. I hope to make more video pieces in the future since it helps inform the paintings and this one in particular adds a personal context to the whole show.

BM: Could you also tell us about the "Terminals" piece?

DH: This is another piece that touches on ideas of Colonialism and Empire. The piece brings various visual references together in which the audience has to then question why the artist did so. The visual references I used are world maps that have been fragmented and put back together in an almost military camouflage pattern, the large white symbols look almost like Space Invader video game icons but are actually American airport terminal maps; I like both of these references. Finally, I have a variety of military symbols repeated as a pattern that overlays the round panel, almost like net or mesh, which encases the map behind it. By calling the piece 'Terminal', I am referencing an end point, the end of something. Since the exhibition is opening directly after the 2008 US Presidential elections, it will certainly be a historical time. Globalized power has enjoyed a long period of ascendancy but things could change and people might have to adjust to the changes in a way that mirrors lives in other countries already doing so.

BM: What are your future plans with upcoming travels and work ideas?

DH: I will be visiting China in May 09 with Rollins College, as an educational trip, so I am very interested in continuing my line of research into ideas of 'Empire' both past and present. I have a lot more reading to do on this subject, Empire by Hart and Negri, Orientalism by Edward Said, influenced this exhibition, but there are many more authors who research this subject. I am very excited to have a year sabbatical coming up where I will be traveling and making art. I am a finalist for the Vermont Studio Center Residency this summer, and I hope to be accepted into many other residencies across the States as well as international ones. I think the China educational trip will fuel a lot of my work. I am very much a magpie when it comes to visuals, so I will be lifting and appropriating many references that will further my ideas on Empire. Again I will remain open to my work changing as I continue to look into how the landscape can by read and extracted upon.