One of New Zealand\u2019s most recognisable young artists talks about making 365 faces in 365 days, losing control of her work and remembering how to create when nobody is watching.<\/p>\n
All photos by Chevron Hassett unless stated otherwise.<\/p>\n
Hannah Ireland has become one of New Zealand\u2019s most recognisable young painters, her works exhibited across galleries and institutions and held in important collections throughout the country. Known for her large-scale, hazy, gestural portraits, often uniquely painted on the reverse of glass, Ireland\u2019s latest project turns towards something intimate and more personal.<\/p>\n
For her most recent exhibition Making Faces, curated by Liam Jacobson at Puku, Ireland made a portrait every day for a year. Away from the usual demands of exhibitions and audiences, the project became about the everyday rhythm of making and this time, making something for herself. We caught up with her in the studio to reflect on her kaupapa and what\u2019s next in the pipeline.<\/p>\n
Before you became an artist, what did you imagine your life was going to look like?<\/p>\n
Not this. Prior to becoming an artist, I was studying pre-med at the University of Auckland with the intention of becoming a doctor. I was drawn to the idea of helping people, of doing something that felt useful.<\/p>\n
It was through studying healthcare during my first year at university that I came to understand that care can take shape in many forms. There are lots of ways to help people, and visual art can be one of them. It has the power to connect people, offer different perspectives, or simply make someone feel a little less alone. I think that impulse to care has stuck with me. The way I act on it has just evolved.<\/p>\n
You then shifted to studying fine arts. Was there a moment during those studies that you thought art could become your practice?<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think there was a lightbulb moment. I actually went into Elam [School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland] as a painter. Painting was my sixth subject at high school, alongside all the sciences, and it was really the only thing I knew when I arrived. But Elam felt a bit like being a kid in a candy store. I started experimenting with photography, film and performance, and over the course of my undergraduate degree I began to identify less as a painter and more as an interdisciplinary artist.<\/p>\n
It was during my honours year, my fourth and final year at Elam, that I decided to dedicate the year-long project to painting. It was a bit of a love letter to it, an acknowledgement that my life might have panned out very differently if not for painting. I wanted to leave Elam as a painter, much as I had entered it.<\/p>\n
Ireland\u2019s works aren\u2019t based on certain people but rather impressions.<\/p>\n
To my surprise, people were really enthusiastic about my paintings. I started being offered exhibition opportunities after art school, and then I won the Molly Morpeth Canaday Award (the country\u2019s longest-running premiere art award), which felt like a fairly convincing argument to keep going.<\/p>\n
Where did you grow up and how do you think that place shaped the person and artist you\u2019ve become?<\/p>\n
I grew up in South Auckland and moved to Flat Bush when I was around 13. I was homeschooled for most of my childhood, so I often joke that I grew up in a house. I\u2019m one of eight kids, right in the middle, and we grew up in a close-knit Christian household. It was a pretty contained little ecosystem, with family, school and faith, all under one roof. There was always something happening, and I think I became quite good at observing the social dynamics around me.<\/p>\n
Then I went to high school and suddenly my world got a lot bigger. There were new personalities, friendships, hierarchies and social dynamics to navigate. I became aware of how differently we can move through the world depending on where we fit \u2013 how friendships, groups and relationships can subtly change the way we see ourselves and each other. I found that really fascinating. There was always more going on than what was immediately visible.<\/p>\n
I think that curiosity has stayed with me. I\u2019m still interested in people, the relationships we have with one another, the spaces we create between us, and how we make sense of ourselves through being in relation to one another.<\/p>\n
How would you describe your practice to someone?<\/p>\n
I make faces \u2013 that\u2019s probably the simplest way of putting it. I\u2019m interested in people and the things that make us who we are: memory, emotion, identity, relationships and the ways we understand ourselves and each other. Faces are one way into that, but the work is really about the broader concept of how we experience and make sense of being human.<\/p>\n
I studied psychology alongside fine art. I\u2019m interested in that space between looking at someone and actually knowing them. The faces I make aren\u2019t necessarily portraits of particular people \u2013 they\u2019re more like impressions. They might hold onto a feeling, a memory or something I\u2019ve noticed. I don\u2019t really want to tell you exactly who you\u2019re looking at or what you\u2019re supposed to see.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m also quite interested in experimenting with materials and letting the work take me somewhere I wasn\u2019t expecting. I don\u2019t always want to be completely in control of the outcome. I like that uncertainty. I think the work can mean something slightly different to me than it does to someone else.<\/p>\n
\u2018It wasn\u2019t really about making a good drawing; it was about the act of drawing and simply turning up,\u2019 Ireland says.<\/p>\n
Your work has become distinctive. Do you ever feel tension between developing that language and wanting to break away from it?<\/p>\n
Absolutely. I think there\u2019s always a bit of tension there. I\u2019m always trying to find new ways of making, but I also want to develop a visual language that feels like mine. The trouble is that as soon as something starts feeling too comfortable, I want to disrupt it. I think I like knowing that I can still surprise myself.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve exhibited your work at galleries and institutions around the country, where you\u2019re often making towards an exhibition or deadline. You\u2019ve said Making Faces was something you wanted to make for yourself. Why?<\/p>\n
I needed to remember that I\u2019m a maker before I\u2019m an artist. So much of being a practising artist is making work that eventually gets sold. That\u2019s how we pay for the studio, materials and time to keep making. It\u2019s a beautiful, muddy ecosystem when you think about it, but it also means the work is always at risk of becoming a product.<\/p>\n
I wanted to make something that didn\u2019t have to go anywhere: No gallery, deadline and no one needing to like it. Just me making for the sake of making.<\/p>\n
You committed to making one portrait every day for a year. Was the challenge ultimately about making 365 drawings, or something else?<\/p>\n
It started because I was moving studios and didn\u2019t have much space. I thought, I\u2019ll just make a face every day. Something small, something easy, something that doesn\u2019t require a studio. I started by challenging myself to do it for a week. Then a week turned into a month, and a month turned into a year.<\/p>\n
But I think the real challenge was showing up. Some days I had something to give and some days I really didn\u2019t. What I liked about the whole thing was that the drawing didn\u2019t care. It wasn\u2019t really about making a good drawing; it was about the act of drawing and simply turning up. It became a way of staying in conversation with my practice, even on the days when I didn\u2019t have much to say.<\/p>\n
When you look at all 365 drawings together now, can you see that year of your life in them?<\/p>\n
Yes, although sometimes I recognise the feeling before I recognise the day. I\u2019ll look at one and think, \u2018that\u2019s strange,\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember making that\u2019. Then I\u2019ll realise, actually, I know exactly what that was. I think the body often knows what\u2019s happening before we have language for it. That\u2019s something I trust in painting too. Sometimes the work understands something before I do.<\/p>\n
\u2018I wanted to make something that didn\u2019t have to go anywhere,\u2019 says Ireland.<\/p>\n
You spend time creating an image and then deliberately disrupt it, particularly through smudging. Why?<\/p>\n
I wanted to lose a bit of control, or give some of that control over to the material. There\u2019s something quite funny about spending time making a face and then immediately smudging or rubbing it away. But I like that the material gets a vote. That\u2019s become increasingly important to me \u2013 thinking of the material less as a tool I\u2019m controlling and more as something I\u2019m in relationship or communion with.<\/p>\n
Sometimes the best thing you can do is get out of the way.<\/p>\n
Has spending a year making something primarily for yourself changed what you want from your practice going forward?<\/p>\n
Sometimes just turning up for yourself and your practice each day is enough. We don\u2019t always have the foresight to see how each little thing accumulates over time. Time spent in the studio, time spent making \u2013 they\u2019re all building blocks. We don\u2019t need to see the full picture.<\/p>\n
It reminded me that the small things count \u2013 you don\u2019t have to make a masterpiece every Tuesday. I\u2019m interested in keeping some space in my practice where things can be unresolved, private or even a little bit silly. I\u2019m trying to protect the part of making that existed before I knew anyone was watching.<\/p>\n
What are you trying to get better at right now?<\/p>\n
Painting. Still. Always. I\u2019ve spent a few years away from painting on glass, so I\u2019m wanting to revisit that material and way of working, and see what happens when I bring everything I\u2019ve learnt over the past few years back into it.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve also enrolled in a leadlighting course. I\u2019ve been wanting to play with stained glass for some time now, and I suppose I\u2019m trying to get better at being proactive about stepping outside the studio and asking for help \u2013 taking classes, learning new skills and being more collaborative.<\/p>\n
A tool you can\u2019t live without in the studio?<\/p>\n
Aside from my paint and paintbrushes, probably my hairdryer or headphones. My hairdryer is basically attached to my hip, especially when I\u2019m painting on glass, and my headphones are usually glued to my head.<\/p>\n
One of the 365 faces Ireland painted over the course of a year.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s something you\u2019ve always wanted to paint on?<\/p>\n
A car exterior, windows included. Or an entire greenhouse. I think that could be pretty fun.<\/p>\n
Morning or night artist?<\/p>\n
As of recently, morning. But typically, I\u2019m a night owl.<\/p>\n
Any advice for young artists?<\/p>\n
Stay curious, make things that excite you, and don\u2019t worry too much about getting it right. There\u2019s no right way to be an artist, so give yourself the space to experiment and find your own way.<\/p>\n
Which one of your paintings would you wish to hang out with in person?<\/p>\n
Honest answer, I\u2019d be happy to hang out with any of them. It would be like catching up with old mates. Can\u2019t complain about which one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of New Zealand\u2019s most recognisable young artists talks about making 365 faces in 365 days, losing control…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[2273,307,304,305,306,90353,308,93,61,60,258291,258292,258293,2283,3767],"class_list":["post-609763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-art","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-atea","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-maori-art","tag-maori-artists","tag-new-zealand-art","tag-painting","tag-society"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}