‘Studios are spaces where artists make and think and talk and write. Where they look and succeed and fail and eat and sleep and start afresh and draw and paint. Where they read and rest and work and don’t work …’

‘Fragments and False Starts features essays from 6 artists, each reflecting on how they might think about, or use, a studio.’

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Fragments and False Starts was a body of practice-based research which was more than a year in the making. It was funded by Creative Scotland which allowed for a new publication to be brought together. This publication included new, commissioned essays by national and international artists, at various stages of their careers

The publication took the form of a soft-bound book and was published and distributed as part of the exhibition Fragments and False Starts [Radar 9213].

5 artists were commissioned to write new texts which were built around reflections on their relationship with their studios. The artists invited to contribute were:

Sarah Arriagada (USA), Rowan Bazley (England), Dale Holmes (England), Amanda Thomson (Scotland) and Fraser Whiting (Scotland).

Sarah Arriagada, ‘On Being and the Studio’
Rowan Bazley, ‘The Perpetual Studio’
Dale Holmes, ‘Welcome to Corpse Road Pack Horse Centra Tennis Club’
Graham Lister, ‘I’ve Started’
Amanda Thomson, ‘SEVERAL FRAGMENTS’
Fraser Whiting, SSSssstttttuuuuddddiiiiOooooOooo’

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These artists are all practitioners whose working methods were of specific interest to me. From home studios to encompassing walking in the Highlands, to disused shopping centres, the publication highlighted the physical and mental spaces which we can understand as ‘studios’. I also contributed an essay about my own understanding of studio-working at present, and wrote the introduction to the publication..

The publication was distributed widely – available for free to more than 200 visitors to the exhibition at Studio pavilion in Glasgow. A number of publications were distributed to the writers for their own networks and posted to individuals and organisations who requested them through social media.

Furthermore, it was available on issuu as a free to download online publication.