We interviewed MA Visual Arts: Book Arts 2015 graduate Dawn Irving, she tells us about her time at Camberwell and what she has been doing since.
Where are you from?
I was born in Liverpool, but while I was at Camberwell I was living in Brighton and commuting the days I went to college.
Overall how was your time at Camberwell?
I just knew I wanted to attend Camberwell at my interview, and the feeling was mutual as I was awarded the Vice Chancellor Scholarship to attend. I had two wonderful tutors that really drew my potential out of me, and in turn it made me thrive to be successful within my practice, which saw me graduating with a distinction. I adored my two years at Camberwell and I actually miss it very much, I think that is why I moved to London upon finishing the course. I now live and have a studio not far from Camberwell.
Work by MA Book Arts graduate Dawn Irving
What have you been up to since you graduated?
I now have a studio practice, working on several projects and have been approached to recreate my performance piece that I presented at my Camberwell final show. The performance will be later this year as part of the Counter Book Fair in Plymouth. I was unaware they had been to the final show at all, until they contacted me by email a couple months after the show.
I have recently invited two friends from my course to share my studio with me, as a triptych we plan to make and work together as a collective in the coming year. I am also currently writing proposals for several gallery spaces. I have been invited back to the Art Car Boot Fair this year to be one of their artists.
Currently I work with repetition; (Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud considered repetition to be trauma), the repetition of always looking backwards and exploring what that means within my practice. I am also exploring the themes of how I am influenced by the women of Dada, what we have in common; coding, making our own language, working with text, book works, and repetition.
The above are the main themes of two gallery proposals I am currently writing and the work that is being created alongside this is a series of miniature paintings. I have also be commissioned to make two books; one a look book for a jeweler, and the other a conceptual art book on Andy Warhol.
Dawn Irving
How did your time at Camberwell inform your work?
My tutors introduced me to new ways of thinking and artists that have heavily informed my practice, as well as the people on my course. Without them I wouldn’t have seen my work being exhibited in places such as New York and Berlin, because they guided me and my practice.
Finally any advice for students starting at Camberwell?
Always check out the South London Gallery, as it is just next door! Make use of the university art shops as they are the cheapest in London for all your art supplies. Also make use of the other colleges, there is so much going on to see and do.
Work by Dawn Irving
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