Christina Thwaites: An English Artist in Portland, Maine

I have with me artist, Christina waits, who is joining us from her home in Oro. Great to have you here today. Thank you. Thank you for having me. So I was, uh, I'm interested in going back into this kind of remote world of, um, recording our radio show. You get to be the first one back in the remote world. And today it happens to be because we're experiencing a little bit of a, a weather issue. So up in BA up in the Bangore Oro area, I understand you have snow. We have kind of rain that's falling on our roof, but you have, Okay. Yeah. We have a lot of the white stuff coming down. Yeah. But you, that doesn't bother you cuz you're gonna be able to, uh, go out skiing once this is all over. If that's, uh, you know, if that kind of appeals to you, my Children will let me. Yeah. Well, tell me about your children. Tell me about, uh, their are outside playing right now and you've already warned me that it's potential that they could come in the middle and join our podcast. Maybe I'm not, they've been promised ice cream, if they're very quiet when they come in, um, their five and seven, um, I have a girl and a boy and, um, they are old to five and seven year old are, which is very nice and messy and take up a lot of time and energy. Yeah. But you know, And are they At school? So that's good. So when they're at school, I'm in the studio And because of the weather, they're not in school today, That is correct. Another school they canceled for the snow yes. In Maine. So how has it been for you in Maine dealing with weather? COVID a five and a seven year old trying to continue to be an artist during all of this. All these interesting times. Tell me about that. I mean, I find the weather here quite hard. It's quite a lot in that question. Um, the weather I'm English I'm, so I'm used to sort of mild drizzly gray. That's my kind of I'm okay. In that. This is quite extreme for me. Um, I don't mind some extreme weather. It's just, when you get, you know, three weeks, a month of really cold and I must say, it's easy now the kids are older and they can put their own snow gear on, you know, when they're babies and when they're smaller and spends 40 minutes getting them ready and then you go outside and 10 minutes later, you gotta come in. Cause everyone's um, yeah, you know, it's a challenging climate, I think. And I don't have anyone to dump my kids on. I mean, I have a husband, but he also works. So, um, but we don't have parents or, you know, sisters or anybody around to come babysit. So on a day like today, where you wanna try to get back to your painting, how do you, how do you kind of navigate that? Oh, there's no, there's no navigation. I have to look after my children. Um, I mean this morning it was negotiated with my husband. So he's moved all his meetings for a bit later so that he, he could do this or that I could do this. Um, he's he works at the university. So we're lucky enough that he has a fairly, you know, flexible. I mean, he can be flexible, but he also he's flat out with work. So it's, it's juggling. I do a lot of put the kids to bed and then go back to work until I get a bed. Um, but I guess lots of people have that. Whether it's their kid they're looking after or another job during the day that they have. Yes. I'm sure it's very relatable to a lot of people, but it doesn't make things any easier for you right now. You're, you're, you're kind of right in the middle of just a very busy time in life and compound that with COVID and bad weather, COVID, doesn't make that much difference to me. It's the kids, let's be honest. I mean, I'm alone in my studio. And so I don't wear a mask work and I don't have special distance and it doesn't really make that much difference. That's the truth. Well, good. Because I think for most people that's been a big impact. Um, I mean it did influence some of my work. I definitely made some work which is related, I would say to the COVID world. Um, but don't think it's affected me on a day to day basis in the way it's affected a lot of people. Well, let's talk about your work and uh, let's start with the piece that actually that you have behind you. What, what, describe that piece for people who are listening to this, um, the podcast. So, Um, this is obviously a, a, a landscape painting it's oil on canvas it's, uh, I'm just checking the dimensions on my piece of paper. So I get it right. It's 26 by 42 inches and it's called no point counting the waves. And, um, I guess the title is just to do with, you know, when you get to the code, you have that feeling of timeless, you can just enjoy being there. Um, yeah, I mean, I've done a lot of landscape painting since I've been here in Maine and that's really, um, just because that's where I feel most happy when I'm here in Maine. That's where I go to breathe properly. Um, I also just think the coast is stunning here. It's gotten the shapes and the textures and the colors and the light. And, um, it's helped me get back to a, a much more sort of, um, I guess, playful way of painting, um, where you are just having a, a more of a conversation about texture and shape and color and layering than specifically trying to communicate any, I don't know, profound message or anything else you're just enjoying the process of painting. Um, and it's, it's quite relaxing to paint landscape seascapes. It feels a bit like being there. So I guess it's my, it's been definitely a way to feel yeah. Connected to the landscape and connected to Maine in a positive way. And I guess that's what I do wherever I am. I have to sort of latch onto something to focus on with my painting so that I can feel more at home in that context. And definitely here in Maine, that's been the coast, the coastline. I mean, we don't live on the coast, but R and O is not far, it's like an hour. Well, that brings me Quite often sit down for the weekends, you know, camping when we can walking on the beach in our snow pants, if we have to, You're very flexible that way. That's great that you're able to just kind of roll with it. Tell me about this piece that's behind me. Um, so the piece behind you, um, is called, uh, this is my happy place and it's what I was saying earlier. I mean, going to the coast is my happy place, but actually it's not a specific place. Um, I'm not terribly interested in painting specific places. I paint the coast in Maine, um, but I'm not painting specific places in Maine. I, um, I work from all black and white photographs. I quite often go to the library and I, or online, I look at the historical, um, archives of photographs in Maine and I pick out images and shapes that I like. Um, and then I'll do sketches and sometimes I'll like merge two pictures. Um, and I guess it's a way of me looking through old picture to get a sense of the history. It's like a visual essay of the past, which I enjoy. And it's also helps me to keep away from trying to be too realistic and trying to represent a particular place or space, uh, but more, a general feeling of shapes and colors and a response that's I guess, more open to interpretation so that not just I can enjoy that game and that play of interpretation, but the viewer as well, so that when you see it, you're like, oh, that reminds me of here. Or I see this and somebody else will say, oh, I, that, that doesn't do that for me, that I think about this when I see it, so that there's opening and dialogue, as opposed to answering the questions of this is this place. And that's the end. I want it to be a bit more, um, ambiguous and sometimes things are more tight and, you know, more defined and other times the work just sort of finishes and you left with a kind of, I'm not quite sure if this is finished or not. I don't know. And, and that's, what's nice about the black, black and white photos, because they're bit like that. Some of them are quite clear and some of them are crackled and old and by the time you've photocopied them from the book and then you've sketched from them. And then you work from your sketch. You're quite a long way from where it started already, which is what I'm interested in. Cuz I would like not just my conversation to be in important with the work, but yeah, that's the viewer as well. When did you decide to start using the old black and white photographs as a means for inspiring the work that you do? Um, I've been doing that. Oh really for age, like I dunno, maybe 15 years or something 20 years. Um, I wouldn't say since I started painting, but I did, um, I lived in Amsterdam for a while in a artist squat house. And um, before I left, my grandfather handed me a pile of old photos of the family and I was like, ah, wow, these are really cool. And I worked from the old photographs and, um, it was really interesting cuz through the generations you could see the family likeness. And so it was this really fun game of thinking, well, when was that photo taken? Hang on, that's the son of this person, but they looked the same at the same age, but the, you know, there's 30 years between them. Um, so it was like a detective game of me, I guess, doing a bit. What I'm doing in Maine is I look through the photos and I piece bits together and I make connections which may or may not be there. And then I, I work from the photographs sort of to get into the images and then they become something else on their own. And then by the time they're finished, they're a completely new creation in the world and nothing to do with the, you know, the first, the first image I started working then, and then I just carried on doing it. I mean, when we lived, when we lived in Australia, I would spend, I spent quite a long time looking through, we lived in Canberra, which is the capital and I spent quite a long time in the libraries, looking at the archives. They have amazing collections of quite disturbing photographs like the Brits when they got there. And they took photographs of people, um, a bit like, yeah, specimens, it's quite horrifying my but part of my history. Um, and yeah, I guess just that I, I like the old, black and white photos, um, as a starting point cuz you get some of the story, but you don't get all of it. And I also like, especially with the, the, um, the ones of the figures, I mean these are, these are landscapes, but the, I mean, uh, Portland, art gallery has some of my figure where, and it's the same process. And when I'm working from the photographs of the, for the figures, the photographs are sort of even more eerie than sorry of the, the, um, the portraits rather than the landscapes. They're very EIE cuz they have to be. So still at that time You also also have magnetic pieces, which is, um, which is unique for the Portland art gallery. And I would say something that's probably unique just in art generally. Um, yeah, I've actually done here's one I made earlier. So I, I have one here just to sort of show how they work and um, I, I think they are unique. I've not, I have seen people working with magnetic pieces before in a more abstract realm, um, you know, sort of, and style and you can move the, you know, squares around, but I haven't seen anything like this. Um, not that I know of where each piece is sort of figurative and you can change the narrative. Um, and I guess this comes back to that whole part of the, you know, the, the viewer being able to, to be part of the work and, um, have a conversation with the work, not explaining everything, but you know, the viewers given, uh, given the opportunity to play and um, yeah, they're quite complex works to make, I mean, each piece I'm just gonna hold it up to the screen so you can see like a little thin piece of magnet. And um, I have work, that's been, uh, printed painted. Um, they've got layers of protective material on them. They're not toys, you know, the, when the kids come near that I'm a bit protective. Um, I'm sort of very interested in this work. It's being, it's a little bit like I think being a conductor, but you're not there at the audience. You want the music, everything's got to be able to work without you. So you've got to select the right instruments and the right players and then you've gotta hope for the best, but the pieces have been very carefully selected. So the colors, um, fit together, other the size fits together. It will always be harmonious. There are lines to help you. Um, and you know, it's a conversation in the family. If I have one of these on the wall and my husband walks by, he'll move it around and then I'll come back and then I'll move it. And when one of the kids will move it and you know, it becomes quite a, um, yeah, it's a part of our lives. I have a big one in my bedroom when the kids are like, good, will you have a go? Um, and the, the other thing is it's for me, I've there parts of all of my life that I've ended up in here. So I mean, this goose, when we in Italy, this was one of my geese, this is actually a screen print of one of my it's the lady goose. And she's become a sort of representative part in my work of, you know, she's the symbol of sensible level headed, um, in this world of chaos. Cause basically we had three geese and two of them were men and they were always fighting and they were very noisy and aggressive and she was just this chilled out, come on, boys, calm down. And then living in Maine, you know, we have geese and they're sort of this symbol of the nature and changing seasons. And then this little lady here with her, with her scuba diving stuff on she's, that's sort of my COVID take on things. So she's in her bubble and she's listening to herself and she's walking around seeing the world through her mask and I've done quite a few with, um, you know, the mask on like we're, it's obvious, like we've all been underwater, isn't it. And when are we gonna come out? We, we, I feel like we are now we are coming up for breath, but then we keep home to go down again into our world of fish and bubbles. Um, so yeah, there's sort of, there's lots of things that are coming together in this work. And then the backgrounds, obviously more abstract, which is interesting, cuz actually I sort of play with them in the same way that I do with the landscapes. It's just that the final part of the landscape is more, um, it, it, it's creating a stronger bridge to the figurative world than this work, but it's actually the same process without pulling and pulling, pulling and pushing, pulling paint on taking it off the physicality of the paint and the process, Christina, you're originally from England. But even in this brief conversation, you mentioned several places, places that you've lived. Um, and, and this idea of home kind of being what you take with you is pretty central to your work. I believe. Yeah. I think, um, it's taken me a long time to work out. Why do I paint? And the reason really is I think it's my way of finding home. Um, and finding a way to be connected to where I am because I have moved a lot. I moved, you know, I left home in England at 18 and I lived in Edinburgh and Scotland and then I lived in Paris and then I lived in new Yorker in Spain and um, then I lived in Italy. Then I lived in Indonesia in Amsterdam, Australia, and then we came here and um, I feel like my life is sort of full of chapters. And the only, I mean, obviously there are, there are continuums, but, um, my painting really helps me to feel part of where I am. And I think that's where the whole thing of, you know, enjoying the black and white photographs and so of delving a bit more into what's around me. Um, I mean there was a time when I was pregnant. I didn't do anything exterior. It was all interior cuz I was obsessed with myself as opposed to where I was. So I worked on pregnancy. Um, and so that was a whole world in itself and my body and there's another whole sort of yeah. Road in my work all about that. Um, but I guess it's all about just trying to feel grounded and peaceful about where I am and the painting part is yeah. Part of that. So sometimes I feel a bit schizophrenic in my studio and I realize my work sometimes looks a bit to some people like, oh, she's doing this and then she's doing this and what, what's the connection here? But it, to me it's all the same. It's just different, different, same, same, but different. I understand that, I guess With the magnetic work, that's, what's sort of a interesting for me too, cuz I'm able to weave all the different pieces of these different worlds together, um, which is sort of interesting cuz you lay out all your pieces of magnetic stuff you've made and then some put them together in a, in an unexpected, um, which is quite quite fun. I mean I started making the magnetic work because like, you know, when I was pregnant, uh, or not when I was pregnant, but when I had my kids, I didn't have any time. So I couldn't concentrate on large scale compositions and I didn't have any time for painting. So I would just make one tiny fish or like ahead and then I didn't know where it was all going, but then I slowly, so every everything in the end feeds into something doesn't it in our lives. That's right. And I understand that, um, in the, not too distant future, there are plans for you and your family to head out on the road when your husband's on sabbatical. And he's a, yes, he's a, he's a professor of wildlife ecology. Is that that's yeah. What He does, he's a wildlife ecologist. Yeah. So, um, that's right. We are gonna pull our kids out school and do homeschooling and um, my husband is gonna work from our little, uh, camping trailer and we're going to go and have a look at the states cuz we haven't been anywhere yet. We've been in Maine, which is very nice. Um, but it's such a big country. It's hard to do weekends. You know, you can't nip to the grand canyon for a weekend. Um, so that's what we're gonna do. We might come back very quickly cuz it might be a disaster. Um, I mean I really value my time in the studio. So for me not to be able to be in my studio alone might be hard for me. How, how long will you be gone for That's a good question. I mean we are not quite sure we are going to go a lot. Depends on my husband's work and how he manages and how I manage and how the children manage. And if it doesn't, if it's not fun and we don't manage, we will come back and if we do manage and it's fun will stay for, I don't know until maybe June, I dunno. How long is his? We'll have to see how it goes. How long is his sabbatical for? Well, he has this semester off. So, um, I mean he's already, it sort of, I mean it is, it started at the end of the last semester I guess. So I guess it's only part of the, his em his, uh, time, but he has quite a lot of students and a lot of commitments. So I, I dunno how he's going to So It's most, so that means I have to step up, you know, on the, on the parenting side. So I don't think they'll definitely be, I'm not even sure if I'm gonna take, um, do sketching or something, which is fine. Um, I try not to mix my work and my kids. It doesn't work. I end up being frustrated that I'm doing bad drawings and paintings and frustrated that I'm not being a very good mom. So I try to keep them separate so that I'm a hundred percent focused in my studio or I'm a hundred percent focused on being a good parent. And sometimes everything goes to everything goes, you know, in the air. So it sounds like it's, uh, it's sabbatical from teaching. It's not a sabbatical from all of the responsibilities that he has at the university. Yeah. I mean, sabbaticals are really, I think depends how you define what it's for, but I think it's for, you know, focusing on something like writing a paper, writing a paper or paper or collabo writing or writing a book or so he has a number of things in his, on his agenda that he would like to achieve workwise. So I dunno how we're gonna manage combining that. But um, you know, if you don't try, you Don know, so, And you Rome while you were working for NATO and doing work that had nothing to do with art. Yes. Um, I mean, I didn't, uh, my degree is in French literature and history of art. Um, and um, I thought with my French, uh, and I was living in Rome at the time I applied for an internship and I worked at NATO for a year and I wore a suit and had a security badge and that started to desk and had my name on the door. And then I decided that I couldn't possibly sit in front of a computer for the rest of my life. Um, I mean I've, I've always been painting even all the other things I've done. I mean, my I've always been painting forever in my bedroom, in my doesn't matter where, um, it's not that that's ever gone away. It's just, I sort of thought that I would not have it as so much my career. I thought it would be there, but actually it's the only thing I want to do all day, every day. Everything else seems, um, well, I don't know. Once you decide you don't want to be in front of a computer, that's a lot of jobs. Yes, yes. I would say that's true. And it's certainly a lot of what I do. And I'm a doctor. You wouldn't think that's a lot of what I do, but you're absolutely right. I would nearly all jobs are in front of the computer. I don't wanna be in the computer. Um, I just think it's bad for your health and it makes me feel weird. I can do a day through my accounts and website, but I can't do loads of it. It it's, it's bad for you. It's bad for me. I dunno about everybody else. Um, I completely agree. Help me to be connected with the world. Yes, I agree. So when you and I were talking earlier or you, you were mentioning that your kids are actually outside playing in the snow and it sounds like you do when They came in, did you hear it? They came in and they're upstairs A little bit. I only heard a little bit, they did a great job. They deserve that ice cream. It's not pizza butter on my roof. It's uh it's But, uh, but I love the fact that you're encouraging them to interact with the outdoors and also interesting that their father is a wildlife ecologist. So it sounds like this interface of inter of interior, exterior for everyone in your family is very important. Um, yeah. Yeah. I mean, my husband and I, when the kids were small, we would argue about who got to go and shovel the drive. Cause yeah, we need, I guess we're we need to be connected to the outside. And I think that's why winter here is really tough and mean we count the winters we've done. Um, it, yeah, I think being, I mean I grew up in a Hamlet with 10 houses and a lot of cows and sheep and I spent my whole life outside. So, um, and I think in my work that, you know, you can see that there's the outside and then there's the domestic, which is this kind of, and the domestic is to do with our culture. I mean, I just did one that the gallery has, um, for Thanksgiving, there's this amazing photo in the main archives of this, you know, these kids in this big pumpkin, I was just like, oh my gosh, I have to paint that. Cause people are obsessed with pumpkins here. I mean, it's hilarious. It's that sort of domestic cultural side of things. And I guess those two worlds are, I know just important for me. I think they're important for everybody. Um, but I think for me, it's my, my I'm a small world person. It's, what's happening in my little bit of the world outside and my little bit of the world inside. Um, yeah. And cuz probably it's the small things that make us happy or not. It's the, on the fridge, isn't it that make the difference to your day? I agree. And I think what you're also describing too, is this interesting, um, this interesting path that most of us take on our lives trajectory where there's, you know, sometimes you're more outward focused, sometimes you're more inward focused. You know, sometimes the creativity is, um, I guess, broader and looking at the seascapes and sometimes it's being the children and you know, looking at the pumpkins. So I do think there's a kind of an ebb and flow and a and a, as I say, trajectory that many lives take that are similar to the one that you're just describing, I guess, is that just walking around, trying to be mindful of what around you and if you have some under of what you're looking at and why it is the way it is, then hopefully we will, you know, have a more enjoyable experience here. But I mean, for me, the painting is, it's like a yoga though. You know, some people need to go for a run. I need to get in my studio and slap some paint around and I'm terribly messy. I can get it all over my hair. And you know, I arrived to pick the kids up from school and they've got it skewed across my face. Play is the playful side of things as well. So you want, you know, I want to work on small some days and some days I want to work big and some days I want to work in wax and some days I want to work in ink and sometimes I need to draw. Um, and I think having a sort of varied toolbox, um, and a yeah, varied materials so that when I get down there, my body can feel as free as it needs to be, to do what it wants to do. How, I guess it doesn't mean there isn't discipline, but it's a very physical, um, involvement with the materials. How did you come to work with the Portland art gallery? Um, I contacted them and they said, would you like to come and see us? And so I took some work rolled up, uh, before Christmas and um, they very kindly, um, agreed to meet me and I showed them my work. I, I usually don't, I don't, um, have work stretched up straight away. I work, um, by roles of canvas and then I sort of pinned them to a board. So I took the work all rolled up, which makes it a lot easier for transporting, rolled it all out on the floor. And they said, yep, looks interesting. Um, so they've now got a small selection of my work and I hope, you know, things will go forward, but, uh, it's a fabulous space and I'm very excited to be working with them. Well, I know they're excited to be working with you. So I, I, I encourage people to go to the Portland art gallery and to, uh, see your work in person, but also to take some time on the Portland art gallery website. Um, it's really been a pleasure to be speaking with Christina waits today. And I hope, uh, I get a chance to meet you in person perhaps one of these days. Yes. Well, thank you so much.