Rachel Anne Buch
Buch is an artist from Gadigal land, Sydney Australia. Her work ranges from craft-based sculptural pieces in ceramics or textiles to performative and interactive artworks. She is interested in themes such as the domestic, the ‘feminine’, pedagogy, craft and storytelling. For her MFA she has been building a body of work responding to the Early Children’s Book Special Collection at Headington Library. Through her research, Buch has been attempting to activate a collection that used to be a teaching resource, but is now confined by the archival process. Buch has been unpacking the delights and dilemmas inherent in historical material.
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An interview with the artist about their MFA show:
It’s three weeks until the exhibition, what have you been doing in the lead up to the show?
I have been spending a lot of time in the sculpture room. I have been making about three plates per day. I've been making as many of these little flat fruit art pieces as possible!
If I’m not in the sculpture room, I will be in the special collections room researching and thinking about the collection - sketching, reading, writing thoughts and questions, and trying to think of how my plate artworks can talk to the collection.
I have been spending a lot of time in the sculpture room. I have been making about three plates per day. I've been making as many of these little flat fruit art pieces as possible!
If I’m not in the sculpture room, I will be in the special collections room researching and thinking about the collection - sketching, reading, writing thoughts and questions, and trying to think of how my plate artworks can talk to the collection.
Tell me more about the fruit pieces?
I cast in plaster little fruit sculptures I made. And then I use them like a stamp to create a small relief sculpture the size of a palm. There are all different kinds of fruits (some a bit abstract) - strawberry, raspberry, lemons, raspberries, some hybrids (blueberry/quongdongs, clementines/yuzu etc).
I cast in plaster little fruit sculptures I made. And then I use them like a stamp to create a small relief sculpture the size of a palm. There are all different kinds of fruits (some a bit abstract) - strawberry, raspberry, lemons, raspberries, some hybrids (blueberry/quongdongs, clementines/yuzu etc).
What are some of your favourite books you have found in the Early Years Childrens Book Collection?
There are some very interesting books in the collection! One of the books I really enjoyed finding, which I have on display in the special collections room at the moment, is a collection of poems from a publication called ‘The Girls Own Paper’. The illustrations on every page of this book are so beautiful and memorable that I spent so many days just leafing through the pages just taking in all the details.
Another book which I really like, which I'm hoping to display in the exhibition space, is a story about two children traveling around the world in a walnut shell. The illustrations and lettering is beautiful and I feel like it's been a good example of an old text engaging with other countries and cultures - the way the characters view themselves as conquerors, explorers - a lot of the ways that the children interact with and describe the world highlight some of the issues I've had in this project about colonialism and racism.
There are some very interesting books in the collection! One of the books I really enjoyed finding, which I have on display in the special collections room at the moment, is a collection of poems from a publication called ‘The Girls Own Paper’. The illustrations on every page of this book are so beautiful and memorable that I spent so many days just leafing through the pages just taking in all the details.
Another book which I really like, which I'm hoping to display in the exhibition space, is a story about two children traveling around the world in a walnut shell. The illustrations and lettering is beautiful and I feel like it's been a good example of an old text engaging with other countries and cultures - the way the characters view themselves as conquerors, explorers - a lot of the ways that the children interact with and describe the world highlight some of the issues I've had in this project about colonialism and racism.
Why have you chosen ceramics as your medium?
I put a lot of thought into my decision to use ceramics. For one, what I enjoy about books that aren't archived is how accessible they are - it is very easy to have access to books - they are part of most children's lives. I think an item like a plate is similar - most people will have some interaction with ceramics in their everyday life. They reflect the domestic sphere as well as craft based practices.
I felt that both books and ceramics have links with colonialism and colonial stealing (of objects, stories) - I put a lot of thought into the styles and materials I used. And the imagery I used. As well as the process of me ‘copying’ imagery from the books - even this was a reference to the pillaging of items.
I put a lot of thought into my decision to use ceramics. For one, what I enjoy about books that aren't archived is how accessible they are - it is very easy to have access to books - they are part of most children's lives. I think an item like a plate is similar - most people will have some interaction with ceramics in their everyday life. They reflect the domestic sphere as well as craft based practices.
I felt that both books and ceramics have links with colonialism and colonial stealing (of objects, stories) - I put a lot of thought into the styles and materials I used. And the imagery I used. As well as the process of me ‘copying’ imagery from the books - even this was a reference to the pillaging of items.
What imagery has been most central to your work?
To boil it down simply - treatment of land. Land had been a huge theme in the work - nature and rural culture. From a material basis my plates are made from clay from the ground - the colours also resemble the earth. There is straw in the exhibition which creates ‘islands’. This is meant to reference the idea in stories that children go on journeys across landscapes - it is also meant to engage with peoples relationship to land and landscape as central to how stories unfold. I am also trying to reintroduce subtle imagery of maps - in my plates and in my installation and am trying to bring in the idea of landmass located in space. However, because these stories are children's books I am also very aware that these stories were not intended to be deliberately propaganda for colonial practices in the way we perceive them to be now. They were supposed to, in their time, excite and inspire and deliver creativity to them - and so part of my exhibition will include elements of whimsy through the inclusion of interactive act elements to engage with their inner child and inner whimsy.
To boil it down simply - treatment of land. Land had been a huge theme in the work - nature and rural culture. From a material basis my plates are made from clay from the ground - the colours also resemble the earth. There is straw in the exhibition which creates ‘islands’. This is meant to reference the idea in stories that children go on journeys across landscapes - it is also meant to engage with peoples relationship to land and landscape as central to how stories unfold. I am also trying to reintroduce subtle imagery of maps - in my plates and in my installation and am trying to bring in the idea of landmass located in space. However, because these stories are children's books I am also very aware that these stories were not intended to be deliberately propaganda for colonial practices in the way we perceive them to be now. They were supposed to, in their time, excite and inspire and deliver creativity to them - and so part of my exhibition will include elements of whimsy through the inclusion of interactive act elements to engage with their inner child and inner whimsy.
So would you say that your exhibition is trying to not shy away from the conflict of these books in contemporary society - i.e. between colonialism and sort of out of date values and the more whimsical / playful experience that readers at the time would have experienced?
I guess this exhibition is trying to address the myriad of complicated feelings I have towards these texts. It does reflect the joys I have for storytelling in general. And also the conflicted feelings I have for something that we can now understand as being harmful in varying degrees.
I guess this exhibition is trying to address the myriad of complicated feelings I have towards these texts. It does reflect the joys I have for storytelling in general. And also the conflicted feelings I have for something that we can now understand as being harmful in varying degrees.
What would a child look forward to in the exhibition?
Just like the incongruity of an archive housing children’s books, my exhibition has the incongruity of containing delicate objects like historical books and ceramics alongside tactile and interactive spaces and artworks. So the idea is that there will be places in the exhibition for people to touch and sit. As well as artworks that they will be able to collect and keep for themselves. This is designed to be inclusive for everyone, and particularly young children.
Just like the incongruity of an archive housing children’s books, my exhibition has the incongruity of containing delicate objects like historical books and ceramics alongside tactile and interactive spaces and artworks. So the idea is that there will be places in the exhibition for people to touch and sit. As well as artworks that they will be able to collect and keep for themselves. This is designed to be inclusive for everyone, and particularly young children.
Quick Fire Round!
Three artists that inspired this exhibition?
Rosey Deacon
Joan Ross
Stephen Bird
Favourite book as a child?
Harry Potter - my complicated feelings for this series has been part of what led me to this exhibition
Favourite book as an adult?
A Southern Bookclubs Guide to Killing Vampires by Grady Hendrix
Favourite library?
The State Library of Victoria
Favourite place in Oxford to read?
Oxfordshire County Library
Colour palette of the show?
Reddy brown, mustard yellow, cobalt blue, dark green.
For lazy readers, can you summarize in one sentence what this exhibition is about?
It is about activating the Oxford Brookes Early Children's Collection in an artistic way. However you read the show - that’s how I want you to read the books.
Rosey Deacon
Joan Ross
Stephen Bird
Favourite book as a child?
Harry Potter - my complicated feelings for this series has been part of what led me to this exhibition
Favourite book as an adult?
A Southern Bookclubs Guide to Killing Vampires by Grady Hendrix
Favourite library?
The State Library of Victoria
Favourite place in Oxford to read?
Oxfordshire County Library
Colour palette of the show?
Reddy brown, mustard yellow, cobalt blue, dark green.
For lazy readers, can you summarize in one sentence what this exhibition is about?
It is about activating the Oxford Brookes Early Children's Collection in an artistic way. However you read the show - that’s how I want you to read the books.