tiny vessels - Artist Interview
How would you describe your artistic practice and the themes or ideas you often explore?
tiny vessels is the movement collaboration of Rachel Goldman and Emily Haygeman. Our work is interested in the continuous emergence of nature, body, process, and movement. We work from the ground up, in collaboration with our environment and what is present in any given moment, rather than from the top down, with preconceived ideas or choreography to impose on our surroundings. Our work often explores themes of slow or spiral time, emergence, and deep listening. What this "looks like" changes in response to place and person(s) - where we are and who moves with us.
What role does nature or the environment play in your creative work?
The natural world is constantly emerging and evolving. We explore movement in our bodies that is in conversation with the natural world and our more than human kin. We notice the emergence of natural processes in our human bodies. We are interested in slow time or spiral time rather than the imposition of linear time on cyclical processes.
Can you share a moment or experience that has deeply influenced your approach to making art?
Deep Listening is a theme in our artistic practice. In order to listen deeply, it helps to be in regulated nervous systems. Throughout our residency we have engaged in practices that support this regulation.
During one of our weekends at TVP, we walked the paths, observed the river, and sat in the treehouse. We were inspired to write down an outline or rough sketch of the pathways we might take through the space, the natural elements we would make use of (rock, water, tree). We read a poem by Wendell Berry which inspired a grief theme for our current project. Then, we rolled out our sleeping mats and napped in the treehouse. What is important about this in our work is that we have come to value rest. We value the natural unfurling of time, and the integration that occurs when we let a big idea settle and sink deep into our bones. We revel in the intuitive movement that follows deep rest, integration and being with what is.
What materials or processes are you most drawn to, and why?
For this project, we were exploring grief - what we carry, what we put down, what we cling to, and what we let go. We found working with rocks to be particularly supportive in exploring how we carry, and put down, what we are holding. We found working alongside the creek to be supportive in understanding that nature allows flow. We explored how flow can resonate in our bodies and allow our experiences to come and go without clinging.
How do you approach the early stages of a project, research, gathering inspiration, and experimenting?
We really love working with collage as a means to draw visual inspiration for our work. Toward the beginning of a project, we meet up for a collage session and allow our intuition to guide the process. The collages help provide inspiration in regard to shape, color, theme, and feel. We are also drawn to deep listening. At TVP this has meant spending quiet time in nature listening and noticing. In the studio, this can mean starting slowly and listening to our body's intuitive wisdom about where to go next - catching a thread of what is already there and moving with that.
Photograph by Adrian Hutapea
What does working in a residency setting offer you that’s different from your usual studio practice?
The consistency of a residency setting is helpful for us in that the space informs our creativity. It also offers a specific container that we can push against and play with. In each new space we ask "what are the unique limitations of this space and how can we expand within these?" With TVP, working in nature allows for a more settled and site-specific process which we very much enjoy.
What’s one small, unexpected thing that’s been inspiring you lately, something outside of your art practice?
Rachel is getting married! And Emily is supporting the planning and execution of all things wedding-related. In coming together to talk about the wedding process, we are realizing it is another collaboration for us. Although we have danced together for 20 years, we came together to create performance work for the first time this year. TVP will be our second collaboration, and Rachel's wedding will be our third. Exploring movement, emergence, and choreography within the context of Rachel's upcoming marriage has been really special and sweet.
Photograph by Adrian Hutapea