CATHY SCULLION

Another glorious morning and time for an INTERVIEW WITH A VAULTER.

This time with birthday girl Cathy Scullion

Happy Birthday Cathy

How’s it going?

It’s been pretty good actually. I’d consider myself quite an adaptable person, so I’ve been taking it in my stride. I’ve spent most of this past year debating whether to focus my energy on doing a Masters or into securing a more permanent Arts sector job, but not really making any headway with either so this uncertainty feels somewhat familiar.

I’ve been cooking loads and actually enjoying it, I don’t normally as I’m usually cooking in a rush while I’m already hangry. I’ve been exercising quite a bit, yoga and running, it’s really been helping, I’ve found when I feel like life is getting a bit chaotic I start to exercise more, it give me a sense of having some kind of control and authority, of my own body at least .

We have a running group at the studio and one of our runners challenged us to run 100km by the end of April, it’s been good to have something to work towards, I think it’s made me realise I really miss/need deadlines for motivation and productivity.

What is your living situation? Do you have outside space or are you living in an underground bunker?

I rent, sharing with two others, just before all this kicked off our old landlord told us he was selling. Luckily a house came up for rent directly across the street (an easy transition for my cat, Bruce ‘The Boss’) The move has been a welcome distraction, I decided to paint the walls in the downstairs rooms and have generally been busying myself with making it feel like home.

It’s a mid-terrace house, we don’t have a garden but have a pretty good-sized back yard which is a sun trap, great when the sun is out so I can play a nice game of ‘how many minutes can I sit in this before I burn to a crisp’.

How has the pandemic effected your arts practice?

Just before lock down I had been working three jobs and so my practice took a bit of a back seat, practically at least, I’m always thinking about it but as I said above, it seems to take a looming deadline to push me to put those thoughts into action. (it’s worked out so far!)

While working those three jobs all I wished for was more time to focus on my art, now it’s here I am finding it incredibly difficult to do anything, I have zero ability to focus it seems, or more accurately I have a great ability to distract myself with other things. I’m trying not to put too much pressure on myself though as I feel that’s counterproductive and now that I’ve ran out of DIY projects to distract myself with I can feel a shift in my concentration back towards my practice, that’s a start, I guess.

I’m not sure how much practical work I’ll get done during this time, it may be a time for regrouping, looking over past works and research and trying to find my path again. I’m feeling positive.

I taught myself to crochet the first day or two of lockdown and have been making a blanket, I use repetition in my work a lot and have looked at the idea of using repetition as a means of working through trauma, maybe the repetitive process of crocheting has been my way of helping myself get through this.

How are you coping with the temporary closure of Vault.

It’s been strange not having Vault there, since becoming a member it, the building, the people, have become such an integral part of my day to day life. I find my creativity thrives when being around other creative people, and Vault has that special dynamic where, although we all have our own studio spaces, it has a real community vibe.

I’m missing the random conversations in stairways, corridors, allotments etc. and I’m missing the sparks of ideas those random conversations often ignite in me.

Keeping connected through social media has really helped, we check in with each other and have had a giant zoom meeting, was great to see all the beautiful faces, I miss those faces. The running crew Whatsapp group has been great, we’re in daily contact motivating each other, and maybe getting slightly competitive, in a good way though.

What do you appreciate during lock down.

My family and friends, I’ve found the contact (not physical) I’m making with them during these times is more frequent and considered. I’ve spoken on the phone more in the past few weeks than I have in the past few years.

I appreciate that over the past few years I’ve spent a lot of time looking inward and have grounded myself enough to be able to take on the changes that are happening right now in a healthy and rational way.

Usually I have very little downtime, and I thrive on being busy, so this forced change of pace has taken a bit of getting used to, I am enjoying the slowness however it has made me realise how much I like being busy, being around people, I spent so much time around people, it’s made me appreciate people.

And although I’m not being as creative as I’d like right now, I do appreciate knowing that when I’m ready, I will have the ability to process this, and express myself creatively.

How do you imagine the future after lockdown? For yourself and the wider art world.

For me personally I don’t think things will change much, as I said before, I have always existed on a slight level of uncertainty. I spent quite a few years travelling the world and the experience of being transient taught me to embrace the unknown.

As for the art world, we’re resilient, I feel if I wasn’t part of something as wonderful as Vault I may feel differently, but there is a fantastic supportive creative community in Belfast, not just Vault members, I feel we’ll go on as we have been, juggling everything, making art and generally making the world a little easier to live in.

I’ve seen so many posts on social media, from people who have never engaged personally with being creative, turning to creativity to get them through this, or ease the shock a little at least, I’d love to see a shift in attitudes towards the value of the arts in day to day living/education from our governments but I’m not holding out any hope.

On a global scale and particularly here in the North of Ireland there have been so many opportunities recently for everyone to step up and start thinking collectively rather than as an individual, and they haven’t. Maybe this is the big eye opener, things won’t go back to as they were before that’s for sure, whether that’s for the better or worse, we shall see. I’m quietly optimistic.

Where can people find you online?

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cscullionart