Monk House Design

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Alice Mcintosh


Bursting into the store in a flurry of texture, paint and plaster, Alice McIntosh is keeping things funky! We love a shop take over here at MHD, and this one is no exception.

After finishing Honours at VCA last year Alice has entered self-directed practice with a very exciting presence. Removed from the confines of institutional practice Alice now works with a range of materials in a range of spaces, including (but not exclusive to) kitchens, garages and friends studios.

Evolving from this intimate relationship with her materials and surrounds, sculptural practice has now become something of a playful process for Alice. Transforming through trial and error, Alice adapts her work spontaneously.

Indulgent, surreal and beautiful, her pastel pieces look very at home here at MHD!

We had a chat to Alice about her practice, work and what's to come. Have a read below:

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I finished studying Honours, Sculpture at VCA in December. I'm currently in a slow transition between leaving art school and entering into a self-directed practice. I feel like my direction at art school was much more linear, focusing on school. Now influences, decisions and things on offer are coming at me from 360°.

Can you tell us a bit about the space you make work in? 

At the moment I'm making work in 3 different places, my friends garage, another friends studio and in my kitchen. I'm currently looking for a studio but in the mean time it's cool making in different people's spaces! It means more influences from their work and conversations with them. Ultimately though being a guest in other's spaces is holding me back from some stuff I need to make big/ yuck/ messy and on my own. 

What concepts and ideas does your work explore?

I like making things and not knowing what I'm making. Being lead by the materials themselves towards things that contradict the initial intention. My making is process driven, often starting with simple intentions like making a sculpture that lights up. Then at some point or many points I let the intention sway if the materials surprise or offer something more interesting than what I could previously have conceived of. In other words I'm more interested in finding the form through this open process rather than working to a planned shape. What's found is a form that holds the changing decisions and contradictions that couldn't be reached without the tangent of making. 

We can see that there is so much fun and experimentation with different materials and colours in your work. Is an element of play important in your creative process? 

Yeah I find making things with my hands really pleasurable. Play is a good way to get into the making of these forms but it leads me to somewhere more serious than the light heartedness of where I started. Me and the process enter multiple crisis’ that we have to find our way out of... It's unusual for shit not to hit the fan. Rather than the word 'play' I think trialing is a better description of how I feel about my process. Everything I do is a trial so there's no difference between the testing of an idea and the result. Play, trial, fail, test, discovery all build on each other and contribute to the result. 

Where to next for Alice McIntosh?

I've just started making some cob (sand, clay, straw) tables which I'm really excited about. One uses tinsel as reinforcement instead of straw so I guess I'm heading in a swampy, sparkly direction. 

Alice’s installation will be up until Sunday 15th February, 2015