Jackie Hatfield
Encyclopedia
Jackie Hatfield was an artist
, writer
, and academic.
sculptures which enjoyed some recognition and sales before she undertook a variety of casual and sometimes unusual roles. One night, attending a London Film-Makers' Co-op
screening, she decided that her future lay in the moving image. After taking advice from Dave Parsons at Central St Martins she elected to study Time Based Media at Maidstone College of Art (from 1991–94), despite not being able to show much evidence of any accomplishment in either film or video. Her ambition, aspiration and intellect however, was more than enough to convince tutors Al Rees and Steve Littman that here was someone very special. David Hall
, doyen of British video art
, had established the programme in the early 1970s and his legacy and ideas on video and film as artforms were still very influential. These ideas she was later to combine with those of her PhD supervisor Malcolm Le Grice, in a ‘unified’ theoretical framework evidenced in her articles for Millennium Film Journal and Filmwaves over the past few years.
From 1994 to 1995 she studied on the postgraduate programme in Electronic Imaging at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design
where Professor Stephen Partridge
was one of her tutors. After her Scottish sojourn she returned south and joined the University of Westminster in 1996, initially to take a Doctorate, but rose to Senior lecturer and Course Leader for Contemporary Media Practice, at the School of Media, Art and Design.
In 2003 Partridge invited her to discuss, and then seriously plan a research project that would investigate the ideas, aspirations, achievements of early British videoart, and select, conserve and preserve the best examples. This became REWIND| Artists’ Video in the 70s & 80s, which she joined as its Research Fellow in early 2004. Before leaving Westminster she curated Experiments in Moving Image a survey of UK experimental film
and video works including installations and expanded cinema, staged rather appropriately at the Old Lumiere Cinema in central London, and again ‘unifying’ the apparent diverse practice(s) of British film and video artists/makers. The exhibition also led to her anthology of artists’ and filmmakers’ writings: Experimental Film and Video Anthology, (John Libbey London, April 2006, ISBN 0 86196 664 3). This remarkable collection included the voices of 35 practitioners, many of whom had rarely if ever committed to scholarly writing before but succumbed to Jackie’s persuasion and cajoling as the editor and contributor.
Jackie made many trips to New York, which became her second ‘intellectual’ home and favourite city, not least because of her engagement and lively debates with its artists and practitioners. She had ambitious plans for further research on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2006 she won her own large research grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council
of Great Britain, investigating ‘Narrative Explorations in Expanded Cinema’ which completed its work under her spiritual guidance By David Curtis and Duncan White at the British Artists' Film & Video Study Collection culminating in a major publication 'Expanded Cinema: Art, Performance and Film' and the Tate Symposium: 'Activating the Space of Reception' in April 2009. .
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, and academic.
Biography
Her early career was spent making papier-mâchéPapier-mâché
Papier-mâché , alternatively, paper-mache, is a composite material consisting of paper pieces or pulp, sometimes reinforced with textiles, bound with an adhesive, such as glue, starch, or wallpaper paste....
sculptures which enjoyed some recognition and sales before she undertook a variety of casual and sometimes unusual roles. One night, attending a London Film-Makers' Co-op
London Film-Makers' Co-op
The London Film-makers' Co-op, or LFMC, was a British film-making workshop founded in 1966. It ceased to exist in 1999 when it merged with London Video Arts to form LUX....
screening, she decided that her future lay in the moving image. After taking advice from Dave Parsons at Central St Martins she elected to study Time Based Media at Maidstone College of Art (from 1991–94), despite not being able to show much evidence of any accomplishment in either film or video. Her ambition, aspiration and intellect however, was more than enough to convince tutors Al Rees and Steve Littman that here was someone very special. David Hall
David Hall
-Sportsmen:*David Hall , American middle distance runner*David Hall , English professional footballer active in the 1970s*David Hall , Australian horse trainer...
, doyen of British video art
Video art
Video art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and comprises video and/or audio data. . Video art came into existence during the 1960s and 1970s, is still widely practiced and has given rise to the widespread use of video installations...
, had established the programme in the early 1970s and his legacy and ideas on video and film as artforms were still very influential. These ideas she was later to combine with those of her PhD supervisor Malcolm Le Grice, in a ‘unified’ theoretical framework evidenced in her articles for Millennium Film Journal and Filmwaves over the past few years.
From 1994 to 1995 she studied on the postgraduate programme in Electronic Imaging at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design is an integral part of the University of Dundee in Dundee, Scotland. It is ranked as one of the top schools of art and design in the United Kingdom and has an outstanding reputation in both practice and research.-History:Attempts were made to...
where Professor Stephen Partridge
Stephen Partridge
Stephen Partridge is a British video artist who studied under David Hall and his career as an artist, academic and researcher, helped to establish video as an art form in the UK. -Life and work:...
was one of her tutors. After her Scottish sojourn she returned south and joined the University of Westminster in 1996, initially to take a Doctorate, but rose to Senior lecturer and Course Leader for Contemporary Media Practice, at the School of Media, Art and Design.
In 2003 Partridge invited her to discuss, and then seriously plan a research project that would investigate the ideas, aspirations, achievements of early British videoart, and select, conserve and preserve the best examples. This became REWIND| Artists’ Video in the 70s & 80s, which she joined as its Research Fellow in early 2004. Before leaving Westminster she curated Experiments in Moving Image a survey of UK experimental film
Experimental film
Experimental film or experimental cinema is a type of cinema. Experimental film is an artistic practice relieving both of visual arts and cinema. Its origins can be found in European avant-garde movements of the twenties. Experimental cinema has built its history through the texts of theoreticians...
and video works including installations and expanded cinema, staged rather appropriately at the Old Lumiere Cinema in central London, and again ‘unifying’ the apparent diverse practice(s) of British film and video artists/makers. The exhibition also led to her anthology of artists’ and filmmakers’ writings: Experimental Film and Video Anthology, (John Libbey London, April 2006, ISBN 0 86196 664 3). This remarkable collection included the voices of 35 practitioners, many of whom had rarely if ever committed to scholarly writing before but succumbed to Jackie’s persuasion and cajoling as the editor and contributor.
Jackie made many trips to New York, which became her second ‘intellectual’ home and favourite city, not least because of her engagement and lively debates with its artists and practitioners. She had ambitious plans for further research on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2006 she won her own large research grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council
Arts and Humanities Research Council
Established in April 2005 as successor to the Arts and Humanities Research Board, the Arts and Humanities Research Council is a British Research Council and non-departmental public body that provides approximately £102 million from the Government to support research and postgraduate study in the...
of Great Britain, investigating ‘Narrative Explorations in Expanded Cinema’ which completed its work under her spiritual guidance By David Curtis and Duncan White at the British Artists' Film & Video Study Collection culminating in a major publication 'Expanded Cinema: Art, Performance and Film' and the Tate Symposium: 'Activating the Space of Reception' in April 2009. .
Key critical texts
- Gene YoungbloodGene YoungbloodGene Youngblood is a theorist of media arts and politics, and a respected scholar in the history and theory of alternative cinemas. His Expanded Cinema , the first book to consider video as an art form, was influential in establishing the field of media arts as a recognized artistic and scholarly...
, Expanded Cinema (Dutton, 1970) - Jackie Hatfield, Experimental Film and Video (John Libbey Publishing, 2006; distributed in North America by Indiana University PressIndiana University PressIndiana University Press, also known as IU Press, is an academic publisher at Indiana University that specializes in the humanities and social sciences. It was founded in 1950. Its headquarters are located in Bloomington, Indiana....
) - Al Rees, David Curtis, Duncan White, Stephen Ball, Editors, 'Expanded Cinema: Art, Performance and Film' (Tate Publishing, 2011) http://www.tate.org.uk/shop/do/Books/Expanded-Cinema/product/46523