Chantal Powell, Artist, Curator and Founder, Hogchester Arts
Chantal Powell is a sculptural artist working in the fields of alchemy, symbolic artefacts, and depth psychology. A PhD in social psychology and an ongoing study of Jungian theory inform her practice.
Chantal practice makes processes, materials and images that reflect her research into the alchemical process as a metaphor for the transformation of Self.
A "Night Sea Journey" boat is sculpted out of bitumen, plaster and straw.
Labyrinthine clay chambers are pit fired out in the elements.
Desiccated toads are cast in metal and plated in gold.
Chantal Powell completed her psychology doctorate at Southampton University (2002) before turning to work as an artist full time. She was shortlisted for the Mark Tanner Sculpture Award in 2015 and has exhibited at venues including the Guildhall Art Gallery London, collateral events at the 53rd and 54th Venice Biennales, and is currently exhibiting a curatorial project with the Ingram Collection of Modern British Art.
Chantal is the founder of the contemporary art program Hogchester Arts in West Dorset in the UK and hosts the Jungian online book club and speaker program "The Red Book Club". Chantal also presents illustrated talks and workshops on psychological alchemy from an artist's perspective.
What is your favourite social media platform, and why?
Instagram by a long shot. It's been a great way to connect with like-minded artists, gallerists and curators. It's led to many professional opportunities, friendships as well as being the place I started hosting the Jungian book club I run, "The Red Book Club".
Tell us about you and your current role or area of interest.
My background is in psychology, but I've been working full time as an artist for the past fifteen years now. My areas of interest are Jungian depth psychology, alchemy, Egyptian mythology, and archetypal symbols or motifs. My works often begin by researching archetypal motifs or images such as "the vessel", "the toad", and "the night sea journey" before working with them in a very materialistic way.
I'm interested in how these symbols connect us to a world beyond the rationale, that of the mysterious collective unconscious. For the last few years, I've been working on a project called NightShaking - an artistic and personal exploration into alchemy and depth psychology. A funded research phase included time investigating alchemical manuscripts in the rare books archives of the Wellcome Collection and collaborating with a Jungian analyst. Work made during this project is now being shown in a collaborative exhibition with The Ingram Collection of Modern British art, which I co-curated with artist Dean Melbourne.
My other role, alongside that of an artist and occasional curator, is running the contemporary art residency program Hogchester Arts. Hogchester is a stunning seventy-five-acre conservation site in an AONB on the Jurassic coast, and artists are selected via an open call to stay and work in the studios there, responding to the site and surrounding area.
What do you like about your career or area of focus?
I find the research areas of my practice absolutely fascinating. I am constantly learning about myself and how much richer and complex life is than we first perceive it to be.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
Keep an open mind in both life and in your art practice, no matter how uncomfortable it feels. It's the only way the new things can get in.
What inspires you, motivates you, or helps you to move forward?
The possibility of discovery, I think. The mysteries of life and Self that we can experience more of if we choose to take that journey. It is perhaps the only truly unchartered territory we have left to explore.
What are you proud of in your life so far?
The last five years have been incredibly dark and difficult. I experienced a period of debilitating health in which I was struggling with basic life functions for many months. I then faced a period of deep relational loss and grief – my marriage, the home I loved, and people close to me like my father.
I am proud that through these "dark night of the soul" times, I made authentic artwork about the motif of the Night Sea Journey (and its resulting transformational force) that both helped me, and that has now gone out into the world and will hopefully connect with others.
What is your preferred way to meet new people/network?
Something new over recent years has been meeting new people via instigating new initiatives. The two largest ones being the contemporary art program "Hogchester Arts" and the online "Red Book Club" that I started via Instagram in the first lockdown. Both have been incredibly rewarding in that I am offering something of value to others and also in that the people I have connected with have tended to be in my fields of interest.
"The Red Book Club" grew from a few interested fellow artists to a membership of over eighty in the space of a year and a half. I also invite guests, authors and speakers to join our zoom meetings which have been a wonderful way to connect with some inspiring individuals.
What skills or qualities do you feel have helped you?
I think the combination of an academic mindset/background with a creative passion has been a useful one. I also have cast-iron willpower, and some may say stubbornness! Which means I've kept going relentlessly even when things have been hard.
What do you wish you had known when you started out?
That everything takes time. Planning for the future stages of your career is good, but don't waste your time longing for that place that's not yet there. Appreciate the stage you are at and work contentedly from that place.
Who do you most admire in business, academic or creative circles and why?
People who work authentically in their art practice. Those are doing work that is of themselves, not for a market. Artists on a genuine journey of self-exploration and artistic discovery.
Outside of your professional/work area, what hobbies or interests do you have or what other areas of your life are of real importance to you?
My personal and artistic practice are very much one and the same so, those passions follow through. I work with a Jungian analyst on my own personal development of Self and read books around mythology and alchemy. My two children are obviously incredibly important to me, and I am lucky enough to live a five-minute walk from the sea, so, every day, I spend time there with my dog Piper to recharge.
Has the pandemic had a positive or a negative effect on you and/or your business, and how have you managed it?
I had some shows postponed/cancelled, but otherwise, it has not had a very negative effect. My studio was still accessible, and I worked on expanding my network online and gave a number of artist talks and workshops online during that period.
Do you have a mentor, or have you ever mentored anyone?
Early in my art career, I received a bursary for some professional development and had a mentor from the gallerist Danielle Arnaud. She encouraged me to take some practical leaps, like investing in renting a proper studio space. I really needed that permission at the time, and it definitely benefited my practice so, I am very grateful to her.
What advice would you have for someone looking to get into the same area of work or interests?
There are great riches but great challenges in the area of depth psychology and alchemy if you take them seriously. It will open your eyes in ways you didn't expect, but there is also no closing the lid of the box when you have opened it!
What do you feel is the most common reason for people failing or giving up?
Comparing themselves with others or holding themselves up to an expectation of what they believe success to be.
Is there a phrase, quote or a saying that you really like?
"Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes." - Carl Jung.
What companies, brands, or institutions do you like or do you think are getting it right?
Those prepared to shift outdated narratives.
How do you define success, and what lessons have you learned so far that you could share with our audience/readership?
Success is a very tricky and loaded concept, isn't it? We have certainly been told most of our lives what success should look like. Well, I felt I was anyway, and that was a negative thing in terms of determining how I felt I "should" live or what I should be trying to achieve. I would say what is most important is to learn about yourself.
What is important to you? What is your innermost uniqueness? In Jungian psychology, this is the idea of individuation. He said of this journey: "The hero in each of us is required to answer the call of individuation. We must turn away from the cacophony of the outer world to hear the inner voice. When we can dare to live its promptings, then we achieve personhood."