I'm trying not to go through that midlife dip that artists tend to have. Cornelia Parker More Quotes by Cornelia Parker More Quotes From Cornelia Parker If I was prime minister, I would declare a state of emergency on climate change. Cornelia Parker prime climate-change climate change I don't mind getting older; I just don't want to be in pain. Cornelia Parker getting-older pain mind want Product design is fed by the avant-garde. Cornelia Parker avant-garde fed product design Our cultural industries are our biggest export, our biggest manufacturing base. Every pound spent on art education brings disproportionately large returns. It's the biggest bang for our buck. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. In fact, the more you put in, the greater the successes for the U.K. economy. Cornelia Parker you economy education art I do think there is a link between the accidental art the sciences produce and the deliberate art the artist creates, but I can't help feeling that the innocence of the accidental art of science has a power and curious beauty that artists are hard-pressed to match. Cornelia Parker power beauty science art I think design means, for me, almost when man, back in time, decided to do something conscious. You know... to shape something and make something different from just using things that were lying around. So whoever designed the wheel were onto a good thing. Cornelia Parker good me man time Being a sculptor who uses found objects, all the objects I use in my work have been designed by other people. So I'm tweaking them in some way by squashing them or throwing them off cliffs! Then I formalise my damage by suspending them or arranging them in some kind of way. So I'm using other people's design in a way, so I'm an 'un-maker.' Cornelia Parker design work people way Design impacts me in everything I do. Because, as I say, everything I own is designed. So the building I live in, the objects I choose to boil water in for example, even drinking vessels. Cornelia Parker live me design water There's only a couple of coffee cups I'll use, because I like the way they feel in my hand. I realise I've got lots of others, but I won't use them because I just don't like... the thickness of the ceramic is too much, or the glaze isn't right. Cornelia Parker feel too-much coffee way At my degree show, someone said, 'It's nice, but it's very feminine.' I said, thank you, taking it as a compliment, but they obviously meant it as an insult. Cornelia Parker someone you nice thank-you I went to a quite macho art school in the 1970s, and while everyone was making hulking big sculptures, I was making things out of bits of paper. Cornelia Parker everyone things art school I think it's quite obvious my work is made by a woman, because I have never wanted to make anything that is not ephemeral. But I definitely want to be thought of as an artist first. Cornelia Parker woman thought think work I take things that are worn out through overuse, that have become cliches - like the shed, a traditional place of rest and retreat - and I give them a more incandescent future. Cornelia Parker rest place things future My work has threads of ideas from all over the place. I try to crystallise them in something simple and direct that the viewer can then take where they want. Cornelia Parker place simple work ideas I was selling bric-a-brac in Portobello and Camden Market. I love objects. But I was embarrassed by the idea of collecting, so I began using these things in my art. Cornelia Parker market things love art I'm from a working-class background - I had free school meals all my life and then spent six years in art school. Cornelia Parker my-life life art school Who thought it would be a good idea to undermine art in the school curriculum? Who thought studying the history of our visual culture was a waste of time? Who thought that only private schools should have that privilege? Was it someone who said we don't need experts? Cornelia Parker good time history art If it is good enough for Prince William and Kate, why is studying art history not good enough for the masses? Cornelia Parker good not-good-enough history art As a working-class girl, receiving free school dinners, I studied art history. Having never had the chance to visit art galleries, I devoured the knowledge, and it has served me well as a practising artist. Cornelia Parker me history knowledge art I was very physical as a child - we lived on a smallholding, and I was always outside making mud pies or building structures up trees. Cornelia Parker trees child always building
