In her earlier work from the 1980s Ogilvie produced large-scale drawings in which she experimented with graphite on paper. During the 1990s she spent periods at Graal Press near Edinburgh, making marks with water and mixed media, texts and etching with mordants on metal. Commissioned work at Deephaven Hangar, Cromarty Firth, provided Ogilvie with an opportunity to produce large-scale works, involving water as the main medium. In parallel, she was encouraged by Stephen Lacey Gallery to begin experimenting with liquids. Using an etching technique, she became interested in documenting traces left by the movement of mordants in water.
It was however the late Joop Wismans at Odapark in the Netherlands, who gave Ogilvie one of her first opportunities to contain large volumes of water within a gallery interior. Again it was the scale of experience of playing in the extended territories from her childhood environments, which led her towards surrounding herself and others with drawings. Drawings soon became installations. By the end of the ’90s, she began describing the way water moved and became interested in the potential to realise its limitless possibilities. Throughout this time experimentation with materials was as it still is central to her working process.
The Liquid Room (2001 – 2002) was a major work and an important development in Ogilvie’s practice as an artist. In this large scale installation she created a number of interaction areas which allowed people to contemplate large planes of water and create their own wave patterns. Observing the quality of water during the exhibition, Ogilvie became aware of water’s ability to act as a carrier of light revealing the detail of how it behaves. Seeing in this instance as Ingold intones, is the experience of light, what you see is in the light. Living by the sea she is aware that reflective light on the water changes all the time. This constant movement and rhythm made her dissatisfied with two-dimensional drawing. After exploring drawing with different media including light and shadow, she began drawing with water – both still and moving.
Read more in the publication Bodies of Water | Text by Wendy Gunn