In the third Meet The Maker I had the chance to put forward some questions to Jade who is also a colleague who will be exhibiting in London with myself and Sayra Begum this month. CAN YOU GIVE ME A BRIEF OUTLINE OF YOUR CREATIVE PRACTICE? I mix and pour coloured resin (usually epoxy) to create layered paintings often on circular boards. I do consider myself a painter but also the process of creating my works is semi-sculptural as I work in layers with the resin. Casting resin in moulds and working with ink on paper are also part of my working practice so I guess a combination of all of those things really. WHAT WAS YOUR PATHWAY TO THIS; HOBBY, A WORKSHOP, EDUCATION, SOMETHING ELSE INSPIRING? I have always been creative since I can remember so art was always one of my favourite subjects in school and college. When I left college, I went on to do a foundation in Art and Design which I really enjoyed, and it really confirmed my decision to study Fine Art at Falmouth University. I graduated in 2017 and since then have worked at Tate St Ives and the Barbara Hepworth museum alongside my artistic practice. Being around amazing art daily and being able to research new artists all the time has definitely had a positive influence on my practice. IS THERE A STORY OR A THEME BEHIND THE BRAND/MAKER? My Dad is also an artist, so he and my Mum have always been very supportive and encouraging of my creativity. I was born in Cornwall and I have lived here all my life so naturally the sea and the landscape have always been a big inspiration. I think whilst I was at University, I combined this interest in the Cornish coastline with research into global warming. Particularly focusing on the worlds water systems and the changes they are undergoing as a result of dramatic climate change. CAN YOU TELL ME MORE ABOUT YOUR PROCESS FROM IDEA TO FINISHED PIECE AND DO YOU WORK FROM HOME, OUTSIDE OR A STUDIO? My initial inspiration is usually walking in the landscape or along coastal paths - I take a lot of photos and videos– especially of the sea and the Cornish coastline. When making a new work I often refer to these for inspiration and ideas. When I’m working with resin I usually work from my studio at home – I use various pigments which I mix with the resin. As the resin begins to cure as soon as Part A and B are mixed together I only have a limited time to work with it. I use a butane blowtorch to heat the resin as I tilt which helps me to manipulate the resin on the board – the heat also pops any air bubbles. Once I am happy with the first layer, I leave it to cure for about 24hrs before starting on the next one. Some of the layers (usually the background ones) are opaque colour and then some (usually the top or final layers) are mostly transparent with a few finer details. I find this layering process helps me achieve the depth in my work. Recently I have developed a series of small cast resin works called ‘Wave Studies’. This involves pouring resin into a round silicone mould and again using a blowtorch to pop any air bubbles. I then work into the wet resin with inks and pigments before leaving them to cure. I sometimes use this process as a way of trying out different colour combinations before starting on a larger piece too.
ARE THERE ANY ARTISTS/MAKERS YOU ADMIRE, WHAT IS YOUR INSPIRATION? I find Bernhard Edmaier’s work incredibly inspiring. He is a photographer who ‘combines his training as a geologist with an exquisite talent for capturing dreamy, seemingly abstract images of earth from above.’ He also highlights the effects of climate change on the environment in his work – which is really important. Since staring work at Tate St Ives, I have done lots of research into many of the St Ives modernists and I have found that Bryan Wynter’s work very inspiring. Learning more about how he captured the beautiful movement of water in his paintings in various ways is incredibly interesting. Olafur Eliasson is another artist I really admire – especially his works that draw attention to the important topic of climate change. His ‘Ice Watch’ works were particularly inspiring for me and along with other inspirations led me to make a series of ‘Readymade’ Ice works myself a few years ago. I am really looking forward to seeing his big retrospective at Tate Modern in a few weeks. INFLUENCES DO YOU HAVE ANY UPCOMING PLANS/EVENTS/NEW LINES/EXHIBITION/WORKSHOP? Currently I have a piece of work on show in the Penwith Gallery in St Ives as part of their summer exhibition. The next exhibition I’m taking part in will be the ‘Movement’ exhibition at Tate exchange at Tate Modern in London 27 Aug – 4 September. Following that – ‘Environments’ at Tate St Ives 24-29 September. I have been experimenting with a new colour palette with my resin works – inspired by rocks and minerals rather than the sea so I will be working more with more earthy tones and pigments alongside the bright blues and turquoises I usually use. It’s a little scary but really refreshing to try something a bit different and I’m looking forward to making more works with these colours. NEW WORK….
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For my second post in the ‘Meet the Maker’ series I had the opportunity to put forward some questions to my colleague Sayra Begum who will also be at Tate Modern for the staff biennale 28th August to 3rd September. CAN YOU GIVE US AN INSIGHT INTO YOUR CREATIVE PRACTICE? I would class myself as an illustrator. Since graduating from Falmouth in 2016, I’ve been focusing on one project, Mongrel. I started writing Mongrel on my MA and it’s been the focus of my creative energy since. I have around 100 pages left to illustrate and I’m hopping it will be released in Spring 2020 by Knockabout Comics. WHAT WAS YOUR PATHWAY TO THIS; HOBBY, A WORKSHOP, EDUCATION, SOMETHING ELSE INSPIRING? I became really fascinated with graphic literature in my third year at Plymouth. I was comparing Islamic manuscripts with graphic novels, using the broad definition of Islamic art. The pages either had to be based on Islamic culture, set on Islamic land or have characters that belong to the Islamic world. For example I compared pages from Marjane Satrapi Persepolis to The Ta'rikh-i Alfi, (History of a thousand years). Both these pages communicate horrific scenes of violence but Satrapi’s story telling is from a personal perspective. The following year I became obsessed with women’s life writing in comic book form. I was interested in why so many women were turning to the medium to share such personal and honest stories when the medium has a long history of being male dominated. I researched the story telling devises the medium had to offer to creators and the drawbacks. And so inevitably I chose to share my own story in the graphic novel format, that’s Mongrel. I couldn’t help noticing in both lines of research how the purpose of sharing auto/ biographical stories had evolved from providing people with an exemplary life, how we should aspire to live such as the life of The Prophet and Jesus, to sharing frank stories of everyday life. Something that’s more relatable to make us feel less awful about ourselves by that someone else has been through the same or worse. The Modern obsession with impurity. INFLUENCES IS THERE A STORY OR A THEME BEHIND THE BRAND/MAKER? In my work I’m interested in exploring auto/biography with a focus on female and marginalised voices. I use personal narrative to provide a way in for the readers to experience a place, a way of life, a world which may not be familiar to them. CAN YOU TELL ME MORE ABOUT YOUR PROCESS FROM IDEA TO FINISHED PIECE AND DO YOU WORK FROM HOME, OUTSIDE OR A STUDIO? In my home I have a little studio room where I have my large drawing table and desk, amongst all my other arty possessions. I’m really grateful that I have my own space to get away and focus. My process starts in word doc. Not very exciting I know. I start writing the script, what each character is saying, directions for my future self when planning the layout and illustrations. At this point I’ll also be working from lots of scrap bits of paper when I’ve come up with ideas of what to include in the book. In the next stage, I’ll start creating thumbnails, using the thumbnails to decide the pacing of the story, the layout and very rough outline of what I want happening in the panels. I will then create a clearer draft, developing the initial layout and illustration in thumbnails. The drawing will become a lot clearer so other people can decipher what’s going on. Finally, it’s pencilling the illustration, darkening the outline, shading, scanning it into Photoshop to clean up then, dropping it into InDesign and placing the text. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOMEONE INTERESTED IN WORKING IN THIS DISCIPLINE/INDUSTRY? It takes a lot of hard work and persistence. You’ve probably already heard that a thousand times but it’s true. You will have to really love what you do to ride out the difficult journey and get to the publication point. ARE THERE ANY ARTISTS/MAKERS YOU ADMIRE, WHAT IS YOUR INSPIRATION? There are so many illustrators that I am influenced by … Marjane Satrapi, Craig Thompson, Lynda Barry, Dominque Goblet, Phoebe Gloeckner… And Persian Miniatures… TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT SAYRA YOU CAN CLICK THROUGH THESE LINKS Website I have decided to run a meet the artist feature on my blog as I thought it would be a good idea to introduce how others found their pathway into the creative industry and what their niche is. I could just put this straight into my about section but to start the first post off I thought I would write briefly about my practice and my journey so you can see what to expect from future posts. If you would like to be a part of this drop me an email at [email protected]. My creative practice is mainly painting at the moment however I like to try different techniques and experiment particularly with textiles, printmaking, mixed media, sketching and fabric design. I work from a small studio from my home in Cornwall. My pathway into art started from a love of drawing as a child (I still have some of my childhood books with scribbles in) and art was my favourite subject at school. I did art at GCSE level with a predicted A grade but I never took my schoolwork seriously; too busy socialising, and I didn’t enjoy sixth form so I dropped out. I eventually came back to art much later when I started receiving commissions from family and friends and I was encouraged to see an art exhibition at the local college. I signed up to an access to HE course and I had to apply for University only 3 months into the course. I was really unsure about which degree to choose, I couldn’t decide between fine art or textiles and several people said I should do illustration, I was really confused. The degree I chose was Ba (Hons) Contemporary Creative Practice (now called Art & Design Practice) with Plymouth University. This degree is interdisciplinary; a combination of subjects which gave me the time I needed to start to define what my practice was and become more autonomous. At the end of my degree I went on to win a one year residency at Krowji studios where I focused more on painting and taking part in open studio events. My story or theme behind what I do is mainly landscape based. This exerpt is taken from a recent painting submission; 'The coast, woodland and the countryside are places I often use as inspiration to create, working outside directly in the landscape. Primitive places unoccupied by technology and consumerism; particularly up on the hills and in fields where the landscape still feels raw, still bearing traces of how our predecessors occupied and moved through the landscape. I use these areas as a place for quiet contemplation, places where we can be still from the world'. I grew up in South Yorkshire and my best childhood memories were playing in the garden and then going into the woods and other local nature places with friends. When I moved to Cornwall I was surrounded by a different sort of landscape plus the coast so I started to try and make connections as I put down new roots. I found a quote that stuck with me for a while; ‘to make visual how the world touches us’ by Merleau-Ponty, 1993. My last project ‘Out West’ looked further into this. I am inspired by other types of art such as street art, figurative, ceramics; if you follow my Pinterest account you will see it’s quite varied! The process from idea to finished piece starts with ‘information gathering’. This is mostly sketching outside but also collecting poems/words, being inspired by other artists/places, collecting images, visiting exhibitions, making notes. It can vary which keeps it interesting, then I’ll make a pile of all that I have collected and when I go through it I will pick bits that stand out and start experimenting with materials. The advice I would give to someone interested in working in this discipline/industry is to keep drawing, keep a notebook, sketchbook a file on your computer; whatever works for you and keep adding to this to develop your practice. Even if you don’t know what your practice is yet add to it regularly. I had to take a portfolio to my college interview so having a selection of sketches and paintings showed how I work but that there was potential for it to develop- it doesn’t need to be perfect. I also recommend following other artists through Instagram, it’s a great platform to be able to see other creative people and so many people use it as their ‘sketchbook’ as well as to sell their products. You can see my recent instagram images in the sidebar to the right. Even if college or university isn’t for you Instagram can really build your following and generate some commission work. Pinterest is good for finding different styles of work and ‘collecting’ and building boards as well as also sharing your ideas. Local libraries and book shops have lots of art books, if you prefer not to go down the digital or social media route. Attending exhibitions, reading creative magazines and articles and networking are all good for building up your knowledge and discovering opportunities. My inspiration is mostly landscape as I am surrounded by beautiful countryside and beaches but as I work in an art gallery and museum my introduction to other artists is increasing with each new exhibition. I also go to a lot of other local art exhibitions. I have started to look more into feminist and political art, buying books and researching online around this subject but I haven’t yet started to introduce this into much of my work. I have written a piece for a zine and I would like to be involved in doing more work like this. I think it’s important to go with what feels right; follow the path if it’s something that you are surrounded by or calls to you in some way. This year I have been involved in several exhibitions and I have a few yet to come which I am really excited about. So far this year I have exhibited at; The Sloop Inn; St Ives, Penwith Gallery; St Ives, Penlee House; Penzance University of Greenwich. This year I will be exhibiting at Tate Modern; London and Tate Gallery St Ives. I don’t have any big projects planned at the moment, just a few ideas I would like to finish off and I would like to reopen my Etsy shop to sell original small pieces to make room for new work in the studio. I am hoping to start writing more ‘How to’ posts on my blog but having some more in-depth tutorials that can be downloaded from Etsy as I don’t have the space to teach workshops from my home studio. My plan is to head up to London this month for my Tate exhibition and attend other shows whilst I am there for more information gathering. I am hoping that in the future I can exhibit outside of Cornwall more often and find work in a museum or gallery in London even if just a temporary placement for experience. |
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