A recent Norwich University of the Arts graduate, this week’s talent shares her work, taking us on a trip through the futuristic folk-psychedelic worlds of her imagination in the process.
How would you describe your practice?
I have a strong focus on creating imagery that is rich, relatable and desirable. I feel that illustration should be made to enjoy and discover, I aim to bring this to people in every piece I make. I use a combination of digital and analogue techniques, although I try to keep my work as hand-made as possible.
The imagined world plays a large role in my work. I try to put myself into the images I’m making, getting absorbed so as to create the best possible response to a brief.
You’ve recently finished studying at Norwich University of the Arts. What was the course like and what have you most taken from it?
I found the BA Illustration course at Norwich to be a very fulfilling experience. Each year is taught very differently, which broadens your concept of illustration and pushes you to take different approaches to tasks. We had amazing tutors who were all practicing illustrators, giving us a true insight into the world of illustration.
I took a lot from my time at university. Mainly, though, being with a group of young people with a strong common interest in making work was great; you could bounce ideas off each other and get critiques whenever the need arose. That is something I am really starting to miss, so I’m hoping that finding a studio with a group of creative people is one of my next steps.
Within my work, I would have to say that the course helped me to see how much development and thought must go into a piece before the final image is realised. This really challenged the way I was working when I started the course.
Your work is heavily drawing-based, do you find it important to be regularly drawing almost everyday?
One hundred times yes. Drawing is such an important skill and should definitely be practiced as often as possible. It was the basis of art as we know it today. Before people even knew what art was, they were picking up pieces of charcoal and creating images about their lives on the side of caves. I feel that it is so important to keep analogue drawing alive in an age of digital artwork.
You did a final major project called Future Folk, could you tell us more about it?
Future Folk was my final project at university, I felt it was the perfect time to push myself out of my comfort zone and just 'go wild' creatively and experiment with techniques, such as digital textile printing and moving image. The project was fuelled by my interest in folk art. What draws me to folk art is the fact that it’s art made for art’s sake. People used image and object making as a tool for explaining their way of life that could be understood by all.
I wanted to take this concept to the next level and into a different setting, which happened to be around 400,000 years into the future. As I mentioned before, I like to get completely absorbed into the world that I’m creating so it made complete sense to write a short piece of text to aid with the project’s development:
"Man left Earth in pursuit of a new home, far away from the fragile planet of his birth.
Generations upon generations pass and, through pure chance, man comes across the home of his ancestors. To his surprise: still there and still living.
A culture had developed, far more complex than those who came before.
Then he realised, that the planet was no longer his own.”
My final piece, the wall hanging, was imagined to have been found on man’s trip back to Earth after abandoning the planet for so long. Created by Earth’s new population, a far more advanced version of the humans that were left behind.
What are you working on now and what’s next?
For the moment, I’ve moved back home from Norwich to East Sussex. The illustration scene along the south coast is really booming at the moment, so I feel I’m in a good place to start making my career.
I’m currently keeping sketchbooks and sourcing inspiration for a solo exhibition at the Lion Street Store, which is a really brilliant shop celebrating art, design and the useful. I was the first shop girl there so it’s really great to be giving something back. This will be happening either late this year or early next year.
I am also in the process of creating a body of work for my parents’ Open Studio, We basically turn our house into an art gallery for two weekends in September. It’s a fantastic opportunity to meet local people interested in your artwork, so I’m very thankful for being able to take part.
I’m going to be attending as many illustration and graphics fairs as I can, I find them such a great place to meet like-minded people and buy directly from the makers. I’m still broadening my creative outlets and will be signing up to a ceramics class for late this year and have managed to source somewhere nearby that can help me with continuing to print my designs onto silk.
In the future, I would really like to carry on with my studies in illustration with a masters degree. Possibly Brighton, or Edinburgh. Although Konstfack in Sweden was suggested to me by one of my tutors, which I think would be such a great experience.
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