Art & Design blog
XETH interviews artist Amy Moffat
Artist / designer: Amy Moffat
Article author: Charlotte Bradford
Published: Mon, 28 Oct 2013
Born in Lancaster, Amy Moffat is a London based artist who studied at Wimbledon College of Art. Since graduating in 2008, Moffat has exhibited across the UK in Berkshire, Liverpool, London and Oxford where she had her first Solo show in 2011. Moffat was also one of the finalists of Saatchi’s 4 New Sensations in 2008 and a short film about her work was made for Channel 4.
At what age did you start to take an interest in the field you work in?
A lot of my earliest memories involve building things and drawing things. I remember helping my dad build our garden wall and garage, I knew what cement was from about the age of 4! I used to draw a lot after school, my brothers are much older than me so I had to occupy myself – drawing engrossed me from a very young age. At first I wanted to be a fashion designer, then a set designer (then a F1 driver!) but after taking a Foundation Course at Blackpool & Fylde College when I was 18, I decided I’d like to keep my options open and ended up doing a Fine Art degree at Wimbledon.
What medium do you most enjoying working in?
Since being at Wimbledon I have used oil on linen and I’ve continued to use these materials predominantly since graduating, although I use them in much different ways now. I became frustrated with painting and with image, mainly with the types of paintings being shown in contemporary galleries in London and the types of images used. As a result I work in a more three-dimensional way but I still remain within the vernacular of painting. I most enjoy drawing though, with anything – pen, pencil, ink, oil, wax.
What’s your favourite colour?
Green
What is your favourite cuisine?
If I had to live off one type of food for the rest of my life it would be Italian food. I love Italy and I don’t think of the place without the food! I also love Japanese food.
Do you listen to music when working and if so what?
Yes, I have a broad taste in music but I tend to listen to techno and electro mainly. I love Four Tet, Dominik Eulberg, John Talabot, Gold Panda. At the minute I’m enjoying a lot of James Blake, The XX and Haim after Glasto! I listen to Radio 6 if I’m in the studio on a weekend; Giles Peterson plays some awesome stuff.
Name three creatives who have inspired you over the past ten years?
The film A Single Man had a great impact on me and my work, it was a right time, right place kind of thing really. Some of the dialogue, of course from Christopher Isherwood’s book, really struck chords with me. Visually it’s a beautifully shot film, so I would have to say Tom Ford for his direction and bringing Christopher Isherwood to my attention.
Norman, my tutor on Foundation course at Blackpool was incredibly enthusiastic about drawing, he taught me a lot about observation. I loved his classes and lectures.
Patti Smith because she’s a true inspiration for anybody dedicated to a creative passion.
Have you got any exciting projects/commissions coming up in the near future?
I’ve just been part of the The Exchange Project at APT in Deptford, curated by Claire Undy as well as the SOLO Award at WW Gallery.
Who would be your ideal client for a future commission?
I’m open to commissions from all sorts of people, but in particular I would love to be involved in set design, whether for visual merchandising, theatre, music events – collaborations between artists and commercial entities, such as the fashion industry and the music industry, are becoming more common and the blurring of the lines between them is an exciting area.
If you weren’t an artist what other career would you have chosen?
I wish I was musically talented! But anything that involves travel and arts is right up my street!
XETH interviews street artist Hin
Artist / designer: Hin
Article author: Charlotte Bradford
Published: Fri, 4 Oct 2013
The Midas Touch Exhibition, curated by Kerry Campbell
Artist / designer: Kerry Campbell
Article author: Ricky Thakrar
Published: Tue, 27 Aug 2013
Kerry Campbell is curating an exhibition highlighting the breadth of talent brewing beneath her hometown’s sometimes negative reputation. Kerry studied art at Luton Sixth Form College and Barnfield College in Luton, before graduating from Reading University with a Fine Art BA (Hons) degree.
“The idea behind ‘The Midas Touch’ exhibition came from my desire to give something back to the town to which I owe my upbringing. The exhibition explores the working class consumer habits of Luton, and represents the fighting spirit of tenacious creative individuals succeeding despite their humble backgrounds. It’s a celebration of these people and a celebration of their town.”
An open submission process for the exhibition is designed to provide a rare opportunity for talented individuals, regardless of background. Selected artists include Barnfield College tutor Anna Fairchild, who has exhibited throughout the UK, and Cheltenham School of Art graduate Stephen Whiting, previously shortlisted for the prestigious awards Becks New Contemporaries and Jerwood Drawing Prize. Other exhibitors include graduates from the University of Bedfordshire and ex-students from both Luton Sixth Form College and Barnfield College.
Kerry made sure from a very early stage that the project could successfully exist without external funding, with each participating artist contributing a small fee towards curatorial costs. She then considered investments that would further improve the exhibition’s community reach, including improved lighting, access to more DIY materials and equipment, and higher volume promotional printing. When she found herself at a loose end for this additional funding, she turned to the Co-operative.
“I bank with the Co-operative, and have always regarded the brand as very community-centred. So I enquired about their funding for community projects, and they directed me to the Co-operative Community Fund. There’s a lot of stigma attached with applying for arts funding – you often hear about the frustrations associated with lengthy processes and the unlikelihood of ever successfully securing any finance for your project – but the meticulous planning and relentless research paid off. It was a huge surprise when the Co-operative Community Fund got back to me a few weeks later, notifying me of the successful application and proposing to grant the funding.”
The Midas Touch exhibition opens Saturday 21 September, with a small selection of works on show at UK Centre for Carnival Arts (UKCCA) from Thursday 26 September. Visit The Midas Touch website for more information.
Insect study drawings, by Jessica Albarn
Artist / designer: Jessica Albarn
Article author: Ricky Thakrar
Published: Sat, 8 Jun 2013
Like DaVinci’s Vitruvian Man, Jessica Albarn’s insect study drawings juxtapose geometric order with the seemingly arbitrary forms of nature.
Growing up with two artists as parents, and immersed in the culture of ballet and piano at a young age, it’s no wonder that much of her early creative work was focused towards children. ‘Brainbow’, an installation for young children that was “a bit like a multi-sensory flying saucer”, got through to the final of the Inventor of the Year award, and Jess spent time touring it around the country at places such as Brighton Festival and the Museum of Childhood in London. ‘Boy in the Oak’ was a dark fairytale that Jess wrote and illustrated, inspired by her children.
The influence of her father’s body of work on her own is obvious: “We both have a passion for geometry – he on a cerebral level, me on a more intuitive level.” Conversely, it is more through their love of nature that Jess’ work connects to her mother. “I spent a lot of time with my Mum as a child, as she taught me to ride horses and look after farm animals. Looking back, I think I was most happy when drawing or working with them.”
But it is insects, rather than farm animals, that are the subject of Jess’ current studies. It was on a holiday in Majorca that her love affair with insects began, when a friend’s son found a Death’s-head Hawkmoth. “I work with dead things that I find – especially insects – because they hold their form as they dry out, rather than rot away. I’ve amassed a large collection of dead bees to study and draw, but I also work by studying live bees too – usually taking photos of them with my macro lens. I look to draw out the beauty in what I see – the macabre and the alien – and drawing is my way of prolonging something and breathing some life back into it.”
Jess is exhibiting a print of the great yellow bumblebee at the Art Car Boot Fair in Brick Lane this weekend (9 June 2013). “The bee sits on a Flower of Life, which also features the sacred geometry of the Tree of Life. The print will also be part of an exhibition in Scotland for the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, who kindly sent me a yellow bumblebee specimen once!”
Jess has done a lot of work supporting bees both for charity as well as her own personal study, and hopes that her work will connect people with the subject of bee and butterfly decline. “What’s happening with the bees and the decline in butterflies and other species of wildlife is something that is happening at an alarming rate. We have made some small progress with the bees recently with the ban on pesticides, but I have just come back from 10 days in Devon deep in the countryside, full of flowers, and I only saw two or three butterflies.”
XETH interviews artist Suzanne De Emmony
Artist / designer: Suzanne De Emmony
Article author: Charlotte Bradford
Published: Tue, 12 Feb 2013
At what age did you start to take an interest in art?
I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t interested in art.
As a child, I spent a lot of time with my Grandmother, who was incredibly creative – she really encouraged me to make and to draw.
Have you got any exciting projects/commissions coming up in the near future?
I’m really excited about an upcoming collaboration with Black & Blue Restaurants to produce large scale works for their Wimpole St branch. They are very supportive and really enthusiastic about forging relationships with artists, I’m fortunate to be working with them.
This project has also given me the opportunity to collaborate with an amazing Fine Art Printer, Agnieszka Gadomska-Miles. She has an artist’s eye and has really enabled me to re-look at the work which is not only essential for this particular project, but will, I hope, inform future work
I also have a couple of exhibitions lined up in the next few months including Start13 at the Bermondsey Project Space in Feb plus the next Plan.Open show, ‘SuperScale’, curated by Artch’s at Arbeit’s new gallery in Hackney Wick. This kicks off early March and promises to be a really interesting show.
Please could you tell us a bit more about your work and the medium you work in?
My practice is multi-disciplinary, primarily focused upon drawing, painting and collage and often mediated via projection and photography.
I’m interested in the possibilities of creating nostalgic and/or psychological narratives that explore the often unreliable and slippery nature of memory.
What three things, be it a book, song, film, have inspired your most recent body of work?
1. I’m slightly obsessed by online or cyber culture, in particular the voyeuristic nature of its spectatorship, this has definitely inspired many of the ideas behind my work.
2. Although not necessarily an inspiration, but the combination of intrigue, fear and joy that I remember feeling as a child when I watched films like The Wizard of Oz or the animation of Ray Harryhausen (often from behind the sofa!) informs much of the work that I make.
3. I also read a lot of Ballard’s short stories when I first started this body of work … artist reading Ballard is a terrible cliche I know, but there you go…
If you could work for a client you haven’t yet dealt with who would it be and why?
I’ve never really thought about working for a client, it feels counter-intuitive to the process of being an artist. A client generally involves a brief and at this point I’d much rather make work independently and freely and then see how people respond to it.
Its incredibly self-indulgent, I know, but I make the work to please myself and as a response to or exploration of the world as I experience it, Its rewarding if it resonates for other people but I don’t want that to be the drive behind its production… although my bank balance would probably be a little healthier if I did.
If you weren’t an artist what other career would you have chosen?
I’ve recently been to see Fuerza Bruta at The Roundhouse – my daughter’s and I have decided that we’d like to run away and join them….
I actually already had a career before becoming an artist. I worked in television, initially in the puppet workshop at Spitting Image during the late 80’s/early 90‘s. I then moved into TV production where I freelanced until I had my third child (and my planned year long maternity leave expanded into 10 years!).
Alongside my work as an artist, I’m an arts volunteer for Kids Company and would definitely like to get more involved with the work that they do, they’re an amazing organization. They use Art Psychotherapy with many of their clients, that would certainly be an appealing alternative career.
Images Copyright Suzanne De Emmony
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