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My Blog
Take Five
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Posted on Friday, May 18, 2012 3:36 PM
 Andy Spain is a freelance photographer undertaking commissions for architects and other clients across the UK.
He has worked with blue chip companies like BT & Native Land and numerous architectural practices including HLM, Fielden and Mawson, AD Architects, Coda and Steffian Bradley.
Andy also undertakes personal projects for exhibition and sale, most recently 'Ecocities' which was featured in the Telegraph and Evening Standard and 'Suburbia' which was shown at Photomonth. He also exhibited at last year’s Royal Summer Show.
Andy writes a blog and offers workshops. He also sends out a monthly newsletter which always has a wonderful image to light up your inbox. And if you have got ten minutes, go over to his website and take a look at his gallery.
In your professional life, what is the single best thing about what you do? I wanted to be a photographer from a very young age so just doing what I do for a living is constantly enjoyable even if I sometimes need to remind myself.
Do you have a creative hero / heroine and if so, why?
I don't have a creative hero as such. There are many people you meet who inspire you. I met another architectural photographer recently who does fine art work (a direction I would like to go in) - 20 minutes talking to him was great.
What piece of advice do you wish you had been given at the beginning of your career? You don't know it all yet, you never will know it all, just get on and do it and you'll learn (your craft and your business)
If you hit a creative block, what is your top tip for getting through it? Just do it, some days you fly, other days are hard. Don't let the hard days blind you into thinking it's always going to be like that.
And finally, for fun, if you were a shoe, what type of shoe would you be and why? It has to be my pair of Reef flop flops I got in New Zealand years ago, if I've got them on then the sun is shining and life is good. |
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Posted on Thursday, April 12, 2012 10:04 AM
Tinsel Edwards is a London based artist and co-founder of A-side B-side, a new gallery, artist studios and project space in Hackney Downs.
Her work comments on a wide variety of contemporary social and political issues. Often using text, her paintings are littered with action statements, personal mottos, questions and anecdotes.
She has exhibited widely across the UK and beyond, solo and duo shows include The Pure Evil Gallery in London, Steal from Work in Bristol, and Artport in Berlin. Selected group shows include FLAGSTOP Art Fair and Orange County Centre for Contemporary Art in LA, Banksy’s Santas Ghetto, The Stella Dore Gallery, Multiplied Christie’s Artfair, Printclub London, Momac Gloucester, Jenaer Kunstverein in Gerrmany, The Pursuit of Happiness in Poland, and Light Sentence in Augsberg Germany. Tinsel’s curatorial projects include ‘Punk’, a large scale group show which toured to Hamburg and ‘Here Today’, and ‘Something Borrowed’, exhibitions
co-curated with long time friend and art collaborator Twinkle Troughton.
Tinsel’s art has been featured by Metro Newspaper, Dazed and Confused, Pop, Amelia’s, Zeitgeist magazine, Art Rebels and El Pais in Spain amongst others.
In your professional life, what is the single best thing about what you do?
I love painting. I can’t think of anything I would rather do, than spend a day in my studio working on a piece. I also really enjoy exhibiting my work, the different places you discover and people you meet through doing so. There are many different aspects to my work as an artist, curating shows, running creative workshops, teaching art classes. I really enjoy all of them but the thing I love most is the painting process and creating the work.
Do you have a creative hero / heroine and if so, why?
There are so many, and I often go through phases of being inspired by different artists at different times. Billy Childish for his prolific and unwavering creative soul, Bob and Roberta Smith for his humour, wit and simplicity, and for the fact he’s so straight to the point and honest. Tracey Emin for her brutal honesty, Frida Kahlo for her exquisite and intimate painting style. Grayson Perry for his integrity and depth, Alice Neel because her beautiful paintings have so much emotion and humanity, and because she stuck to her guns as a portrait artist whilst everyone around her became pop artists. There are loads more…at the moment I am really inspired by a handful of painters and fascinated with different painting techniques.
What piece of advice do you wish you had been given at the beginning of your career?
Before I left art school, I was expecting that things would all fall into place: I would start selling work, a gallery would represent me and I would be painting everyday in a lovely studio somewhere. It was quite a shock when things didn’t turn out that way. It is really tough, but over time I’ve learnt to be resourceful, juggling different jobs to pay the bills but always ensuring that I have some time to paint. I learnt quickly that Doing It Yourself is the best attitude to have, if established galleries don’t want to represent your work then create and curate your own exhibitions. Its not about fitting into the established order of things but about making your own way. A piece of advice that would have really helped me would be being told that it wasn’t going to be easy, but be true to yourself and your ideas, find your own way to make things happen and enjoy the process.
If you hit a creative block, what is your top tip for getting through it?
For me it helps to be aware that creative blocks come and go, if I hit one I remind myself that I will come through it. If I really start hating my work I tell myself it means its time for a change. My top tips are to keep working, experiment, don’t be too precious (the bad paintings can go in the bin). Absorb everything, go to exhibitions, read, find new inspiration. Being an artist is like being on a journey, productive periods and creative blocks are all part of a bigger process of discovery.
And finally, for fun, if you were a shoe, what type of shoe would you be and why?
I would always go for the orange suede stiletto with the 6 inch heel…or something similarly glamorous but completely impractical. Not sure if thats the type of shoe I would be, but its definitely the type of shoe that I like!
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Posted on Friday, March 16, 2012 8:03 AM
 Elise Liversedge
works alongside Mary
Hooper in
their creative consultancy ONE TWO ONE art and architecture. The collaborative partnership was founded in 2004 by architect/artist Elise and artist/curator Mary Hooper and they have developed a practice
with a focus on the exploration of what is meant by a ‘sense of place’ and what
significance this has to a collective and individual sense of identity and
wellbeing.
They have 20 years
collective experience of delivering public art and projects that help to create
community sustainability through cultural development. As a creative
partnership they have a commitment to innovation and excellence, underpinned by
their collaborative and personal practice and have experience of working with
diverse social and ethnic groups in local communities, and professionals in the
arts, healthcare, museums, galleries, and local government. For a more detailed CV have a look at the "i
" book on the network page on the ONE TWO ONE
website.
Elise also "practises as an architect when I can get the work and
also thinks wistfully about my 'fine art' background". She is
currently working on an idea for a drawing installation - 'silver birch' with
poet Gregory Warren Wilson.
In your professional life, what is the single best thing
about what you do? The best thing about what I do is quite simply that what
is open to us all: the development of something from nothing.
Do you have a creative hero / heroine and if so, why? I admire other peoples abilities especially those who do
the things that I wish I could - anyone who can play
an instrument well or speak another languages fluently -
skills that open up another world of both creativity and
opportunity.
What piece of advice do you wish you had been given at the beginning of your career?
To be more confident with your marketing and aim high
from the start and also to develop a very
thick skin from the start so it's easier to deal
with all the different responses that come our way,
as being very good at doing something is not always good
enough - the creative world is so subjective not everyone will appreciate what you have to
offer.
If you hit a creative block, what is your top tip for getting through it? Allowing a respected colleague or friend who has similar
ideas or priorities to give a constructive critical analysis of
the problem or a sticking point in a piece of work is
a good way of getting through a creative block, but you need to
develop that thick professional skin to allow a critic to be
non personal.
And finally, for fun, if you were a shoe, what type of shoe would you be and
why? If I was a shoe I would definitely be a soft red leather
3in high tango shoe with extra cushioning!!
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Posted on Monday, February 27, 2012 2:00 PM
Fiona-Jane Weston trained in Australia and played
principal roles in rep in plays including The
Canterbury Tales and Ring
Round the Moon. She then lived in China, studying ethnic
minorities' theatre styles and featuring in film before returning to her
native England to help found the Radical Actress Guild. She went on to work
with some of the best-known names in theatre and light entertainment, including
Sir Donald Sinden, Dennis Quilley, Bill Bailey, Milton Jones and Bill Oddie,
and played leading parts at the Westminster Theatre, the English-speaking
theatre in Switzerland and on several tours. Her film work includesFour Minute
Mile, Moving Image Madness and Overseas Chinese. As a vocalist, she has
featured with a jazz duo in various London hotels and restaurants and at the
London Palladium.
Fiona-Jane played to capacity houses both in London and New York in
her one-woman show 20th Century Woman-the
Compact Cabaret featuring drama, poetry and songs from some of the
finest writers and composers of the last century and present
one. She is very excited to be launching her latest project Loving London: the Capital
Cabaret and has
started a campaign with www.wedidthis.org.uk/marketplace to
raise funds for the production of the show. Do take a look at that site and maybe
support Fiona-Jane's show.
In your professional
life, what is the single best thing about what you do?
Very hard to single out one thing. I love to perform
particularly with words and music. I really enjoy the creative process of
researching and deciding on songs and spoken pieces from plays, literature or
poetry that will tell a story on a theme, often a historical one. It is very
special when other people let me know they have been
inspired/moved/amused/educated by something I’ve presented. It’s important to
me that the audience gets something not only entertaining and a great night
out, but that keeps them thinking or questioning for a while.
Do you have a
creative hero/heroine and if so, why?
There are so many! One is Margot Fonteyn – for her grace,
elegance and iron self-discipline which got her through both professional and
personal difficulties. Another is Laurence Olivier – for his constant work at
his craft, interpreting characters and playwrights’ words to create a
performance masterpiece. And Dusty Springfield – who also wouldn’t compromise
on quality.
What piece of advice
do you wish you had been given at the beginning of your career?
Recognise where there are gaps in your knowledge and get the
education you need to fill those gaps, but whilst doing that, keep believing in
yourself. Don’t let anyone (including yourself!) make you feel inadequate or
dampen the fire in your belly. Know what you are good at now, and what you will
be good at when you’ve worked at it a bit longer. This means accepting the
truth when others say you bring them pleasure by doing what you do, even if you
personally feel critical of your own performance.
If you hit a
creative block, what is your top tip for getting through it?
I bounce off other people a great deal. I talk it through with
people I respect, particularly my husband, and am constantly inspired by
listening to the experiences and perspective of other creative artists. There
is also a time to leave something that is causing you bother and return to it
later – I often find it has sorted itself out somehow, and then I wonder why I
found it so difficult in the first place!
And finally, for
fun, if you were a shoe, what type of shoe would you be and why?
Hmm... something very beautiful and elegant, but supportive,
deceptively comfortable, flexible and one you can run and dance in. The best
possible partner in life – both professionally and personally. |
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Posted on Friday, January 20, 2012 10:07 AM
 Lubna Gem Arielle is the epitome
of a portfolio person with fabulously diverse skills ranging from the arts
to law. She is, amongst other things, an artist, writer, deviser,
performer, actor, presenter, law lecturer and intellectual property consultant.
She uses her knowledge, imagination and
experience and shares these with the world
though performance and writing, whether this is telling Butterfly stories to 5
year olds or delivering law lectures to MA students.
Lubna’s latest endeavour
is producing and launching a series of workshops on contracts, copyright and
collaborations which will be running in mid-February / March. These will be of great interest to creative
people needing legal guidance and people interested should contact Lubna directly.
In your professional life, what is the
single best thing about what you do? That what I do is
consistent with who I am. This
means a great deal to me, especially as I compromised for many years in my
first career as a City solicitor.
I've gradually segued from having a “job” to a rich and varied “livelihood” which includes facilitating combined arts
workshops for children, writing, presenting and producing educational programmes
and leading workshops on contracts and copyright for small businesses. The questions that drive me are – “will this
bring me joy” and “how does it contribute to others?” For me, there has to be a
good balance between the two.
Do you have a creative hero / heroine
and if so, why? Lots - countless artists, writers, dancers, speakers, performers and teachers whose work, imagination, commitment, creative
energy, insights and lives are a constant and treasured source of inspiration.
I have a creative hero / heroine for every occasion!
Something that has come up a lot recently, both
on a personal note and in conversations with people who want to change career
in mid-life, is the issues and judgements around age and aging. It's taken me a long time to make the changes
I wanted to see – making a forwards and backwards journey along a diagonal
line. On that front, Louise Hay is a
wonderful role model. She has enriched
the lives of so many with her work as a teacher, author and publisher in
the healing arts – and only started her
“real work” in her forties and set up her publishing company in her
sixties and is committed to continual learning, even at eighty-five. That's certainly encouragement to me that it
is never too late to make a change.
What piece of advice do you wish
you had been given at the beginning of your career? Live the life you want and not the life someone
else has drawn for you.
It took me a long time to find the courage to
follow my heart and my own dreams. The expectation of my parents and sitting
behind that, their culture and upbringing, was for me to become a doctor or
lawyer. I read law at university, qualified as a solicitor and spent two years
advising on commercial property deals at a City law firm. My suit felt like a
strait-jacket and I knew the real price of my Prada shoes; one day I just reached
breaking point because my spirit was dying. I handed in my notice and embarked
on a long journey, which at times has felt like a sailing of the seven seas.
If you hit a creative block, what is
your top tip for getting through it? Work with it!
I'm aware that
my sudden need to clean and tidy
is a reflection of the mental clutter inside. Many things, anything - fear,
self-judgement /not good-enough, overwhelm, avoidance, fatigue to name a
few. It is a bit bewildering when I
suddenly find myself with a bottle of Viakal in my hand robotically thinking
“ah - but these bath-taps must sparkle - now.”
I've learned to harness this
willingness to scrub - my home certainly appreciates it! And I use the rhythms
of cleaning as a gentle meditation to clear and ease my mind too.
At non-cleaning, lack-lustre times I'm aware that
my “blocks” are usually the
story/article/drawing/lecture needing time to simmer for a while. Which is fine by me – I also take time to
breathe and refresh – go for a walk,
catch up with some chores or meet a friend for coffee.
And finally, for fun, if you were a
shoe, what type of shoe would you be and why? A pair of schiaparelli pink party shoes
hand-stitched by elves from soft leather I leave on the kitchen table (as in
the Elves and the Shoemaker), because
the elves made such wonderful shoes.
The wisdom
of this story resonates with me. It
always springs to mind when I think about letting new projects grow gently and
gradually – a practical business lesson!
I love the magic of the story - through not giving up, a transformation
begins at what seems to be the darkest hour.
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