Take Five with Laura Hepworth

Laura Hepworth is a Conceptual Artist whose work explores process through themes of creativity and connection utilising drawings, painting, printmaking, large scale sculpture and installation as a means to transform the familiarity of the everyday into what is perceived as uncanny. 

Laura graduated in 2015 from University for Creative Arts, Canterbury with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art. Since then, she has been very proactive in organising exhibitions to promote her work and build her reputation, often in collaboration with others.

Laura is also an advocate for creativity for wellness, "contemplating and looking closely at the ways we utilize our own ability to be creative, in order for us to cope and manage ourselves through self-caring strategies."

In your professional life, what is the single best thing about what you do?

The connections people make and discover within my paintings provoke a shared experience that explores new ways of seeing the world around us through my eyes. In result of that, the story telling of each piece is paramount, as it is a moment in which the process and energy of the paintings become fully exposed to the presence of energy that is channelled by our surroundings and the people present in the moment of visualisation.

Do you have a creative hero / heroine and if so, why?

This one was a hard one to crack; however, I’ve managed to narrow my list down to three artists who have played a major influence in my own creative journey and you’ll notice a pattern. These three artists have one thing in common and that is their intuition to recreate the way we envisage the natural world. In their own unique ways, redefining our own understanding of the relationships we have with the mothership, that is the natural world.

Throughout my childhood Barbara Hepworth was one of the first big names which influenced my love of doing absolutely anything creative from a very young age! Then throughout the years of studying Fine Art at university, an interdisciplinary installation artist, Tomas Saraceno blew my mind with his installation ’14 Billion’, an installation that seeps inspiration from a spider’s web and places the entire universe within a web made from 14 billion rubber bands. And finally my current heroine is Heather Day, an American abstract artist based in California, an artist whose practice consistently pushes the boundaries of the way we look at the natural world, through her sensory interpretations of what is seen and how it is felt through shape and colour.

What piece of advice do you wish you had been given at the beginning of your career?

Don’t get attached to your work. I’m still learning to tackle this one, as each piece I make I envisage as an extension of myself and it can be sad sometimes to see a particular work you love go off to live in a new home. Having said that, seeing a work go to a new home and making an impression on a person is a very special thing to witness as an artist. And each new year brings new exhibitions, so there’s lots of time and room to practice!

If you hit a creative block, what is your top tip for getting through it?

Having experienced my lengthiest block recently, I’ve learnt how important it is to give myself time to actually recover. Physically and mentally, for me, it’s about finding a balance between what goes on within the studio and outside of it once we leave. In the moments where I experienced a block, I looked to reconnect myself with the natural world by taking a walk to give myself a place to think, where my mind wasn’t overrun by the number of jobs I would have to get done the following day at work, or the shape or colour I wasn’t sure on using next for a piece of work.

So my top tip would be to take yourself away from whatever you’re doing, take a step back and look at your blockage, as if it’s inside a box and you’re looking at it from the outside. Give your mind the space and air to breathe. And revisit your practice when the mind is refreshed and not overthinking everything you look at. Then, and only when you’re ready, go and ask yourself all of the questions you asked yourself at the beginning of the making process. What if? When? How? But most importantly, WHY are you doing that.

And finally, for fun, if you were a shoe, what type of shoe would you be and why?

Converse Trainers, are my favourite shoe in the world! Ease and unlimited comfort throughout every wear, suitable to wear with most outfits and perfect for those moments you need to run for the bus!

Links:

https://laurahepworth-conceptualart.weebly.com