Anya Keeley

I saw Anya's work at Origins craft fair in London in September and immediately fell in love with it. It is very similar to what i am trying to achieve in my negotiated brief and is very inspirational . I love the whimsical feel and the mix of old and new materials . Anya is a self confessed collected of odds and ends and she is interesting to me beause of her use of collage .

I emailed Anya with some questions about her work, this is her response :


Hello Cath,

Thankyou, I'm glad you find my work so inspiring! You're right I don't have a huge amount of time at the moment, as I get busy this time of year, but I have answered your questions below. I'm afraid they're short answers but I hope they help.

Who or what inspires you to create your art?
My inspiration comes from all sorts of sources.
People who inspire me: Tim Burton (particularly his older films), Julie Arkell (fantastic fictional creatures), Joseph Cornell (assemblages), Keith LoBue (mixed media jewellery).
Places that inspire me: the Natural History Museum, Prague (for the fairytale architecture), the Pitt Rivers Museum Oxford.
Other inspiration: fairytales, nursery rhymes, taxidermy.

How do you fund your work?
I have a full time job, I'm a manager of a pub, which pays the bills regularly. At the moment my self employment income just funds the business, enabling me to buy more materials and do craft fairs.

How and where did you first exhibit your work?
I set my business up 7 years ago, several years after finishing college, helped by a loan from the Prince's Trust. A jeweller friend of mine was involved with Alloy, the Hereford Jewellers Guild, and suggested I should apply to be a member. My first exhibition was with the group on a touring exhibition.

Are you making a living full time ?
No. My business still doesn't make enough for me to pay myself wages.

How important is narrative in your work?
Very important. Quite often a snippet of a sentence will inspire the piece I eventually make.

How easy is it to find materials for your art?
The trend for thrift and recycling over the last few years has started to make it harder to find materials, junk shops are selling items as antiques which has pushed the price up and more students are collecting items to use in their own work. I've also found that alot of charity shops will now only sell 'high quality' goods, which is a shame as I prefer the old, battered and broken bric-a-brac more.

I hope this has helped.

Regards
Anya



http://www.anyakeeley.com/

Thanks so much Anya !

Maxine Sutton

Maxine is another designer textile artist who i met at Origins craft fair, she is some one i greatly admire and again a thoroughly nice person who took the time to chat during a very busy event. She is based in Margate and has a shop/studio in the old town , Maxine also runs workshops in the space above the shop and promotes the work of both new and established crafts people from this venue which is called 'Blackbird'.

Maxine's own work is exquisite , her colour palettes are very beautiful and she mixes screen prints with embroidery and also works with paper .I was particularly drawn to Maxine's work because of her use of collage which is a technique i am researching for my journal and a method of working that i often use myself. I absolutely love Maxine's framed paper collages ,they are so beautifully balanced and again the colour choice is really successful.

http://www.maxinesutton.com/

http://www.blackbird-england.com

I asked Maxine if i could email her some questions , this is her response , she also sent me a question and answer sheet that she had produced with students in mind ,so many thanks Maxine --

Dear Cath,

thanks for your email. I have a word doc attached that I usually send out to students who get in touch. I think most of your questions are covered.

How long did it take for you to become a full time successful artist/designer?

covered in the info sheet

How much do you compromise for commissioned work?

not at all if I can help it - much more if its financially worthwhile and the company or individual are credible and you want to work with them and if being involved with them helps build a profile?

I wouldn't make or design something for an unethical company or one who's image/profile didn't fit with what I value. My individual colour palette is very important to me.

If you have a very distinct voice as a designer/maker then most companies or individuals want what YOU do if they are commissioning, so it really doesn't make sense for them to ask you to compromise too much.

I'm afraid I don't understand the following question?

How did you fund the work initially?

do you mean pay for materials? pay my mortgage? buy food? As it says in the attached document I do consider my personal finances to be private. If you are more precise about what info you are asking for then I may or may not be able to help?

RE narrative. yes its still important. Inspiration for the work is included in about pages on my website as well as various articles and online interview.

Pricing is a very specific and often difficult area - it t can take years to get it right. I apply different criteria to different pieces products and projects. This is an area of prof practice that your college should advise on or look to the organisations I have listed on the info sheet.

What are your top tips for success in this business?

sorry no top tips - not sure how to measure success and don't consider myself to be in this category.

I hope this helps a bit, I am at GNCCF this weekend do come and say hello if you wish and I can try to answer your questions more fully for you?

best wishes

Maxine

Thanks for taking the time out to answer my questions Maxine !

Claire Brewster

I met Claire at Origins craft fair in September and she was a very lovely lady. She uses discarded maps and atlases to create intricately cut out birds and flowers which are then displayed in box frames or pinned directly to the wall. The work is truly breathtaking and the simplicity of it only adds to its beauty , the shadows created by the work add another depth and really help to demonstrate just how delicate the cut outs are.I feel Claires use of colour is very powerful and she has an eye for placement of detail which is very clever.

www.clairebrewster.co.uk

I emailed some questions to Claire , this is her response;

Hi Cath

It was a pleasure, it was great to chat to so many really nice people. My
ego was well and truly massaged after the week at origin.

Here are my answers to your questions.

How do you fund your work ?

I have always funded my work myself through working doing mostly
administrative/Office management type work.

How much do you compromise on a commission ?

It depends on the commission, some demand more compromise than others, but I
always make sure I produce a piece of work that I might have produced
anyway, I would never do a subject or use imagery that I wouldn't use on a
personal project. Its always important to have the confidence that you know
best and not bend too much to the wishes of the client as you are the
creative person and they were inspired by your work. People will always
have an opinion, in the beginning its hard to trust your own abilities but
as time goes by it gets easier to get more confident.

How do you know what to charge for your work ?

I'm not sure anyone ever does, you just have to think of a figure and them
probably double it. Everyone has a different theory about pricing. In the
beginning its better to price a bit lower and start selling and then
increase your prices. Also looking around at what other people charge for
similar things is helpful. Origin is great for that as there are so many
different people in one spot.

How and where did you exhibit your work ?

I applied for lots of open application exhibitions, exhibited in some pubs
and took every opportunity large or small that came my way. A-N and Axis
are good for finding opportunities to apply for.

Do you make a full time living from your art?

I don't make a full time living, I work 3 days per week for an architects
practice. My plan is to give that up one day soon, just haven't reached
that day yet!

I hope that all helped.



Thanks a million Claire .

Tent ,London

This show is for forward thinking contemporary designers from across all disciplines. This years show saw 19,000 visitors from 44 countries. I personally found this event rather pretentious . The exhibitors were unapproachable and not very helpful one person whom i asked for a brochure told me they were not giving them out until 5pm and suggested i can back ( 3 hours later) i think you get the picture , not very forward thinking in my opinion.It did put me right off and proves how powerful first impressions really are . I think it was a massive lesson in how not to deal with people . One part of the show i did find inspiring was the Masters exhibition from Kings Uni in London , some of the work was amazing and it was interesting to see how things had progressed from the BA level.
http://www.tentlondon.co.uk/

Origins 2010 London Craft fair (23rd to 29th Sept)

Origins Craft Fair London 2010

I felt really at home for the first time when i visited this craft fair, other design shows have left me a bit cold but this one was very different. I was reassured that there are like minded people out there who produce work which is wacky and diverse as well as beautiful and aesthetically pleasing. Also i learnt that there is a market for craft type work all be it a niche one, most of the people whom i spoke to had another income source and their art, which was their passion was a part time side line. There were people who were working full time on their art and making a healthy living from it but realistically the current financial climate has impacted on this industry . In my opinion the most simple design ideas which were produced beautifully were the most successful and work which represented the personality of the artist was really appealing to me. Another observation that i made was that the people at this venue were far more approachable and friendly than at other design shows it some how was not as pretentious . I felt that this more down to earth relaxed approach to business was more pleasant and some where i would be happy to place my self in the future .During my visit to Origins i was able to speak to artists and designers very briefly as i was aware that this show was there platform for sales and i did not want to distract them from any possible business opportunities. I asked several of them if it would be possible to email questions regarding their practice and to my delight they agreed, so i await the responses!

Lou Beach

Lou Beach is a German born L A based illustrator.

His career spans over 40 years and he has created designs for music album covers for several famous artists including The Carpenters and Blink 182. He has also designed illustrations for publications such as Wired, The New Yorker, Harper's and the New York Times.He has moved with the times and worked digitally although recently has once again gone back to working with paper and glue. I am inspired by Beach's work, i absolutely love it. It is quirky and humours and really well executed . For this project i am interested in artists who use collage as a technique and in my opinion Beach is a master in this process. I am intrigued by the content of the images , the dark, sinister some times creepy subject matter which is often displayed in a jolly , jovial ,light hearted back ground.

I feel an immediate affinity with his work and it is similar to what i produce myself. There are a lot of people and animal references and definitely a wicked sense of humour at play.

www.loubeach.com

The Velveteen Rabbit: Told by Meryl Streep (Official Rabbit Ears Video)

The Velveteen Rabbit is a book by Margery Williams, it was illustrated by William Nicholson and originally published in 1922 . It is a very interesting example of symbolism and has a deep message about becoming 'real' . My dissertation is about the significance of certain symbols and images with in art and in particular the rabbit . This story struck a chord with me not only because of its beautiful illustrations but because of the sentiment and wisdom of the tale. It is also significant to me that Williams chose a rabbit as the main character , a gentle vulnerable animal who is none threatening and appealing and with whom most of us can identify .