Introducing... Susie Liddle

"Elsewhere" was included in the Engedi Easter project

LB: We're really looking forward to having your screen prints in the show! Could you tell us a little more about you and your work?

Susie: Unfortunately because of other commitments and deadlines, plus a month of open studios in September, I have run out of time to do all the separations for screen printing. There are 6 small pictures in all (it's a comic strip) and each one has between 5 and 8 separations which works out somewhere around 40 separate screen images. It is as much work to do screens for one set of prints as it is to do a print run of an edition of 50. To make matters worse I can only have access to an exposure unit & vacuum print bed for a couple of hours on Monday & Tuesday evenings as it’s a shared facility in a college. So I was left with two choices.... either to reduce the number of images to 1or 2 or submit the original drawings and not screen prints as I planned.. As reducing the number of images would really spoil the narrative I decided to submit the original drawings and keep the story line complete...

 

LB: So it sounds like it was quite important to you to stay true to the story of Advent, especially with the use of a comic strip style. What does Advent mean to you?

 

 

                                                                        Leonie

S: That's a big question to answer as Advent has meant many things to me in my life…I guess that as a little girl it was about Santa and worrying if I had been good enough to get my presents. There were always identical red zip front slippers for me, my brother and sister and one year the most longed for gift ever.....a set of poster paints! Like all children I learned the story of Christmas, took part in the school Nativity play and Christmas carol service and hoped desperately that I wouldn't be chosen to play the donkey. I never got to be Mary but I did get to play an angel. The years passed and I became a mum myself and Advent became a hectic whirl of planning, shopping and sitting in the audience watching my own children at their concerts and plays. Such beautiful pageants that they brought tears to my eyes. Lately I have watched with the deepest love as my grandaughters have performed the same age old rituals. Throughout these periods of my life the link has always been family. Time for gathering together as a family and for remembering the loved ones no longer with us. Because of the great joy I get from my own family, my thoughts at this time of the year turn more and more to those who lack the comfort of a family around them. I know that I have never been truly hungry; have never had to spend a night sleeping rough; have never felt that nobody cared for me. On every street in every town and city there are so many people young and old for whom these things are a daily reality. Whilst they lack the basic needs of shelter, warmth, company and food, all around them folk are indulging in a whirlwind of spend, spend, spend. I shall plan carefully over Advent and ensure that I can support charities such as Crisis to help as many needy people as possible.

LB: It's lovely to hear all the memories and warm feelings that Advent brings to you (especially your passion for art at a young age!), as well as remembering those who aren't able to feel such things at that time of year. How did creating your piece for Adventurous reflect these feelings?

Susie: My 'Adventurous' piece has definitely been inspired by my feelings at this time of year. All my work comes from somewhere deep inside me where the store of life experiences, hopes and dreams reside. I think this is common to all artists.

I thought about the Christmas story....of a young couple on the road, she's pregnant, they are struggling to find shelter and then decided to translate this into today's world. I chose to use a comic strip style to present the story for several reasons. Firstly, pictures on church walls and windows were historically used as a way to tell Bible stories to the illiterate masses. Secondly, we now live in a world of technology where instant communication and information is the order of the day. People want information fed to them in quick snapshots. Speed rules and so I reflected this in the way I tell my story. And finally, I took the title of the project 'Adventurous' and decided to step out of my comfort zone and take an adventurous approach to this piece of work in creating a comic strip.

LB: It's really interesting to hear how your work is evolving with society yet still reflects the past! I'm interested to know whether you see art that depicts religious stories as purely functional or whether they reflect something of the artist's spiritual feelings/journey?

Susie: I said earlier that artists would decorate church walls and windows as a way of telling Bible stories to the masses. Sort of book illustration without the book.. However, one only has to look at the work of the great artists of the Renaissance to see that there is much more to their religious art than functional storytelling. To take just one example, Michelangelo doesn't just settle for illustrating the story with his Pieta. The depth of emotion he evokes as the Virgin Mary holds her dead son transcends functionality and becomes art at its purest and finest. Why does he show Mary as a young woman rather than the middle aged one she would have been? Portraying Mary as a young mother heightens the emotional sense of a mother losing her child. Michelangelo doesn’t just want us to view his Pieta, he actually wants us to feel how she feels.

LB: It'll be so interesting to see what feelings the ADVENTurous artists evoke in our audience. Finally, you said that the comic strip style was out of your comfort zone. What’s your usual style?

Susie: I am a printmaker with a leaning towards mixed media installation. I often use vintage photographs, alter them and print them using cyanotype. I will then add other layers like paper-cuts, screen-prints and text to build up the completed work. Sometimes I work on textiles and incorporate them into larger installations. I will use whatever medium and material works best for what I am doing. For Adventurous I knew what I wanted to say and screen print was ideal. The comic strip was a big step away from my usual style of using vintage photographic imagery.

 

Violette

Introducing... Abbie Hulson

Left Bank: Welcome to ADVENTurous! Could you tell us about yourself and your art!

AH: I lived in Holywell, Flintshire before moving to Rhyl when I was seven. I gained a BTEC in Art and Design at Llandrillo College (2003 – 4). I attended Yale College, Wrexham between 2004 – 2007 before moving to Sunderland (2008 – 2011) where I gained a BA in Animation and Design at the University of Sunderland.

I now live in Buckley, Flintshire, working as a ceramic artist and freelancing on the side, focusing on animal portraiture. I have a keen interest in still life studying the composition of animals and nature. I experiment with various media such as photography, stick and ink, pencil, biro, wax, watercolour, gouache, acrylics and oils.

Left Bank: I am really interested in your interpretation of the Advent theme  - which I think will promote some debate at the exhibition! Could you tell us how you approached the ADVENTurous brief and what lead you to interpret it the way you have?

AH: I was attracted to the text about faith, economy and ecology in a sense of where we are, where we’re going and how we get there, I feel that life today all revolves around making money, and it's the drive of making money that makes us deaf and dumb to the things in life that truly matter.  So all in all we don't actually know where we are, where we’re going or how we’re getting there! 

After a few days brainstorming and looking through the titles that we were given, 3 of them caught my eye. I came up with the idea of drawing 3 caricatures of well-known political figures (hoping I get the features right so people recognise who they are!) and to title them each using a play on words 'Prophet. Inn. Silence'.  I hope to convey my idea on faith, economy and ecology through these titles and caricatures by giving them a ‘See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ theme, using British currency to cover the appropriate facial parts. 

Everybody has their own views, I'm not trying to impose my views of capitalism on to others it's simply my view on humanity today, how money is our drive and not our faith or morals. I hope my pieces achieve debate, and I welcome other people’s opinions and I'm intrigued to see if many people agree with my message.

Left Bank: Do you think it is sad that the theme of Advent can be synonymous with a festive period of excess greed and consumerism?

AH: It doesn’t make me sad, because although my views about greed and consumerism are strong views, I’m not trying to tell people how to live their lives or that they are living their lives wrong I’m just expressing my views on what makes us human, I’m guilty every time I eat a chocolate bar or buy some new shoes. 

Left Bank: Your caricature of Thatcher is absolutely recogniseable.

I was at University when she arrived  - I remember the poll tax riots and have family who marched with the miners. That was a long time ago  -  but I wonder if she still epitomizes capitalism in a way no other politician has quite matched since? I’d be interested in your thoughts.

AH:  Thank you! I’ve been worried about getting them right!  I’ve only followed politics very lightly, and kind of stereotype all politicians as greedy, power hungry, deluded tax dodging suits… which is poor on my behalf for stereotyping people.  I will say that Maggie always stood out for me I think mainly because there have been so many parodies using Maggie’s image, spitting image sticks in my mind, I was only young when it was on TV, but it’s burnt into my brain! Then I went to live in Sunderland for three years and learnt how hated she actually is! 

Left Bank: Why do you say in your statement that you have made your pictures small because you want the caricatures ‘overlooked’?

AH:  I think I’d like my pieces to become overlooked because I would like to convey or kind of prove human’s natural skill in failing to take the time to stop and look at something that cannot benefit them directly. Though I think that is more of a self-indulgence for me, proving myself right about human arrogance, rather than trying to convert other peoples thoughts or actions.

Left Bank:  It will be interesting to see people do react! Do you think artists have a role to change the way people think? 

AH:  I think we control what we class as art and we choose what message we want to let in, therefore I think it can only be the person who wants to change the way they think, that can change the way they think, whether they choose art or any other medium to do this, its up to them.

Left Bank: Do you plan to use your art to provoke debate in the future or was it that the ADVENTurous theme made you look more closely at who we are, where we are going…and how are going to get there?

AH:  I think we should live life rather than debate it! The ADVENTurous theme most certainly brought me to question who we are, where we are going and how are we going to get there, which lead me to come up with the message behind my triptych which is, that the trivial things in life make us deaf and dumb to what’s truly important, we don’t know who we are, where we are going or how we are going to get there.

Left Bank: I am very curious as to who you have chosen for the other two caricatures?  Can you say anymore about them at this stage?

AH: that’s no problem! I wanted to choose political figures that are the most recognizable, have the most obtrusive features and who have been the most deluded! My other two caricatures are Tony Blair with £5 notes stuffed in his ears and Gordon Brown who will have £5 notes stuffed in his mouth, all together the three political figures will complete my ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ topic.

Left Bank:  What else are you working on at the moment?

AH:  I have work half finished everywhere!  I have work that’s still going from over 4 years ago!  I paint and sketch animals, mainly dogs.  Most of the work I paint is for personal gain with the odd commission chucked in.  I work full time as a ceramic factory artist.  I’m also a traditional animator and have a few ideas lined up when I get time to start on them, which I will hopefully enter into animation festivals next year.

Flyer

designed for us by the ever reliable john lloyd...

Introducing Rhys Jones

Left Bank: Hello and it’s really exciting to have you on board for ADVENTurous this year.

Could you start by telling us a bit about yourself  - I am guessing you are from Wales and I’d love to know where that beautiful black and white image of a Welsh bay on your website is?

RJ: I was actually born in London! My father’s side of our family is from Aberystwyth but my mother’s side of the family comes from Dundee in Scotland. Both sides of the family migrated to London in the early part of the 20^th Century. I was given a Welsh name and I’ve always felt a stronger interest to the Welsh side of our family mainly because of my grandfather telling me stories about his early life and also my father telling me about the time he spent in Aberystwyth as an evacuee at the family home during WWII. I moved to Swansea in 1994 also for work reasons.

I am influenced by the landscape and space of Wales and traditions and way of life but I also travel with an open mind and am influenced by other cultures and ways of life.

The image on my website is of Worm’s Head, Rhossili Bay, Gower Peninsula. I often go there and take photographs as the light is wonderful and constantly changing.

Left Bank: Could you tell us a little about the greatest influences on your photography?

RJ: My photographic influences are varied but my initial awakenings were from the images of Dorothea Lange of the Great Depression in the US in the 1930s, the great black and white landscapes of Ansel Adams, the images of Henri Cartier-Bresson, the experimental work of Man Ray, the portraits of Jane Bown, and more recently the work of many more have become influential as I developed some of my own work and thinking – Don McCullin, Ed van der Elsken, David Hurn, Robert Capa, Richard Avedon,  Helmut Newton, Diane Arbus, Cindy Sherman, Bill Brandt, John Blakemore, Paul Strand, Robert Doisneau and many more….but also influential on my own work has been the work of artists in other media like David Hockney, Henry Moore, Andy Warhol and writers and philosophers like Roland Barthes, Susan Sontag and Jacques Derrida and the developments in fields of study such as semiotics. 

Left Bank: I was interested that although you are a visual artist and photographer you had pasted the lovely opening lines from Dylan Thomas’ Under Milkwood,  ‘To begin at the beginning; it is spring, moonless night in the small town, starlit and bible black…’  He described the work as a ‘play for voices’ – but it is a play  where the words create strong visual images.. Is this relation between our imagination and what we actually see interesting to you? 

RJ: I am interested in all forms of communication – written, verbal, musical, visual, and forms that use signs and pictures such as Egyptian Hieroglyphics and International Sign Language as they stimulate different areas of our imagination and give us the power to express ourselves in different ways – we all have different degrees of being able to express ourselves in these forms and sometimes to find out what someone is really trying to communicate we may need to interpret each area. 

Left Bank: I am interested to see you describe yourself as a researcher as well as an artist and photographer? Could you say a bit about what you research and how it melds with your artistic work? 

RJ:  I think we are all constantly learning and accumulating information as we travel on our journeys through life. Skills such as being a photographer and artist may be of benefit to those with skills in other areas such as medicine or neuroscience. One of my aims as an artist is not just to make a statement but to make a statement that may provide value to help someone else solve a problem or make someone’s life easier or happier. 

Left Bank: Do you always work in black and white and if so why? 

RJ I do a lot of work in black and white but not exclusively. Black and white, for me, provides a sense of timelessness in images and emphasizes contrast, structure and texture. Colour can be a means to stimulate interest and there are situations where that can be of value for an artist for a point they are making in their work – for example if the sea or water is red with blood.

Left Bank: You describe yourself as interested in the connections between art and neuroscience and in ‘offering some non-scientific explanations to explain and help diagnose and treat some of the mysteries of conditions on the autism spectrum.’ Could you say a bit more about why autism interests you and how this interest shows itself in your artistic work?

RJ: I have a personal interest as my younger son has been diagnosed as Asperger Syndrome and I have been through a lot of the testing process myself as parents are asked a lot of questions in order to establish any possible family links. My son often sees and is sensitive to things that other people are not – one particular example is a fondness and appreciation of all animals – and things in life don’t always seem straightforward and connections are not made in certain circumstances. 

A lot of my own work does not have an obvious connection and I believe art sometimes follows a course rather like walking around a maze and coming out the other side not necessarily following the course intended but discovering quite a lot on the way. I am keen to explore this further as it may help me communicate better with my son and help me to understand how he may feel about the world around him. The key though is not to be obtrusive in my research and make either me or my son or anyone else feel the centre of attention as I think that would have the effect of driving people further away.

Left Bank: You also say you have a research interest in ‘understanding further what is or maybe happening in our minds and bodies when we engage in an artistic activity - taking a photograph, drawing, painting, sketching, writing a poem or story, composing and playing music, making a sculpture or thinking about all those activities when performing other routine daily activities or watching or listening to the work of others.’ Could you perhaps unpick this a little and explain how you translate this interest into your work?

RJ: I am very keen to get people’s reaction to my work and others’ work and try and document that in some way – a visitor book is perhaps the simplest way of doing this. I am not so good myself at describing how I feel about what I do. People frequently say they don’t like being photographed or they don’t like a photograph I have taken of them – so I always try and explore that if people are willing to talk about it. 

I often find, though, that people don’t always want to talk about things like this on one-to-one basis but are often ok to write about in a blog or on social media where there is an audience and people viewing or listening but there is no way of knowing if anyone in particular has viewed or read what one has written. I guess it like sending a postcard – you don’t actually know if the recipient has received and read the card or if it has fallen into the gaze of someone else. 

Left Bank: You have a history of working in collaboration with many other artists –  why is this so attractive to you  - and is it something you will be bringing to ADVENTurous?

RJ: I enjoy collaborating with other artists – I’ve worked a lot with musicians, writers, poets and other visual artists over the years – not always in a formal way, sometimes in a loose collaboration. I will seek to bring this to ADVENTurous.

Left Bank: You describe your submission to Adventurous intriguingly as an  ‘annual risk assessment statement (magi journey)’ .. could you say a bit more about what you mean

RJ: When I read the brief, I though of the biblical story associated with the three wise men or Magi embarking on a journey with gifts to visit the newly born Jesus. This is something that the Christian (and increasingly other beliefs and faiths) are coming to celebrate each year. There is a symbolic element of renewal in this annual celebration – renewal of faiths and beliefs – not only in religion or beliefs but also in ourselves and our ability to have survived another year despite the many dangers and setbacks that can occur in our lives.

We also use the opportunity, especially at New Year to look ahead to the next year in our lives, to make plans and to enjoy the celebrations with others and of others. The Government publishes the Annual Budget Statement (or Red Book) which is a formal look back at the past year and forecast forward for the next year, taking into account risk factors which may effect the economy.

In my work, I am aiming to make an artistic statement which looks back artistically while a journey is being made; Looks at some of the hopes, dreams, plans that we may have; looks at gifts we may decide to give ourselves (material and otherwise) and thinks ahead to next year and where we might be going or what we might be doing. Life is a continual journey and we have to use tools that will help us plan and deal with risks – art, faith and hopes can all be part of this….it is also mysterious and links cannot always be made or guaranteed…..A play on words is possible – MAGI, MAGIC, IMAGINE, IMAGE – maybe one of these helps us understand…..

Left Bank: From the same statement – can you give us a hint as to what the ‘Ministry’ may be?! Do you mean ministry in a faith context?! Is faith important to you?

RJ:  I think that is for the viewer to decide themselves and what the work says to them! I’ll leave that as a mystery for now! My own view is that faith and belief, in whatever form it may take, is important for all of us….it may always be there but sometimes it can jump out of the shadows and often be present but we don’t always realize it. Sometimes we have to go to others for help to interpret the signs. Often those signs are in our creative work and expressed that way rather than verbally.

Left Bank: What are your thoughts on Advent as a theme? Did it inspire you?

RJ: Advent as a theme implies something exciting coming that we are waiting for.

Left Bank: What else are you working on at the moment?

RJ: I have some work in an exhibition starting on Friday November 9 continuing until 24 November: Hullabaloo – Elysium Gallery’s 5^th Birthday Party ( Swansea). I have a studio in Elysium’s art space.

I am also working on a project in Sweden, to be curated by a friend who is the Director the Sundsvall Photo Museum. He’s asked 20 photographers to come and take a photo of a Swedish Rock band called Jetbone in the style of one of their favourite photographer or artist. I have chosen as my artist Or rather group of Artists to pay homage to : Storm Thorgerson and Hipgnosis who did a lot of work with Pink Floyd Album covers…

My other projects include working with musicians and poets as part of my ongoing project ‘Artist in the Landscape’

I am also working with a group of artists called ‘Commensalis’ planning group exhibitions in 2013. We held a show in Walcot Chapel Bath in 2012. Check our website for details www.commensalis.com.

Rhys Jones recent photograph above was taken in Sweden and is of Israel Goodman Young or Izzy Young (born 26 March 1928) a noted figure in the world of folk music, both in America and Sweden.

RJ: He organized Bob Dylan's first concert at Carnegie Chapter Hall in New York City on November 4th 1961. Young lost over $200 promoting Dylan's first concert, but he was able to persuade the 19-year-old to accept $10 in pay for his efforts.

Since then he has presented the debut concerts for hundreds of musicians, many of whom are now famous, such as Patti Smith, Emmylou Harris and Tim Buckley.

 Rhys Jones’ website at http://www.noir-image.com

Introducing Terry Mart

LB: Welcome to Left Bank: Could you tell us a bit about your work, who have been your major influences and what inspires you?

TM: thanks for the invitation to contribute to Left Bank space. The ideas I work with have always been to do with landscape. From my early days as an art student right through to the present. I have been preoccupied with how the land's surface records human action, as a sheet of paper drawings or script. I owe a lot to the writing of the landscape historian WG Hoskins in this respect, but also to the painters Paul Nash and John Virtue.

LB: Could you say more about how the work of Hoskins and the painters Nash and Virtue have influenced you? Do you think the impact of humans on the landscape has a particularly powerful resonance today as it becomes ever clearer how much damage we have done and continue to do to our natural environment?

TM: WG Hoskins was Professor of History at Leicester at a time when I was training to be a teacher. His ideas on interpreting the landscape had a huge influence on me. I had already become involved in landscape in a visual sense when at Chester School of Art, Hoskins pointed me in the direction of the 'the clues’ or ‘the reasons why’ topography may look as it does.  Nash expressed his horror of the First World War in terms of what it did to landscape. As a leading British Surrealist painter he was able to link what had happened outside in the objective world to our inner psyche, our personal interior landscapes.

 John Virtue's recent series of black and white paintings of the London cityscape open a window on the gritty transitions that take place for human habitation throughout history. His bold and free approach (although accompanied by hundreds of studies) arrest us first by the tactile quality of the marks and then place us as in a molecular environment which is elemental while remaining a place of safety and retreat.

 The high tradition of British landscape painting is alive and flourishing and is well suited as a forum, which invites engagement regarding environmental issues. The current John Moore's exhibition in the Walker Gallery, Liverpool exhibits a number of paintings which address various aspects of landscape themes: war, economic despoilation, urban/rural issues etc.

Left Bank:  You have said that you are interested in the idea of ‘sacred space’   - what is it about sacred spaces that inspires you – and has the fact that the Adventurous exhibition is being shown in a former church  (St Margaret’s, Cardigan Road, Headingley) inspired you in your submission to the ADVENTurous exhibition?

TM:  Where sacred space is concerned  - that is to do with our awareness of 'liminality' i.e. that place which is a halfway point between our logical and intuitive selves; in Christian terms our recognition of the spiritual within the earthly. Where it is ruined it is particularly poignant Sacred space suggests that we have from time immemorial set aside certain places as special. Where this is used and valued we can all experience it whether it's an island or a sanctuary.

An act of neglect or desecration becomes especially poignant. Sacred space plays the part of a portal through which we can physically approach or search for an immanence. Artists work in this area, opening up thought-patterns which take us to a new place, make us think, and change our outlook and thereby our actions. The Christian Church has always done this particularly from the moment of the supper at Emmaus down to our Communion feasts of today.

Sacred space can be made by us all, in our garden sheds, favourite corner of a park or on a coastal headland. It is partly within, in the sense of that 'closet' to which we withdraw for prayer, of which Jesus spoke, but certainly seems to demand some physical effort in order to go there. Celtic spirituality draws on the liminality of sacred space greatly.

I visited St Margaret’s after it had stood empty for years. I brought away a bottle of black ink from the vestry; ink, which had no doubt been used to sign wedding, registers.  It seemed to me a potent talisman of St. Margaret’s previous life. I was delighted when someone who was going to hold part of her marriage ceremony in the church requested the bottle of ink and wished to use the ink again.

Equally, when the re-development of the church as a community space was begun that seemed like a resurrection was continuing. To put work in it now, which continues this, is a positive thing to do.

Left Bank: I wonder how the theme of Advent has struck you - given how commercially it is represented today - advent calendars with chocolates in and so on - but despite that how the magic of the journey towards the star moves us and is full emotive memories that may be to do with Christianity but for many of us may also be to do with our memories of childhood?

TM: Advent is for me a very special time. I always play lots of the less known traditional carols. The scriptural narratives beguile me and so again I love this liminal space where we can ponder the star, the frankincense, the Magi and the journeys. Proper Advent calendars can be a valuable meditative aid in the lead up to the Nativity if we use them in the right way. The opening of the little doors invites us in over the threshold into that sacred environment as we contemplate the imagery and symbol used.

Left Bank: I know you have chosen the words ‘Heaven’s Chorus’ as the subject of your submission to the ADVENTurous exhibition – could you tell us a bit more about how have created it?

TM: Heaven's Chorus came about in the way of so many works. It began as an idea called Song of the River Birds. I had this idea based on some earlier pieces I had done which involve some kind of musical notation superimposed on a river scene in an attempt to fuse visual marks with known pictograms. I had begun this when theAdventurous brief came up. So it was easy and seemed natural to adapt it for the exhibition. It features a sine wave of vocal singing set into the sky of an abstracted landscape. I saw the sound-wave display at a recording studio and the colour-coded voices and instruments were the colour of a landscape. It all seemed to fit together in a unified way. The idea of using a wave of the word Hosanna could be a further development as could the use of blended recorded sound ( town/traffic/country/choral singing) as an installation piece. But no time to do that this time around!

Work in progress... Lou Davis

...see more on lou's blog here.

Introducing... Rachel Yates

I was attracted to the show because I am always surprised by what emerges when I create from an inspiring brief such as this. Invisible, dormant ideas are brought to life as I combine concepts, put them through the filter of creative thought processes and eventually make something tangible. It’s never what I expect! 

Sometimes my plans get rather complicated ….I had to reign things in a bit for this piece. It is smaller than I intended (I had to post it from Australia so there were logistics to consider!) and has far fewer layers – perhaps, like the story of life I was trying to depict, it isn’t finished yet……. The artwork itself has been on quite an adventurous journey! I was tempted to ask Si to leave the piece wrapped up in the brown paper I posted it in, with all the stamps and stickers of it’s journey on display. 

I really like the idea that despite living around the country and world, the artists taking part in this show are connected. And despite the fact that we may never meet, our artwork exists in relationship, in a creative dimension that hopefully transcends cultural boundaries and inspires others. My artwork seems to have a life of it’s own….without me there to explain it in as much detail as I’d like, it has to speak for itself. It’s a strange but liberating feeling.

I’m not precious about my art…..to be honest, I don’t keep most of the artworks I create. Usually I paint over the canvas again and reuse it. I remember being asked “if someone spent time in isolation creating art, then burnt everything they created, would they still be an artist?” Of course, the answer is yes. For me it’s about the process. The piece I created for ADVENTurous is on a canvas that I have used 3 times previously. The canvasses become like worn-in shoes, I don’t know why, I just like working that way!

As well as pursuing my own creative interests, I run Art and Spirituality workshops here in Oz (with some courses online at www.artillumina.wordpress.com) which hopefully inspire to develop their spirituality through artistic and creative processes.