claire edwardes
Who Am I? My Process Inspiration Collaborating Experiences Social Media What Next?
Who am I?
My work almost entirely is created using textiles and stitch, experimenting with mark making and textures through practicing an un-traditional approach to illustration. I think my love of textile illustration starts with the associations that it brings to the audience, a sense of nostalgia, comfort and homeliness. When it comes to my work I feel like it is driven by happy mistakes. It is very experimental, most of the time I feel like I am making it up as I go along. This would probably be because I have never actually had any proper training about anything to do with textiles; I am not quite sure what made me start using sewing as a form of illustration to begin with. I am not afraid to make a mess, and for me I think it’s all about creating
the details within the chaos. The great thing about working with these materials is that they enable me to manipulate them into creating interesting and exciting illustrations and installations. I enjoy working with loose, messy stitch, giving my work a fragile look, as if it were falling apart. Sewing is a big part of my work within illustration however I have found it challenging to be able to let my work expand outside of the embroidery hoop. Recently, I have been experimenting with ways to help my illustration grow. I have always loved working on a larger scale, whether it being wall pieces or 3D installations. I have also recently become completely obsessed with water-soluble fabric. This material allows me to stitch into it and then it washes away leaving this free-formed stitched illustration.
My Process
When settling down to a new project my usual process starts with me going out and exploring my surroundings, drawing and taking photos of things and people around me. For me, I try to create my work outside of the sketchbook, although they are great for when you are out and about, initial drawings, plans, and thoughts, I tend to feel quite stuck when working in a sketchbook and I find that they can be limiting when allowing me to be more free and experimental with scale and materials.
Using online blogging is the method that I find most useful when documenting my process through a project as well as a good way of archiving things that inspire me. This would mainly be because of it ease to just be able to quickly upload and then being able to scroll back through past work, however, it doesn’t quite have the same charm as stack of sketchbooks bursting with drawings and inspiration.
Inspiration When it comes down to what inspires me for my work it would come down to finding inspiration around me. Space and things within it, whether it being people, objects, architecture or nothing at all. It’s the atmosphere that these elements bring to a scene. This gives me the drive to get out of the studio and go exploring. Also my love of clutter, especially my collections of trinkets and treasures, in my recent final major project I have enjoyed re creating these objects in stitch and am currently in the process of making stitch trinket badges that will either be used for promotion or for selling. As mentioned before, the detail’s in the chaos. Whether that be in my work, or in what I see around me.
Another important source for inspiration I find is visiting galleries and exhibitions. This is something that I try to do as often as possible. Living and studying in Bournemouth is great as there are often small exhibitions being put on by students and resident artists. London is also a very simple train ride away, which enables me to visit certain exhibitions. One great one in particular that I visited recently was the ‘Sensing Spaces’ exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts. This particular exhibition was to do with architecture but was a great example of an exhibition that engages with its surroundings, allowing people to interact with the exhibition.
Collaborating I think that it is important to surround myself with creative people, and taking on any opportunities to work in collaborations with others. This gives me the chance to see how others work, and to try out new techniques and to see things and get different perspectives from others. Collaborating is a great way to increase the standard of my work. More specifically, with three other students on my course Abby Foord, Philip Bailey and Kristi Minchin. We all bring new elements to a project whilst inspiring and encouraging each
other to be more adventurous in our own individual practice. Learning to work well in a team is not always as easy as it seems. We all have strong ideas and opinions, which occasionally can send us all mental. This is probably the most challenging part, learning to take in other ideas and combining them with your own. Ultimately we know that together we can create new, exciting (and sometimes completely bonkers) work. Between the four of us we have taken on some amazing challenges. One major project was being asked to take part in Animated Exeter’s
‘Lightstream’ event. This project involved working amongst industry professionals including BAFTA award winning filmmaker Tal Rosner. The brief was to create a film or animation inspired by the work of Norman Mclaren, which was to be projected onto a building during a two-day event in Exeter. Due to our love of hand made installations, we were given one of the largest sites in the event and we were
also asked to create a series of large installations and collaborate with a musician to accompany our film. The whole project took a huge amount of planning and organization. For us, it was very important to have emphasis on the hand made element of our film which we thought would set us apart from other animators taking part in the event. Over the summer we are in the process applying to run workshops
in festivals such as Greenman Festival and we have sent off a written proposal for Outlook festival’s competition brief to transform a space into a festival area with the help of a team. This would be a great opportunity for all of us and if we win, we would gain so much more experience in working on such a big scale and having people there to help set up will give us more experience in working with professionals.
For my current project I am also collaborating with a student on Commerical Photography who specialises in still life and textiles, which is perfect for my practice. For this collaboration I have made two suspended stitch installations, one of a living room set, and the other a large cuckoo clock. This collaboration will be great for my project as my work will now look much more professional on my website and portfolio. Collaborating with artists outside of Illustration is a great way of expanding my professional experience in the creative industry outside of university.
Over the years at university we have had quite a few lectures from professional illustrators who have successful individual careers as well as being part of successful illustration collectives. One most recently being Alice Lickens, an Illustrator and one fifth of ZOMBIE Collective. This gave us the opportunity to talk to her and ask about her experiences in working in a collective and how they got their work out there. As Abby, Phil, Kristi and myself are planning on starting a collective, the tutorial helped us a lot. The main advice would be just to apply for as many opportunities as we can and that running workshops is a great way to build up good communications with companies.
Experiences During my time at university, alongside my course projects, I often take part in exhibitions and events. One most recently being the ‘I made it with my hands’ exhibition in Boscombe. This was an exhibition curated by a small group of Illustrators aiming to promote and celebrate the art of craft and the handmade. This was definitely an exhibition that I jumped at the chance of being involved in. I submitted 2 pieces of work for the event, one being a collaboration pieces and the other was a stitched wall piece that I made individually. This work got some really good feedback. It was great having the opportunity to talk to people about my work and was especially nice seeing peoples interest in the unusual type of textiles I use in my work.
Another great exhibition that I took part in was on held last summer called ‘Experience is, my experience’. This was a primarily Fine art based exhibition in which I was asked to take part. It was a really nice experience working with people with different artistic background and being able to see how my work fitted outside of Illustration.
By taking on extra briefs and commissions has enabled me to come out of my comfort zone and attempt to make things that I would not normally consider making. For example I, along with 4 other selected students were commissioned to make a series of 1920’s props for an event. This was my first experience of working from a professional brief and meant taking up lots of new challenges such as learning woodwork skills, which none of us had really done before. Now since completing that project I am now more confident in knowing that I am capable at taking on tasks that I previously may have thought to be too challenging.
During our time in level 6 it is also important for us to raise a large amount of money for our graduation show in London. To help raise money for the show silent auctions were held in which I submitted a selection of work to be sold. Another way to raise money was by holding fundraising club nights which myself and a few other students. This involved getting a venue, Dj’s, branding, advertising and making and setting up all the decorations on the night. Over all we did three events that were hugely popular and together we raised £2500,
Social Media In terms of getting my work out there, I would say the Lightstream event was a great opportunity for networking with industry professionals, talking to people about my work and giving out business cards and zines about our practice. Working alongside and getting feedback from industry professionals was a huge help for my practice, we were also filmed throughout the project by our University’s marketing team as a promotion for the University which was great practice for me to get used to talking about my work in a more professional manner.
I am currently working on getting my website upto a standard that I am happy with and exploring different layouts using Moonfruit. com. I want my website to be fairly simple in terms of layout and design, showing my work clearly and making it easy to use. I have also been working on different logo ideas for branding my work, however so far I have not designed anything that I feel successfully represents my work. This is something that I will continue to explore as it will make my practice look more professional and will be a good link for networking between things like my business cards, website and emails. Promotional items and my online portfolio
will most likely be the first thing that potential clients will see and so it is extremely important that mine is upto a successful standard. During university we are asked to take part in lots of group tutorials with tutors and other students. This I have found is a great way to help improve the way that I communicate about my work and have given me a lot more confidence in improving and getting my work out there. I have found that using Social media is a great tool in advertising my work. I have tried using twitter a few times and have never really been able to stick to it, however I am planning on having another go at it as I know it is a great way of
communicating with other illustrators and businesses. Instagram, however is something that I am a big fan of. For me, I find it hard to think of something to say to promote myself on Twitter, but I have found that by uploading photographs of my work on Instagram, I have got some great responses by artistic businesses and Illustrators including a commission which was a great confidence boost to my practice.
What Next? After three great years living in Bournemouth I feel it is time to move on. Over the summer I am planning to move to Bristol, which I think is a really exciting and creative place to be and was recommended to me as a good place to be for my practice during my portfolio review with Gina Cross. I will be moving along with quite a few people that I often work with and am inspired by. I think that by being amongst friends with similar aspirations to work within the creative industry it will keep me motivated to get my work out there and we can keep advising each other on our practice. Over the Summer I plan to sort out press packs with things like my business cards and postcards and companies. Along with this I plan to carry on doing self initiated
projects to keep my mind in that creative mode. For me, I think ideally I would love to be commissioned to create wall pieces and installations. Working also within a collective in Bristol with Abby, Phil and Kristi, will also be a great step in getting my own personal work out there as well as our collective work. We are currently playing around with different name ideas for our collective, our favorite so far being ‘Pie on the Wall’ or ‘POW!’ for short. Another option, which I am interested in exploring, is
applying for internships in creative companies or galleries. Since taking part in quite a few exhibitions I enjoy working alongside other artists and helping to curate exhibitions. I was recommended by Gina Cross to look into getting in contact with a company called Antlers which is a ‘nomadic’ art gallery based in Bristol which produces temporary exhibitions. Another plan is to organize an online shop as well as potential pop-up shops whilst in Bristol. Here I could sell my work and smaller objects like badges. When settled into Bristol life I am planning to make as many creative friends as possible, especially photography
students at the University as I want to take full advantage of any possible free access to studio space and for students that need subjects to photograph as much as I need photographers to shoot my work. Basically, I plan to get as much free stuff as I possibly can to get my work out there and seen by professionals whilst making connections and taking up challenges and opportunities with anyone that will have me.
Image List animated exeter [screenshot online image] available from http://www. animatedexeter.co.uk/programme/4/events/235/lightstream (acessed 09/05/2014) zombie collective [screenshot online image] available from http://zombiecollective.co.uk (acessed 09/05/2014) zombie collective [online image] available from http://zombiecollective. co.uk/index.php?/workshops/workshops/ (acessed 09/05/2014) zombie collective [online image] available from http://zombiecollective. co.uk/index.php?/workshops/workshops/ (acessed 09/05/2014) zombie collective [online image] available from http://zombiecollective. co.uk/index.php?/workshops/workshops/ (acessed 09/05/2014)