BRISTOL Volume 1 Issue 1
The h o m e - g r o w n
talent
issue ÂŁ3.50
S.S. Great Britain front (right side)
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S.S. Great Britain front (left side)
Interview
THE LIFE OF Brian fixing the uniforn horn after it was stolen
BRIAN
Local artist Brian Rothnie, 75, reflects over his 40-years with the of working as an artist in an exclusive interview with BEAT. mould, leadNot until I was 35. I studied for a degree in engineering, and from then on I worked in many different industries - the tobacco industry, rocketry, computing - but nothing really satisfied me, so I packed up and moved down to Bristol and slowly began following my passion for art. Before then, I had always dabbled in art here and there. An aeronautical engineering apprenticeship taught me the discipline of using my hands, essential for sculpting, and I attended life-drawing classes for years. Ironically, I didn’t want to become an artist - I sort of just drifted into it.
What do you feel your FORTE is? Definitely sculpting. I enjoy working with various materials, and sculpture is ultimately an artistic form of engineering; construction is important, otherwise it will fall apart. A sculpture always needs a good, sturdy base.
Are you a PERFECTIONIST ? I am not really a perfectionist, but I like something to be right. I know when a piece is finished, and I know when to stop. I have experimented with different finishes and techniques over the years, but each piece has its own unique requirements. Sometimes things have gone wrong
How did you get your work out there and RECOGNISED? I got my biggest job by cheek: I walked into the office for the S.S. Great Britain [in 1972] to criticise the way they were using fibreglass. I was asked how I knew about it and told them that it was the material I used for my sculptures - they then offered me a job. This led to me not only doing the figure head [for the front of the ship], but all of the restoration and trail boards. These were 34 foot long and 15 foot high. Once the exterior was finished, we moved onto the interior. I worked for them for about 15-18 years in total.
Has your work been in any EXHIBITIONS? I have exhibited my art deco pieces for sale at the Ginger gallery near the S.S. Great Britain in Bristol, as well as the Annual Kingswood Village art show and the Cirencester craft market. The S.S. Great Britain is an ongoing exhibition of my work; the interior decor in the dining room of the ship was collaborative work between many crafts people, including a screen printer called BEATBristol
Photography: Top two images courtesy of Richard and Jill (Flickr) Bottom photograph: Helen Rothnie
When did you discover your ARTISTIC TALENT?
ing to an unexpected but pleasing finish [for example, the head with a tear running down one cheek] you have to decide if you can learn to love it, or start all over again.
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Interview
Man with tear (sculpture head)
Chris Townsend, and a chap who painted the faux-marble effect on the columns.
What ARTISTS and ART MOVEMENTS inspire you? Are there any pieces of art work that really stand out to you? I admire the work of Gustav Vigeland [a Norwegian sculptor], especially the Vigeland sculpture park in Oslo that exhibits 212 bronze and granite figurative sculptures. Rodin [French artist] is one of my favourite classical artists. My paintings, however, lean towards the art deco movement.
Do you work mostly from life, from photographs or from IMAGINATION? A bit of everything. For a lot of things, photographs. Generally I will have a picture in my head of what I envisage the end result to look like before beginning a piece of work.
Is COLOUR an impor tant factor in your work?
Photography: Katie Lansdowne
Colour has come more into my later noncommissioned pieces that were made for my own enjoyment and development. I feel that colour is an important factor, but I am willing and able to change colours of pieces if a buying requests so.
What CONDITIONS do you prefer to work in? When doing commissioned work, one has to be quite disciplined and work when you don’t feel like it. This is especially true when deadlines are involved, and may even mean having to work through Christmas or through tiredness. I used to do a lot of work for a company called Hayles and Howe, making models for plaster ceiling roses. It was painstaking precision work and the pay was not BEATBristol
good f o r t h e hours it took. When I actually priced the work for the hours it took, instead of as a package, I priced myself out of a job! However, that meant that I was free to pursue my own ideas. As a certain amount of concentration is required, I prefer to work alone and away from the everyday noises of home. I used to have an outbuilding I could work in, whereas our current house doesn’t have a suitable dedicated studio area in which to work. I like to listen to radio three when I work, and before I gave up smoking 10 years ago I could be found with a pipe firmly clamped between my teeth as I worked. My colleagues on The Great Britain called it my life support system!
What piece of work have you
been most PROUD of?
Interview
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My work for the S S Great Britain would be my proudest achievement. I had only one or two people helping me, so I had a lot of responsibility.
HOW LONG
have you been working as an artist? Nearly 40 years. However, since my stroke in May 2007 I haven’t worked.
It’s not a regular source of income. You can spend a lot of money on materials and take a long time to re-coup the costs – sometimes you don’t sell a piece of work at all. Non-commissioned work means having to come up with new and innovative ideas all the time, and means that the work does not go through a gallery where it would potentially be seen by a wider audience. It can be labour intensive and lonely. Many hours of work are needed for large sculptures and this means time away from your family and friends.
How has your work PROGRESSED over the years? I have moved to a larger scale, and also have moved more towards imaginary situations rather than depicting the reality.
Are there any projects that you WISH you had done?
Clay wall-piece
What are the DOWNSIDES of your profession?
“I don’t think art [nowadays] is any less exclusive as such, just different.”
There are some ideas that I had in my mind, which I did not develop; but overall, I have no regrets.
Where do you feel art is heading? Is it-
People who produce modern art will have to be tested in time. I don’t think art is any less exclusive as such, just different. It is still a form of expression.
Is your art a REALISTIC EXPRESSION of the way you feel about life? On a deep level, yes.
What QUALITIES does an artist need to have in order to SUCCEED? What do you think is the reason behind your success?
BEATBristol
Photography: Katie Lansdowne
LESS EXCLUSIVE than it once was?
Interview
The pink and blue two(orginally three) part sculptures nicknamed ‘Bod’ were a result of a “slow evolution of ideas over 20-30 years.”
An art-deco inspired piece in his home kitchen
Pink body sculpture
Mainly luck; it is sometimes all down to time and place. This was the reason behind my most successful works, at least. It also takes a lot of perseverance to achieve everything you want to.
Photography: Katie Lansdowne Photos of Pink and blue sculptures: Brian Rothnie
How would you sum up your work in three words?
I did it. BEATBristol
Interview by Katie Lansdowne
B
Two clay heads
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