Artist of the Month

Book Club

Maddy Mould

maddymould.co.uk

November’s Artist of the Month is our very own Maddy Mould. An illustrator and designer from Lancashire, England, Maddy graduated in 2016 with a BA Hons in Illustration from the University of Cumbria Institute of the Arts, subsequently taking up the role of Artist in Residence at the University of Cumbria 2016-2017. Since graduating, Maddy has brought her playful, eye-catching designs to projects in education, publishing, hospitality and entertainment, and, as Herbology News’ Artistic Director, she is responsible for the slick design and the evocative illustrations that you see in our pages each month. Currently living in the Scottish Borders, she draws on her beautiful surroundings and her love of folklore and history to weave her illustrative magic, producing prints, calendars and stationery lines notable for their stylised shapes and distinctive colour palette.

Maddy says:

"I have always been at home in nature— completely surrounded as if lost in it. I think many of us agree that there’s few things better for clearing our heads and lifting our moods than going outside and feeling the elements around us. I grew up in a small town with an abundance of hills and woods close by, and with this huge privilege of access to nature, I probably took it for granted a little. Then I moved away, to bigger places. These cities had plenty of green spaces, but life happened, working took priority, and spending time in these places became easy to postpone— an almost forgotten pastime, an occasional treat.

Over the last eighteen months, like many others who have been fortunate enough to be able to do so, I have found my place in nature again. Using daily lockdown walks as an escape from life’s horrors, and absorbing the sweet simplicity of the mundane things around me that had been there all along, I reconnected with my roots. It’s a great feeling to notice things, to zoom in— picking out a sound or a colour or something moving in the bushes, and feeling connected to it while the rest of the world passes by. Trees and hedgerows, clover patches and tiny flowers growing in pavement cracks— these plants that have been silently doing their thing, sometimes for decades: growing, changing with the seasons, blending into the background. They are in their own realm, one that people often pass through but rarely truly enter.

My work has become focused on recreating snapshots from these little experiences. Most of my current work starts life as a strong memory of a place I’ve walked through, or a tiny moment that stuck in my mind. The feeling of the air around me, long grass blowing, crows in the trees overhead, finding fungi among the leaves. My illustrations aim to highlight these tiny details and turn them into everyday pieces that people can own or send to friends, in the form of greetings cards, prints and calendars. In my home, my safe cosy space, I like to bring the outdoors inside. If my work can help others to do this, and illuminate the magic of our natural surroundings for them, then I’m happy."

For more of Maddy’s work, flip through your back issues of Herbology News, or visit: www.maddymould.co.uk

Instagram: @maddymould

Shop: www.maddyxmould.etsy.com