4 minute read
» Artists Of Frome
AMANDA BEE
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WWe talk to Amanda about her love of Cornwall and how it deeply inspires her work, her near miss as an animal hoarder and how she is the only person to come out of lockdown with a positive experience of Zoom.
What is your artistic background? I completed a Foundation at Lincoln College of Art which allows you to experience different disciplines and then a Degree in Art and Social Context at UWE Bristol. By this point, after focussing on print-making at Lincoln, I had decided to explore oil painting.
What made you follow this path? As a kid I was always drawing and painting. I remember saying when I was about five that I wanted to be an artist. I can’t remember wanting any other career.
What is your physical creative process? What materials and techniques do you use? I’m a mixed media landscape painter so my main materials are acrylics, water soluble crayons and pencils, oil bars and pastels. I work on paper, canvas and primed boards. I love using collage and hand paint or print my own papers. What inspires your work? I’m inspired by landscape and seascapes. My work is abstracted but is always taken from the landscape. I work from my own drawings which I make in sketchbooks. I’m interested in places that have personal meaning and hold memories. Revisiting or knowing an area well brings in deeper levels of emotion and connection.
How did lockdown affect the way you work and create? Lockdown slowed everything down. I teach classes to adults, so after a while I caved in and took to Zoom. It has been a lot of fun and I think my students feel it has been a great success. As for my art, I had to really look around me close to home to find a new source of inspiration, which turned out to be Rodden Fields, farm and Church. It gave me an opportunity to focus and explore in depth one area of Frome and I have really enjoyed it.
Where do you work from? Tell us about your studio. I work from a studio in the Silk Mill in Frome. My studio is light, quite a good size and warm in the winter! I have all my art materials there as well as a clean area for admin work and Zoom of course.
What is your favourite place to be for artistic inspiration? Cornwall! I’ve just returned from a two-week residency in Cape Cornwall which was pretty magical. Living and working with the sea pounding against the cliffs right outside the window was a dream come true. I managed to create a substantial amount of work which I hope to explore in more depth now I’m back. I’ve always loved Cornwall and I think after the last year of going nowhere it really added an extra layer of emotion to the whole experience. It was lovely to look at something different!
Which artists inspire you, and why? I’ll start with David Hockney. I’ve loved his landscapes for years. I also love, in no particular order, Peter Lanyon, Hundertwasser, Joan Eardley, Kandinsky, Mary Fedden, Matisse, Ivon Hitchins, William Scott, Ben Nicholson, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham. Because I love Cornwall, I do have a particular interest in the artists who found inspiration there, particularly in St. Ives. I’m excited by colour, use of materials and the mark-making of all of these artists.
If you hadn’t become an artist, what would you have done? I have no idea!! I considered working in film or the theatre behind the scenes at one point. I love animals, so working with them would appeal. But I’m a massive softy so would probably have ended up with a zoo of unwanted animals! How do you find the Frome area, in terms of creativity and artistic community? Brilliant. There are so many creative people here and everyone is supportive. I think the creative community is positive, resourceful and pro-active in Frome.
Are their any artistic processes/disciplines which you haven’t worked in/with, but would like to? I think I’ve tried nearly everything! I’d love at some point to explore printmaking further – monoprinting is something I really love.
How can people see and buy your work? They can make an appointment and see me at the Silk Mill. I have a website: www.amandabeeart.co.uk and the usual social media sites, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – just look for Amanda Bee Artist!
I have an exhibition coming up at the WHY Gallery in collaboration with Clare Lloyd who is a jewellery maker. We both love colour and playing with different colour combinations. We decided to use pigment colours to see what would happen if we started with the same limited colour base. Clare is using them to hand colour her beads and make statement art jewellery. I am making them up into either an oil or acrylic paint and painting local landscapes. The exhibition runs throughout July and into August. It is just the start of what we hope will be an interesting and evolving project.
