5 minute read
Profile: Ellie Sandall
- wild at art Ellie Sandall
Tucked away in a little Victorian cottage in the heart of Deeping St. James, Ellie Sandall can be found in her studio overlooking the river. Listening to an audio book and surrounded by pencils, paint and patterned paper, she sits creating a world where rabbits dance, foxes bristle and lemurs chase. Ellie illustrates in mixed media, using watercolour, ink, pastel and collage (ably assisted by her basset hound, William!).
With her Dad having grown up in West Deeping and her Mum moving to the area as a child, Ellie is a Deeping girl through and through. The eldest of three, Ellie’s childhood was spent with her sister and brother surrounded by a menagerie of small, furry and feathered pets, in a house where art materials were always to hand and creativity was encouraged.
After spending much of her time at The Deepings School doodling covertly on the last pages of her exercise books, Ellie studied Graphic Design at Bath School of Art, followed by a Master’s degree in Children’s Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art. With strong links to the world of publishing, a two book deal with Egmont followed, and soon she found herself the award-winning author of Birdsong, published in 2010, and Daisy Plays Hide & Seek in 2011. Ellie then moved on to work with Hodder, publishing Copycat Bear in 2012 and Follow Me which is out this spring. Follow Me tells the story of a mischievous lemur and his friends as they chase, hunt and race their way through the book, coming face to face with danger along the way. ‘The lemur characters came about quite by chance,’ she explains. ‘I went to Hamerton Zoo intending to sketch wallabies for another story I had in mind but I found the lemurs completely captivating! I especially liked their close-knit family groups and the way they interacted with each other, and through the sketches a ‘follow my leader’ inspired story began to form.’
Alongside her illustration work, Ellie works as the art coordinator of St John’s Church School and Winyates Primary School in Peterborough, where she enjoys the rare position of being able to concentrate solely on teaching art across the primary age range. Through this she is able to give children the opportunity to be inspired by and enjoy the arts, particularly those who might be finding other areas of the curriculum more challenging. The children’s achievements in the arts are celebrated with a school-wide exhibition each summer, in which every child has a piece of their work on show, and parents and carers are invited to attend a private view. ‘We have had a great response from visitors in the past who have commented on how brilliant the work looks when it’s all on display,’ Ellie says.
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‘It really boosts the children’s confidence and instils a sense of worth to the artwork they’ve produced.’
Harbouring an ambition to take her skills as an educator into the wider community and particularly to the Deepings, Ellie has plans to create an art club for creative youngsters, which is something she would have loved to attend as a child. A qualified Arts Award Adviser, she hopes to be able to offer the opportunity for children and young people in the Deepings to gain a recognised qualification in the arts outside of school, and to develop their creativity and leadership skills along the way.
Ellie will be exhibiting in Black Cab Art Studio as part of Peterborough Open Studios alongside fellow illustrator Craig Pattrick. See page 19.
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