Shellie Holden

Wall Paper - Mounted Paper Textile Approx. 60 x 115 cm

 

Q So who is Shellie Holden?

I am an artist/maker, wife and mother brought up in Lancashire, trained originally in embroidery at MMU, Manchester then later at Goldsmiths University, London. I lived in London for 11 years before relocating to Wales two years ago, having been drawn to living by the coast.

 

Behind Clouds - Framed Paper Textile - 41cm x37cm

 

Q How did you decide to become a maker?

Naturally progressed from a background steeped in creative and practical endeavours. It seemed the most obvious and fulfilling direction for me to take.

 

Text Book

 

Q What made you choose the materials that you work with?

Low cost/low key/reclaimed- freedom they gave to be experimental and non-precious with the opportunity to turn them into something unique and valuable because of the labour and investment of time spent in the making.

Extracted Teeth Book and Neckpiece

 

Q Are there any other materials you would like to explore and work in?

I have recently been producing a series of laser cut paper textiles and this has led to an interest in working with more precious materials such as silver and copper as this would enable me to produce more robust pieces hat could be used for both interior pieces and body adornment.

Bookworm

 

Q What are you currently working on

Several projects - one of which involves looking after my new-born! I’m catching moments in-between to work on pieces, including the project described above. I am also completing a piece for the ‘First Anniversary: Paper’ exhibition, 5th May- 31st July 2011, at Unit Twelve, Tixall Heath Farm, Tixal, Stafford, ST18 0XX and also for an exhibition at Newport Art Gallery and Museum, Wales, with Fibre Arts Wales, a textile group that I am affiliated, 30th April - 11th June.

 

Q Where do get your inspiration from?

Difficult to pinpoint exactly - my surroundings, attitude to life, experiences and chance occurrences. Perhaps something someone has said, or something I have seen that triggers a response or reaction.

 

Q What motivates you on a cold winter’s day?

Being in my home. I collect and acquire pieces of furniture, objects and textiles which I enjoy refurbishing, restyling and reinventing. This is an on-going project, which I see as part of my creative work. I like the idea that objects can evolve and change, but can also be timeless when mixed with traditional and contemporary styles.

Stitched and Constructed Textile Painting  - Dimensions 92cm x 92 cm each

 

Q Do you create your work in a studio base or a home base?

I have a studio from home in the loft of our Victorian property. It’s a unique space, which has slanted walls and an original fireplace. I have furnished this with tables and chairs I have acquired over the years, each which has its own story. They just happen to fit perfectly around the edge of the room leaving me a big open space in the middle. I love walking to the top of the staircase and entering the room. It is my sanctuary.

Q What is your working style?

It is very much about collecting and collating, reclaiming and reinventing. I approach my work with an idea, which I then aim to convert into visual objects/pieces through a process of experimentation with materials and techniques.

Q What does a typical day look like?

Varied - Some days/weeks I am able to devote entire periods to the production of new work, which I find deeply gratifying and inspiring. Other times I am distracted by domestic chores, and other projects, which perhaps take me away from the immediate task of making although give me the time and space to process ideas and consider new or different approaches, which are equally valuable to my work as a whole.

Stitched and Constructed Textile Painting 2 - Dimensions 50cm x 40 cm

 

Q Crafts in the 21^st Century – what does this mean to you?

Versatility, vitality, diversity - breaking the rules, revisiting traditional materials and techniques, experimenting with new technology. Less about trying to categorise, more about (effortless) originality.

Q How do you sell and promote your work?

I am a member of CAA, London, Fibre Arts Wales and Textile Forum South West (TFSW). I’ll be showing work at the two exhibitions due to open (mentioned above), and am hoping to sell work directly through my website soon.

Q 3 words of advice for an aspiring Craft artist/maker...

Perseverance, persistence and passion!

 

Corsages - hand made in fabric or paper. Approx. 10 cm circumference

 

Q Who is/are your favourite artist(s)/maker(s)?

Wide and varied including photography, sculpture, painting, textiles, mixed media….. Includes Jeff Wall, Cy Trowbly, Sarah Sze, Jonathan Callen, Louise Hopkins, Joseph Cornels….My husband recently brought me an exhibition catalogue featuring photographs by Robert Polidori which I am currently looking at.

 

Q What music are you listening to at the moment?

Wintermusik by Nils Frahm, The Blue Notebooks by Max Richter, Music for Egon Schiele, by Rachel’s, Found Songs by Olafur Arnalds……

 

Q What do you do to relax?

Fresh sea air (and a swim in the sea in summer) always helps.

 

Ordnance survey of England, Kingsbridge and District (third edition) sheet 150, 1908-9 - updated in London 2006 Dimensions and Ordnance survey of England, Cornwall and Devonshire 1919 - updated in London 2006 - Framed Stitched Drawing 75cm x 87cm

Li-Chu Wu

Q So who is Li-Chu Wu ?

Li-Chu is a Taiwanese jewellery designer maker who based in the UK.

Q Where in the world are you from?

I was born in Taipei, Taiwan.

 

Untitled (Necklace – Paper and Sterling Silver)

 

Q When did you decide to become a maker?

I trained in Jewellery Design and Making at Fu Jen Catholic University and graduated in 2006, then completed a Masters in Jewellery, Silversmithing and Related Products at Birmingham City University in 2009. I am now working independently as a jewellery designer-maker in Design Space.

 

Floral (Necklace – Paper)

 

Q What made you choose the materials that you work with?

Multiple layered paper interests me with its subtle movement and tactile qualities. I aim to recreate the link between the material and its original source in the natural environment and intend to show the values of material itself.

 

Untitled (Series of Three Bangles – Paper and Sterling Silver

 

Q What other materials would you like to work in?

Paper, metal(silver, gold), gemstones

Q Where do you get your inspiration from?

Natural forms, processes and movement inspire her to make a collection of paper jewellery.

 

Landscape II (Three Brooch Series – Paper and Sterling Silver)

 

Q What motivates you?

People who love my Jewellery, my families and friends.

Q Do you create your work in a studio base or a home base?

Both, I like to work in front of the bench and really enjoy the time while making jewellery. However working with paper needs a tidy place, therefore I always finished the paper part at home before I go into studio for my bench work.

Q Crafts in the 21^st Century – what does this mean to you?

Contemporary, chose what you like, make everything possible.

 

Pebbles (Nine Brooch Series – Paper and Sterling Silver)

 

Q How do you sell and promote your work?

I sell my work in exhibition, trade/retail fair, on my website - www.lichuwu.co.uk and Esty.

Q What is your typical working day look like?

Get up at 10am, checking e-mail and work on computer, cooking, go to studio, bench work, go home at 6pm, cooking, stay late for the part of paper work, go to bed at 2pm.

 

Untitled (Ring – Paper and Sterling Silver)

 

Q What is your working style?

No rules or principles.

I spend a lot of time on exploring the nature, spend a lot of time on thinking and drawing but work efficiently while sitting in front of my bench.

 

Untitled (Three Rings – Paper and Sterling Silver)

 

Q 3 words of advice for an aspiring Craft artist/maker...

Be creative, be motivated, and love what you do.

Q Who is/are your favourite artist(s)/maker(s)?

Noriko Ambe

Q What music do you listen to?

Indie music

 

Blossom II  (Brooch – Paper and Sterling Silver)

 

Q 3 likes and dislikes?

Likes: Kings of Convenience, chocolate, my little pet

Dislikes: spring onion, things that didn’t go well as I expected, shortage of money

 

Untitled (Necklace – Paper and Sterling Silver)

 

Q What do you do to relax?

Go inline skating with my iPod

 

Grassland (Brooch – Paper and Sterling Silver)

Lizz Aston

 Macramé Repeat 3 – detail 2009
(Paper Fibre, Free Motion Embroidery, Polyester Thread, Burnout)

 
Q So who is Lizz Aston?
I’m a fibre based artist, currently in my second year as an artist-in-residence in the textile studio at Harbourfront Centre. I was originally born and raised in the greater Toronto area. Growing up, I had the good fortune of being accepted into an amazing and forward thinking high school for the arts, Cawthra Park S.S.

The time I spent there, immersed in a specialized arts program came to inform the beginning of my life as an artist working within a crafts-based medium. After high school I went on to study fashion, worked as a sheet metal apprentice and developed my skills in a number of other avenues. It wasn’t until I eventually went back to school for Crafts and Design at Sheridan College that I finally realized there was a larger identity at play in the work I had been making all along.
 

Crochet 2010 (Paper Fibres, Free-Motion Embroidery, Cotton Thread, Burn-out.)

 

Q Paper features heavily in your work, what is it that excites you most about this material?
My current body of work employs the use and manipulation of paper surfaces in an attempt to reference a series of ideas inspired by traditional knotting practices. In my work I am interested in exploring the implications that these two material practices carry in combination with one another and the tension or relationship that may exist as a result of this juxtaposition.

Through my work I am interested in exploring the multifaceted relationship we have to paper and its archaic practices, as I work to discover this material through an in depth examination of its inherent transformative, resilient and simultaneously ephemeral qualities. This convergence of ideas along with an innate love of discovery through material process can be seen as the ever present theme that propels my work forward.

 

Crochet 2010: Paper Fibres (Free-Motion Embroidery, Cotton Thread, Burn-out.)

 

Q Is there any other medium you would like to work in?
I am currently at the beginning stages of learning to work in metal at the jewellery studio down the hall from me. I’ve really enjoyed revisiting this material on a much more refined scale, working alongside a fellow jewellery-studio resident Alisha Marie Boyd at the Harbourfront Centre.

I am also currently about to begin working on a collaborative group show entitled Studio Remix, in which six craftspeople pair up to teach each other our respective material processes as we work in one another’s studios. The end result will be an exhibition at the Ontario Crafts Council, a prominent Canadian craft gallery in Toronto, in August 2011. For this exhibition I have been paired up with a wonderful ceramics artist by the name of Sylvia Nan Cheng. I’m very excited to begin working in this new material as I feel it will open up a lot of new doors for me in the ways I approach making my work.
 

 Antiquated Notions 2, 2009 (Paper Fibres, Free-Motion Embroidery, Polyester Thread, Burn-out.)

 

Q Do you create your work in a studio base or a home base?
I work primarily out of the studio space at Harbourfront Centre, but tend to carry my work around with me wherever I go. I have also been known to cart my sewing machine along with me to my day shift at the bar I work at, in lieu meeting rapidly approaching exhibition deadlines!

I feel very lucky to be surrounded by such a great community of artists, musicians and makers both at the studio and at my work in Kensington Market. If anything, bringing projects along with me to work adds to the atmosphere of the already oddball Kensington market crowd I have grown up with over the years.

 

Degraded Muffin Cup Forms, 2010 (Paper, Muffin Cups, Burn-out.)

 
Q What is your typical working day look like?
Wake up. Drink coffee. Get to the studio. Read 35 emails. Eat a bagel from Tim Horton’s. Write an extensive to do list. Freak out about how much I have to do. Put on some good tunes. Cross off the list one by one. Laugh with my studio mates. Get some research, samples or a project a little further along to completion. Take a break. Look at the list again, before going home and thinking about what’s left to do tomorrow.
 

Q What is your working style?
Anybody who has ever worked alongside me in the studio would tell you that I am driven by an incredibly compulsive need to work on meticulous, fragile and generally insane, labour intensive projects that would make any normal person go cross-eyed and give up.

I love spinning delicate paper into thread, burning tiny holes into paper surfaces to create a network of lace-like structure. Counting the threads in finely woven piece of linen and binding it back to create larger patterns of negative space, as well as crocheting thousands of tiny structures before starching them into intimate little sculptural forms and so on.

Wavering Paper Formation, 2010 (Paper Doilies, Beeswax, Burn-out.)

 
Q How do you sell and promote your work?
I am primarily focussed on creating work that is intended for galleries and exhibitions. I tend to use exhibition deadlines as an avenue for which to research and explore new ideas and directions in my work. I also have a website which I am currently in the process of updating, as well as a blog which I began in the summer.
 
Q What is your greatest achievement to date?
All of the decisions that have lead me to exactly where I’m at in my life right now. Being afraid to take risks, living with the fear and just doing it anyways...

 

Paper Bark Grouping

 

Q Crafts in the 21^st Century – what does this mean to you?
As makers, we are constantly engaged in an ongoing dialogue that exists in the creation of meaningful objects; challenging the application of traditionally learned skills, to expand upon a greater definition of art and design.

Contemporary craft continues to evolve as it has become a celebrated practice that is of-the-moment and vital. This marks a turning point for a community of makers, whose work charts out and advocates a larger discourse in the ever evolving landscape of contemporary art and design.

 

Crocheted Sekishu Fibre Hatpin/Brooch

 

Q What music are you listening to at the moment?
I listen to a lot of 1960’s, punk, psychedelic, garage rock and shoe gaze. As well as medieval, folk, jug and blues. There’s also a really amazing local music scene here in Toronto with a diverse range of bands such as the Hoa Hoa’s, the Saffron Sect, Flowers of Hell, Planet Creature and the Constantine's. As well as bands like the Born Ruffians, Sports: the band and the Meligrove band....Wow, I guess you can tell I’m plugging all my friends? But really, it’s worth a serious listen.
 

Q 3 words of advice for an aspiring Craft artist/maker...
Self-discipline, the support of family and friends and a deep passion for what you do are essential to living an inspired and successful life as a craftsperson.

  Sekishu Paper Fibre/Yarns

 

Q Who is/are your favourite artist(s)/maker(s)?
To name a few: Jeannie Thib, Jean Shin, Tara Bursey, Shary Boyle, Arounna Khounnaraj, Eva Hesse, Doug Guildford, and Catherine Heard, as well as the larger community of crafts people and artists that I have been acquainted with here in Toronto over the past couple of years.
 

Q What do you do to relax?
Meeting up with friends in Kensington Market for a pint, listening to good music, cooking and sharing good food with the people around me, is an essential part of my day to day life. I am especially looking forward to a fun and wholesome winter full of Mixed CD Swapping on Sundays, impromptu dinner parties and home-made Soup Trades.

Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition - July 2010.

Naoko Yoshizawa

 Blue Shell Necklace - Japanese paper, oxidised silver

  

Q So who is Naoko Yoshizawa?

I'm a jeweller, originally from Tokyo, making paper jewellery. The choice of paper stems in part from the native culture of Japan, where paper is used for a variety of crafts, from children's games through to home furnishings, such as doors. It also ties into the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, that is, the beauty of the impermanence of nature. In the West, wabi-sabi is best known through the falling of the cherry blossom, but it permeates much of our traditional culture, from haiku through to flower arrangement through to crafts.

 

Green Necklace - Japanese paper, thread

 

Q How did you decide to become a maker?

I started off as a jewellery designer: having studied at Hiko Mizuno jewellery college in Tokyo, I took a job as designer at one of the biggest selling mass-production jewellery companies in Japan. After several years, including some at the end of my time there as the sole designer in the company, I decided to move into crafts for a new challenge, using my savings to study jewellery and silversmithing at the Edinburgh College of Art, under Dorothy Hogg.

 

Red & Pink Necklace - Japanese paper, thread

 

Q Where in the world are you based?

I've stayed since 2008 in Singapore, where my husband lectures. Before that, we had a short stay in Cambridge, after leaving Edinburgh.

 

Red Round Paper Pendant - Japanese paper, oxidised silver

 

Q Do you create your work in a studio base or a home base?

In Edinburgh, I was artist in residence at ECA after completing my studies, and could use the facilities there. Since moving to Singapore with our young family, I've found it convenient just to make jewellery at home when the children are asleep!

 

 Red Shell Necklace - Japanese paper, oxidised silver

 

Q Crafts in the 21^st Century – what does this mean to you?

I sincerely hope that as standards of living worldwide continue to rise over the next century, people will increasingly seek out hand crafted wares rather than solely mass produced ones, as more and more people come to enjoy having individualistic furniture, jewellery, ceramics and so on. Not that there is no role for mass production---clearly there is---but hopefully the two reach a mutually beneficial co-existence.

 

 Leaf Shape Brooches - Japanese paper, thread,silver

 

Q How do you sell and promote your work?

I am exhibiting in several galleries around Europe this Christmas: Lesley Craze Gallery, London,http://www.lesleycrazegallery.co.uk/index.php; Bluecoat Display Centre, Liverpool,http://www.bluecoatdisplaycentre.com/exhibitions&post=413 ; expo arte, Oslo, http://www.expoarte.no/

 

 

Black Paper Necklace - Japanese paper, gold-plating bronze

 

Paper Thread Necklace - Japanese paper, thread

 

Q. What is your working style? 

I find rock music helps me concentrate!

 

Pink & Blue Flower Necklace - Japanese paper, oxidised silver

 

Q  3 words of advice for an aspiring Craft artist/maker...

Don't be shy.

You won't get exhibitions if galleries don't know who you are. Send them your CV, send them pictures of your work.

 

Two Brooches - Japanese paper, silver

 

Q Who is/are your favourite artist(s)/maker(s)?

Nel Linssen is a big heroine of mine.

Q What do you do to relax?

I have two children; I don't relax!

Large Paper Circle Blue Brooch - Japanese paper, silver

 

 

Note: All Art Work & Photographs by Naoko Yoshizawa

Hazel Terry

 

Untitled

 
Q. How did you decide to become a maker?
I have always been a maker since I was in my early teens, my first job was at a pottery, painting on glazes, and then I worked at a craft centre demonstrating silkscreen printmaking, ceramics, candle making amongst many other craft techniques. I always loved making my own clothes and things, maybe its part of an all consuming desire to be independent, capable and strong, it is incredibly satisfying and life affirming.

Untitled

 

Q. What made you choose the materials that you work with?
I don’t have any fixed media that I use. I qualified as a painter so this is my preferred media, but I also studied Fine Craft Design, which included jewellery, ceramics and textiles. So I do move between media. A lot of the work that I do with my students is in animation, mixed media, Paper Mache and other recyclables. However more and more I like textiles but this can change to printmaking, collage and numerous other mediums. I switch between the desire to make very functional objects and the need to make things that are flippant, fun or just art.

Untitled

 

Chicken Lady

 

Q. Crafts in the 21^st Century – what does this mean to you?
Everything!
We now use so many materials in our creation of craft and this is evolving all of the time. We have quick, short lived movements in craft and art; this reflects the speed of our culture and communication, it is an interesting time. Increasingly I have concerns about the de-skilling of our art education. Art schools are losing traditional craft specialism; an example of this is Edinburgh Art College’s recent disbandment of their tapestry course. Glasgow School of Art, following Edinburgh and Dundee, will no longer be running a ceramics degree after the current academic year. Once we have lost these courses their equipment and specialist, craft practitioner, lecturers it is very difficult to reinstate them, and these skilled crafts are not available to future generations. I am sure that this trait in Scotland is being replicated throughout Britain and many other countries worldwide.
 

Kath’s Birthday Brooches (Kath is a Barber)

 

Q. How do you sell your work?
I occasionally participate in exhibitions, I am approached privately and I also have etsy and DaWanda shops.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/STOPMEANDBUYONE
http://en.dawanda.com/shop/Crowinghensandwhistlingwomen
 

Nettle Beer

Q. What is your working style?
My mind has to be clear, so everything else has to be done first. That includes all the cleaning, kids in bed, no outstanding work and a clear workspace. Unfortunately these days I need a clear idea of what I am going to do. This is a problem, I watch my daughter, she just lets loose on the paper and it works, she has no inhibitions. Maybe it’s because time is so limited for me, I want to know whatever I am working on is going to work out. I know that this is a mistake and it is a problem that I need to address, I need to play more often.
 

Super Soft – Appliqué

 
Q.   Three words of advice for an aspiring Craft maker...
Constantly evolve.
Learn new skills.
Get a partner who is good at all aspects of business!
 

Violet

 

Q. What inspires you?
Everything inspires me, but mainly my family, nature and fun.
 

Rosehip Syrup – Appliqué

 

Q. Who is your favourite artist/maker?
Oswald Flump is one of many, many artists and makers whose work I love.
 
 

Untitled – Altered Leaves

 

Q. You walk into your bathroom and see a crocodile in the bath tub....what would you do?
Check it’s got enough water and food; probably go to the fishmongers and by some fish for it!

 

Chicken

 

You can check out Hazel’s blog and photos of her work at the following addresses: 
http://theartroomplant.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hazehaze/