{ Perthshire Open Studios } Heather Eliza Walker, venue 100
ONLY 33 days until the front doors to studios, sheds and workshops across Perthshire are flung open to welcome visitors to Perthshire Open Studios! Are you getting excited yet?!
Número dos (Spanish you know!) in the Perthshire Open Studios, Green Route-erers interviews is Heather Eliza Walker, venue 100.
I was completely captivated by Heathers beautiful drawings as soon as I saw them in this years brochure and I'm sure you will be to!
-Please give a brief bio of your business. What is your background? How did you begin as an artist?
-Have you taken part in Perthshire Open Studios before?
-Explain your creative process. What journey do you take from idea to final product?
I doodle, but with rules. A long time ago I realised that I have a magpie sensibility to mark-making and materials, which is a disadvantage to achieving consistency. It's one reason I am not painting at the moment; I made the decision a few years ago to limit my materials and strip it down to the bare minimum, preferably pen or pencil and paper. I doodle randomly at first, allowing my natural curiosity free reign - but then the challenge is to finish the piece, to resolve it into an image. That's harder than it sounds, even with a very small drawing. I believe this process helps to sharpen individuality, as only I can solve my own problems I have set up on the paper in my own way.
What artwork will you be displaying over the week?
I will be showing as many of my doodles as I have completed by the time POS begins, as well as larger drawings, and a series of drawings of imaginary microscope slides (as featured on the POS website).
-What or who are you most inspired by?
How much time have you got? I get excited about something every time I blink! - but here a few of the constants which crop up, not in any particular order:
Victorian glass models of sea life and Victorian microscopy slide collections; early engravings;organisms under the microscope; scanning electron microscopy; medieval manuscripts - the Voynich, Robert Fludd, alchemists' documents; textiles - Anatolian carpets, Ghanaian wraps, Japanese kimono design; Japanese woodcuts; moss, lichen, flowering ferns; moths and craneflies; leaf structure and phyllotaxis; old tin toys and automita; the Bayeux tapestry; the night sky; stringed instruments and pianos; diagrams; the weather; rocks and streams - I did say I was a magpie.
Here are all of Heathers's contact details, I hope some of you get the chance to pop in and see her work!
Heathers website is http://www.heatherelizawalker.co.uk/ and there are links from there to other media; but if you would prefer to go straight to her blog where she writes a little about her doodles and drawings, it's http://heatherelizawalker.blogspot.co.uk/
All images and designs Copyright Heather Eliza Walker 2013
Número dos (Spanish you know!) in the Perthshire Open Studios, Green Route-erers interviews is Heather Eliza Walker, venue 100.
I was completely captivated by Heathers beautiful drawings as soon as I saw them in this years brochure and I'm sure you will be to!
-Please give a brief bio of your business. What is your background? How did you begin as an artist?
I began drawing as a very small child in Dunfermline, and it never occurred to me to do anything else (not the best financial decision!) I took as much art as I could at school, and went on to art school to study drawing and painting at Grays in Aberdeen as an undergraduate and then completed my postgraduate at Chelsea School of Art and Design in London. After graduating, I was lucky enough to have my work exhibited widely, and to have the opportunity to work in several creative environments which broadened my horizons and allowed me to meet some wonderful artists. After my stint in London I returned to Scotland, and am now based near Killin at Wester Lix.
-Have you taken part in Perthshire Open Studios before?
I have taken part in every POS since the first, even though I had not long moved in and didn't have very much to show! I had loved taking part in open studios with friends when I lived in London, and as very excited when I heard about POS when I first got back here.
It is such a motivating force when artists and makers take it upon themselves to throw their doors open and invite everybody in. It's just great to tidy up the studio, paint the walls and get all your work out on display and talk to visitors. Because I work on paper almost exclusively, it tends to lie hidden away in drawers all year, and lots of it would probably never see the light of day if it wasn't for open studios - so it's also a good time to review the body of work in quiet moments, take notes, and look at where you're going with the work.-Explain your creative process. What journey do you take from idea to final product?
I doodle, but with rules. A long time ago I realised that I have a magpie sensibility to mark-making and materials, which is a disadvantage to achieving consistency. It's one reason I am not painting at the moment; I made the decision a few years ago to limit my materials and strip it down to the bare minimum, preferably pen or pencil and paper. I doodle randomly at first, allowing my natural curiosity free reign - but then the challenge is to finish the piece, to resolve it into an image. That's harder than it sounds, even with a very small drawing. I believe this process helps to sharpen individuality, as only I can solve my own problems I have set up on the paper in my own way.
I will be showing as many of my doodles as I have completed by the time POS begins, as well as larger drawings, and a series of drawings of imaginary microscope slides (as featured on the POS website).
-What or who are you most inspired by?
How much time have you got? I get excited about something every time I blink! - but here a few of the constants which crop up, not in any particular order:
Victorian glass models of sea life and Victorian microscopy slide collections; early engravings;organisms under the microscope; scanning electron microscopy; medieval manuscripts - the Voynich, Robert Fludd, alchemists' documents; textiles - Anatolian carpets, Ghanaian wraps, Japanese kimono design; Japanese woodcuts; moss, lichen, flowering ferns; moths and craneflies; leaf structure and phyllotaxis; old tin toys and automita; the Bayeux tapestry; the night sky; stringed instruments and pianos; diagrams; the weather; rocks and streams - I did say I was a magpie.
Here are all of Heathers's contact details, I hope some of you get the chance to pop in and see her work!
Heathers website is http://www.heatherelizawalker.co.uk/ and there are links from there to other media; but if you would prefer to go straight to her blog where she writes a little about her doodles and drawings, it's http://heatherelizawalker.blogspot.co.uk/
All images and designs Copyright Heather Eliza Walker 2013
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