Question Time...

Q & A with Spring Fling

● Have you always lived in Dumfries and Galloway? If not, where are you from, when and why did you move to the region?

I do not live in the Dumfries and Galloway area but my family have a long history with the area, with both sets of my grandparents having had holiday homes near Gatehouse of Fleet. This is where my parents met and so led followed many summers and school holidays here, so it really is like a second home to me.

● What are the key attractions of working in the area?

From an outsiders point of view the attraction is meeting and being around other artists and makers that live and work in this amazing area. When you are here straight away you get the sense of the creative buzz and all goings on.

● What are your inspirations – does the location inspire you?

What spires me is anything from everyday surrounding to extraordinary places where architectural patterns and details can be found. I can often find myself wondering down the road and can vision the bricks on building or tiles on the ground as a woven structure in my textiles. To me there is always a pattern to be found if you look hard enough.

● What are the benefits of being part of the Dumfries and Galloway’s creative community?

From what I have seen so far you gain a lot of support being part of the Dumfries and Galloway community . This I have already felt the amazing benefits of the spring fling with the bursary money and working with my mentor in giving my the confidence to find my feet again in the creative world.

● What will you enjoy about having the public visit your studio?

As this is my first Spring Fling, I am hoping I enjoy the face to face contact I will have with the visitors and hope to get some real feed back about my work.

● Is there anything unusual or distinctive about your studio, or where it is based?

As part of my bursary and being one of this years young artists my studio will be based at the The Mill on the Fleet in Gatehouse. I am very excited about this as I think my woven textiles will look great exhibited in the setting of the mill, with all its history. I also hope to bring a loom to my studio space to highlight the true craft of weaving and all the hours of work that go into creating my final pieces.

● If this is your first Spring Fling, why did you want to be involved?

Having know about the Spring Fling for a number of years I have always seen  it as such an exciting event, and always dreamed of taking part. When the chance to apply for the Spring Fling young artist came up I just had to take it, as I saw Spring Fling as a really great plate form for me to start me career and I felt it would really give me that chance to experience what it is like to be an artist and maker in everyday life.

● What work are your producing specifically for Spring Fling?

I have been working very hard since January to carry on and expand my woven scarf collection which I started last year and also started a totally new woven cushion collection. Something I have never done before is I will be producing framed woven textile pieces and also hope to produce a much larger scale wall hanging to put on display at The Mill on the Fleet, both I hope will showcase my work in a totally different way, as I have always gone down the fashion textile road before this.

● What aspect of your work gives you most satisfaction?

I have to say what really gives me the most satisfaction right now is that feeling when you have spent hours setting up a new warp, and then spending many more hours weaving metres of fabric, to then just cut all the threads off the loom when you have come to the end of the warp is the best feeling.

● Have you always been an artist/craft maker, if not what were you before and why did you make the change?

 I think going into secondary I knew I wanted to be a textile designer and maker, so really pushed myself in my 6^th year of school to get into art school, which I did going straight from school into The Glasgow School of Art. After 4 years and a degree later, with the help of the Spring Fling I am making the first steps into the real creative world.

Love Coral X