postcards from europe book
DESCRIPTION
Pan-European art project.TRANSCRIPT
from
Original PostcardSized Artwork by
Emerging European Artists.
A Publication Exploring Place,
Culture and Individual Creative
Practices
Postcards From Europe is:
Rosie GainsboroughLucy BiddleKatrina CurrieChloe Bryon
Book Design:Katrina Currie
Text: Lucy Biddle
Illustration: Rosie Gainsborough
Contact:[email protected]
Website:www.postcardsfromeurope.org
Features
Interviews
Postcards
30 Isabel Greenberg
31 Elena Xausa
32 Amy Ellis
33 Andrea Manzati
34 Anna Maguire
35 Elena Iezzi
36 Ines Brands
37 Bethan Lloyd Worthington
38 Milly Freeman
39 Oliver Udy
40 Amelie Fontaine
41 Dylan Spencer-Davidson
20/22 Alice Pattullo
23/25 Olivia Glasser
26/27 Andra Baban
28/29 Emanuela Santini
42 Giacomo Bagnara
43 Bratistlav Milenkovic
44 Abel Jimenez
45 Tim Romanowsky
46 Sergio Jimenez
47 Ricardo Cavolo
48 Ece Gokalp
49 Maria Corte Maidagan
50 Alexander Schmidt
51 Cesar Barcelo
52 Eleftheria Alexandri
53 Ben Javens
4/5 Sophia Martineck
6/9 Mark Lazenby
10/15 Riitta Ikonen
16/18 Anthony Zinosos
54 Soo Choi
55 Javier Jaen & Andreu
56 Pablo Lacruz
57 Tom Edwards
58 Peter Willis
59 Benjamin Phillips
Meixide
In May 2011 four young artists and producers came together to form the design collective ‘Portmanteau’.
For their first venture together they embarked on a pan-European art project. Through blogs, social networks, creative forums, and universities they invited emerging artists and designers to create a piece of work responding to the place in which they lived and worked. The work had to express something interesting and real about their relationship to their environment. The only other limitation was the size – 120mm x 170mm – the size of the average postcard.
In this project they hoped to create links between different countries, to share and learn from other people’s experiences, to encourage international collaboration, and to explore what it means to be a young artist in different corners of the world.
The result is an exhibition of original, skilled, and thoughtful work selected from over 100 emerging artists from across Europe, a website featuring selected postcards and profiles for each of the participating artists, and this publication.It was a privilege to receive the work of such a talented group of individuals, and, in doing so, to get a glimpse into the lives and working practices of Europe’s emerging artists and designers.
Preface
The majority of participants in the Postcards from Europe project are at the beginnings of their creative careers. Being a young artist can be a tricky business. We wanted to find out how artists at different stages of their careers have weathered some of the chal-lenges. We talked with established creative practition-ers whose work we felt reflected the themes and spirit of our project. These artists include Sophia Martineck, a talented German illustrator with many international clients; Mark Lazenby, an illustrator who balances his independent work with the role of art director at a high profile design magazine; Anthony Zinosos, one part of the international collective ‘We Are Fucking Awesome’; and Riitta Ikonen, all-round creative innovator, responsible for another remarkable post-art project. We hope the work and experiences of these varied and talented artists will be informative, encouraging and inspiring.
Interviews
Sophia Martineck is an illustrator who lives and works in Berlin. From 2001 to 2007 she studied Illustration at the University of the Arts, Berlin, during which time she spent semesters abroad, in both New York City and in Liverpool. Since graduating, Sophia has been working as a freelance illustrator and designer. Her clients include The New York Times, The Guardian and Crafts magazine.
In 2010 she was awarded the Art Directors Club Young Guns, an award that seeks to identify the brightest young professionals across myriad creative disciplines. We talked to her about studying abroad, working internationally, and about her creative aspirations.
Tell us about your creative background.When I was little I drew hundreds of little mushroom houses inhabited by mice. My parents had a Hieronymus Bosch book that I was scared of but thrilled by. As a teenager, I produced mainly cubistic fantasy paintings and ceramics. I had no idea you could do illustration for a living until I went to university. That was in 2001.
You spent some time as an exchange student at Hunter College in New York City, and some time studying illustration in Liverpool, UK. How did you benefit from living and studying in these different places? Did these new environments have an impact on your work? Studying abroad was very beneficial for my self-confidence. I grew as a person and subsequently as an artist. Art comes in handy when you are tongue-tied. When I studied in Liverpool, I fell in love with Eric
Ravilious’ and Edward Bawden’s work.
You currently live in Berlin, a city that has a reputation for having a very large artistic community, and a vibrant creative scene. What is your experience of living in this city? Is it a good place to live as an illustrator? Berlin is spacious and affordable – which allows me to do personal as well as commer-cial work. The great thing about the large artistic environment is being able to meet other artists. There are lots of little art spaces and galleries that hold exhibitions and events. A print festival took place in an old municipal pool in my neighbourhood a few weeks ago.
If we came to visit, where would you take us? To the Museum der Dinge (Muse-um of Things). That’s a wonderful little place with all sorts of stuff. To the Neurotitan bookshop and the
R.S.V.P. paper shop. And I’d take you on a bike trip.
Do you feel that you manage to maintain a balance of commercial work and inde-pendent projects? Would you like to do more of either? I love working for clients. I love getting a brief, creating an idea, talking to the Art Director, the process of ideas going back and forth, and then the final design. I love being challenged and it’s always great having someone to talk to and someone to do it for. I also enjoy doing personal work, and collaborating with small independent projects. I think I’ve got a good balance.
On your blog you mention a recent visit to Cambridge, UK, and include some great illustrations done there. Do you travel a lot, and is this impor-tant for your work? Where was the last place that you sent a postcard from? I travel a couple of times a year. I love it. Usually I visit friends, but often my trips are also business- related. I hardly ever go on a ‘holiday-holiday’. The last postcard I sent was probably from Cambridge. When I come back from a trip I draw the things I remember the most.
Tell us about your most ambitious piece of work as an illustrator (either a personal project, or a commission).The village panorama: It took me three months to finish it and it’s the largest piece (81 cm wide x 59 cm high) I have ever made.
You recently won the ADC Young Guns award, an award that celebrates the ‘brightest young professionals across myriad creative disciplines’.
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SOPHIA MARTINECKBerlin, Germany
Could you tell us about that experience? The Young Guns Award was the one that brought me the most attention. The people at ADC do a fantastic publicity job. I was featured in magazines (for example, the Taiwanese magazine DPI and the German PAGE magazine). I went to NYC to pick up my award and it was great to meet the other Young Guns.
We have asked a lot of the participants about their European heritage, and whether where they are from influences their work. Does your German background influence you?
I suppose German precision plays some kind of part in my work.
Where do you do most of your creating? At home? In a studio? Can you describe your working environment for us? I work from home one-metre-square table. I used to have a big one but I got rid of it because I co-used it as a book shelf. I’ve never worked in a studio. That’s because I secretly nap in the afternoons.
What three things couldn’t you live or create without? Coffee, deadlines and audio books. Have you ever collaborated
with another artist, on either a personal project or a professional brief? Do you have an ideal collaborator that you would like to work with? SPRING is a group of female artists I have been part of for nearly two years now and I love it. It’s great to work on one theme together and publish a magazine and have a big show every year. And we meet up to talk about ideas and also personal stuff. All members are professional illustra-tors and/or comic artists. There’s a great vibe.
Finally, what’s next for you? The new SPRING edition for next year.
Postcards from Europe submission: My postcard shows what Berliners enjoy most; bicycles and coffee.
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Interview
Tell us about your creative background. MA Communication Art & Design - RCABA Graphic Design/illustration – Bath Kunst Buch Schule - Leipzig.
Collage seems to be a popular medium at the moment. Do you have any thoughts on this upsurge of popularity? To be honest I’m not really sure, but I think that with so much of our time being spent on computers and other digital equipment people have a need to make things by hand, and collage is so tactile and immediate. There has also been a real increase in all forms of craft over the last few years. I also think that collage works have been made much more available recently by exhibitions, books and the internet, so the medium is be-ing valued and seen as a legitimate art-form, rather than a poor cousin or children’s plaything.
You use lots of found imagery in your work. Have you always made work using found imagery, and is there a reason for this?I used to draw and paint as I ex-plored things, but then I discovered collage and just had a real affinity
and Friday’s Child, W H Auden). Please tell us about your literary influences – if any. Is there something about poetry that you find invites an artistic response?Most of my work starts with words (and often I’ll include text in my work). I especially like poetry for it’s visual vividity, and conciseness, but also its openness to multiple meanings. I suppose it works in the same way as collage in the building of layers and revealing of themes. Certain elements will jump out straight away whereas other details will reveal them-selves over time or be hidden away entirely. Poets and writers I really admire include Robert Walser, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Oscar Wilde (especially his short stories - the Happy Prince etc) Hermann Hesse, Albert Camus, Paul Auster, Peter Carey as well as the two others you have already mentioned.
Your work has been linked with Kurt Schwitters and Joseph Cornell. Who or what are your other influences or inspira-tions? I love the work of most of the British Pop artists: Peter Blake (he’s a real hero of mine), Joe Tilson, Eduardo Paolozzi, Peter
Collage artist Mark Lazenby lives and works in London. His illustrations are regularly featured in The Guardian, The Independent, Vogue, and The Times. He is also the Art Director of design magazine ‘World of Interiors’. Mark has been described by his own hero, Sir Peter Blake, as ‘a collagist in the best tradition of collage-making, via Kurt Schwitters and Joseph Cornell’.
We talked to him about his work and his inspirations.
and connection with it. I also used to get frustrated with how long it would take me to create a piece. Collage, once the idea is formed, can be so quick. I also think that some of it stems from my col-lecting. As soon as I could walk, I used to carry around a bag filling it with the things I liked. This is still true today - I’m still always on the look out for the perfect piece of rubbish or treasure. I enjoy the randomness, juxtaposition and mistakes that you get with collage and found imagery.
How do you select imagery for your work? Are there certain images, or time periods, that you find particularly inspiring for your collages? It’s all to do with the quality and feel of what I find, the right texture of paper or some delightful misregistered old 4 colour print-ing. I have a vast collection of old paper, books and prints. I love old postcards, sheet music, record sleeves, posters, engravings etc. I also love anything printed in a cheap, unselfconscious kind of way, such as fruit crates and boxes.
Your collages are often named after poems or poets (for example Samuel Beckett poem
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MARK LAZENBY
Synaesthesia – The Globe & Mail Canada
Phillips. Also Cy Twombly, Miro (collages especially), Basquiat, John Steazaker, Wayne White. Designers like Abram Games, McKnight Kauffer. Other illustra-tors and designers working today - Brian Grimwood, Liam Stevens, Robert Nicol, Christopher Wilson, John Gall, Andrew Diprose… the list could go on and on.
Have you found it difficult to sustain yourself through your creative work alone?Short honest answer… yes. It’s taken me years to get a balance of work that pays that I really enjoy and which still allows me to explore and do my collage.
What has been the biggest challenge of your career so far?I think finding my way at the beginning when I didn’t know how to apply what I learnt, or where to start. My family has always been really encouraging, supportive and unquestioning.
Tell us about your involve-ment with ‘World of Interiors’ (WOI). What does your role of art director entail, and how do you balance this role alongside your freelance work as an artist?I was taking my illustration portfolio around London after the Royal College and one of my tutors, Tony
London, UK
Cobb, suggested I go to WOI. I got an illustration to do there and then, and also told them I was a freelance designer. Six months lat-er I got a call offering me a week’s freelance work in the art deptart-ment. I am still there now - as the Art Director. I am very blessed that the Editor, Rupert Thomas, gave me the chance to do the job, as I had no particular Art Director experience. The magazine is won-derful and I love every minute of it. I am in charge of the overall design of editorial page layouts as well as commissioning illustration. I work with two other brilliant designers: Liam Stevens and Simon Witham. My illustration and my role at Interiors are two very different
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Interview
things which I keep very separate. I think that working as a designer and illustrator, both producing and commissioning illustrations, gives me a good understanding and perspective on how to do things and not do things.
Do you think that using the internet and social media affects the way that you communicate with clients? Has it enabled you to reach a wider audience with your work? When I first began it was all about getting into places with your port-folio, but now the internet has opened up the whole world. I love that your work has a life of its own on the internet. I do miss face-to-face interaction though, as I rarely get to meet the people I work for, but you can still build an understanding and relationship with email and phone. Hopefully I will meet some of them one day.
We noticed a collaborative piece in your portfolio (‘Pic 1992’, produced with Liz Cohn). Do you often collaborate with other artists? Did you learn anything particular through this process? I often collaborate with other designers for projects but not really for illustration. Collaborating with Liz on the collages was a first for me. Working with others always sharpens you up and teaches you new things.
Has where you have lived impacted upon your work?I’ve nearly always lived on the edge of London, in Hertfordshire, in a place called Bushey. I grew up here and really enjoy the area, its history and my memories. I think, for me, it’s really important to have a strong connection and sense of belonging to a place, and I’m sure it impacts on my work. Bushey has a rich heritage of artists, the most famous being Hubert Von Herkomer who was a prominent painter, film maker and innovator during the mid 1800’s and early 1900’s. I have also lived in Bath, and in Leipzig in Germany, and have wonderful memories of both. I am not saying I wouldn’t like to live and work in other places, New York or rural Cornwall for instance (what a juxtaposition!), but I am happy where I am.
Do you like to travel? Where was the last place you sent a postcard from? I love travelling and would dearly like to have more time & finances to do it. My last postcard was sent from Lyme Regis.
Finally, what’s next for you?Who knows… more of the same, and, I hope, more of the different!
I love that your work has a life of its own on the internet.
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Gap Year illustration, Independent
www.marklazenby.co.uk
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Interview
RIITTA IKONENLondon, UK
Portrait. Photography by Perttu Saksa
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Is photography something you have had to learn in order to successfully communicate your ideas or is it something that comes naturally? I work with photographers and I am learning from them as we go along, but as I’m often in front of the camera I have to mainly concentrate on not blinking.
You did some interesting work based on Miranda July’s book of short stories ‘No One Belongs Here More Than You’ while you were at the Royal College of Art. July’s idiosyncratic storytelling style seems like a great match for your offbeat costumes and artistic explorations. Are you inspired by the relationship between text and image?I am yes. Especially Miranda’s fruity text. I edited a version of the book for myself when I was at it last time and it is scribbled full of future works... there are plenty of images still to be done with and from that book.
Would you like to collaborate with an author in the future? That would be great, sure. Maybe
Riitta Ikonen completed a BA in Illustration at Brighton University before taking an MA in Communication and Design at the Royal College of Art. She has recently worked for the Tate (creating a massive game of ‘Chinese Whispers’ using a walking tape recorder and life-size pad of paper) and, with design collective ‘We Made That’, put forward proposals for the Olympic Games site.
We talk with her about working abroad, her literary inspirations and working at McDonalds.
First of all, it seems to us that there is quite a lot of crossover between the roles of ‘illustra-tor’, ‘designer’ and ‘artist’ in the creative industries. What do these terms mean to you – and what do you call yourself – if anything?I don’t mind being called an ‘artist’, but guess I could be any number of titles depending on the project at hand. People sometimes add a little something to my ‘artist’ title to make it more poignant. ‘Artist-designer’ has been around a few times. Illustrator is a nice title too. Illuminator - like Terminator with enlightening powers. I tell myself no one is going to care what you call yourself if the work is good.
Who or what are (some of) your main influences or inspirations? Temple Grandin, Ian Wright, Neutrinos, Bjork, great cities, great woods, washed ashore and found rubbish, advanced style, Dolly Par-ton, Veli Granö, Snøhetta, change of location, Bernard Rudofsky...
Your work depends a lot upon photography, and you’ve worked on a few short films.
collaborations with authors of some scientific studies would be nice. Oceanographers, psycho-therapists, doctors notes illustra-tor? Real people.
You’ve spent a lot of time studying in Britain. Do you think Finnish and British senses of humour are similar? I do... plus Finnish humour is nicely honest and deadpan.
And do you think that humour plays an important role in your work? Absolutely. It’s healthy to be able to laugh at oneself.
You completed a BA in Illustration at Brighton University. What do you think that you learnt on this course? What skills or approaches have you carried through to your current working practice? I learned to trust and concentrate on my instincts. Other people’s expectations are something else. Our year group worked as a great team and benefited from nice, healthy, supportive, competition.
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Interview
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Riitta Ikonen - Mail Art Project (2004 - Ongoing)Ongoing project between Riitta and her tutor Margaret Huber. Riitta sent over 150 postcards
from all over the world including fishing line and hooks, pens from Brooklyn rooftops, wood from Fragrance Lake, WA and Chinatown seeds..
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Tell us about your time at the RCA. How did your work develop here from your work at Brighton? RCA was the justifying years and the beefing up of balls. Answering your previous question: if you do a course called ‘Communication Art and Design’, no one gets hung up on your working title...
What three things couldn’t you live or create without? Health. And... A window? Hand-eye coordination is quite important, but I guess I could live without it... Enthusiasm? Motivation?
Could you tell us a bit about your creative process – for example, what do you do from reading a brief to realising the finished piece? Are drawings ever a part of your creative process? I usually scribble on the brief while reading it over a couple of times, put it aside and carry on with things or forget about it. Some-times it’s easy from the beginning, sometimes the picture is not so clear... But it’s good to go on as usual, with the brief in the back of the head. Things eventually accumulate onto the brief like flies to a fly glue trap in a cow house. Then you make sense of it during a calm moment on a train or such. Start planning the collaborators, materials, budgets, transports, partners etc. Once there’s an idea, or an avenue to pursue, the rest will follow alright.
You seem to enjoy new challenges and new ways of working, and seem lucky enough to be involved in lots of interesting projects. Despite this, are there times when you feel adrift as a creator? If so, what anchors you again?I try to remind myself that I am
very lucky to be doing what I am doing. Ambition and pressure are good anchors. I like working under pressure. If I feel very adrift I try to enjoy the adrifting...it could be fun. A little creative misery can be good for you. Though obviously sometimes very frustrating, it’s alright not to always be open. It’s crucial to remember to holiday/ take breaks/pub.
We loved the ‘If you could collaborate’ project run by ‘It’s Nice That’, where you col-laborated with artist Ian Wright. Could you tell us about this project?
Many lovely lunches just think-ing, talking and peoplewatching. The process was very much the project. Marvelling at all kinds of slow revolving things without pres-sure to produce. Treasure beach scavenging trips were a bonus.
How did it feel to work closely with another artist on a shared project? Brilliant. Unpredictable. Double the force.
Who is the next person you’d like to collaborate with? Bjork. Hillary Clinton.
Fun seems to be a major component, and a driving
force, of your work. How does this balance with making a living from your art? Fun is good. Could I cheesily say: Making your life your art – rather than living from your art? If I don’t like what I am doing I’m sure there’s something I can do to make the task at hand worthwhile. Some jobs are more exciting than others of course, but any job is potentially exciting - or at least educational if nothing else. Maybe this is an attitude thing?I’ve had some memorable times back in the day selling sausages at football games, balloons on May Day, wrapping gifts, working at a liquorice/butter/rose bouquet fac-tory, as a shoe shop salesperson, McDonald’s waitress, weddings caterer, Cadbury’s staff, art school teacher, art installer, workshops leader, night time gas station at-tendant, TV dis-assembler, costume maker, cloakroom staff, deli-sandwich maker, in-whipper, au pair, bust model, etc. Funny jobs where I’ve met some incred-ible people along the years.
How have you found the transition from student to professional artist, and what advice would you give to any young artists making that tran-sition now? Persevere. Do less – better. Talk to people. Go to private views, it is part of your job. Relax. Work hard. They told me at McDonald’s that the most important thing to do is to smile - it’s partly true. Listen to ‘A History of the World in 100 Objects’ and read.
Do you think that using the internet and social media affects the way that you communicate with clients? Has it enabled you to reach a wider audience with your work? I never got into ‘doing’ social
A little creative misery can be good for you.
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media. My work website has been enough so far.
We have asked a lot of the participants about their European heritage, and whether where they are from influences their work. Does your Finnish background influence you? Are you inspired by your cultural heritage i.e. folklore, language or music?It has been some ten English years now, so it is time I am making an exit west. My Finnish language is crumbling away, but the very Finnish Sisu (certain guts/perseverance) lives strong in me. I am very proud to be Finnish. Like most forest-going Finns I have always carried a knife everywhere I go (purely for work - you never
know what kind of useful things one might find around). This was until last month when the vigilant door staff at the National History Museum found the knife in my bag and told me it was illegal in this country and that they would have to call the police...
Finally, do you have any creative aspirations, or things that you’d like to try that you haven’t tackled before – for example, working on stage sets or designing and making costumes for theatres? I’d like to: get working at the gallery in NY, work with a tourist board, do the NY times mag front cover, street costumes with sen-iors, large scale land art, learn how to weld, work with Dolly Parton.
And what’s next for you? Gallery in the US (pending visa). I’m taking down the amazing Reddress by Aamu Song at York Hall in London later today, work-ing at the Serpentine Gallery for Susan Hefuna’s action next week, Frieze art fair mid-October, I’m running a field trip workshop with Ian Wright in October, and building a new studio in Hackney.
Snowflake - Finland 2007 Photography: Anni Koponen
www.riittaikonen.com
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Interview
Born in South Africa, bred in Cyprus, currently based in Norwich, UK, artist/illustrator Anthony Zinosos is one part of the international design collective ‘We Are Fucking Awesome’ (WAFA).
In Norwich Anthony shares a studio with his fiancée (artist Gemma Correll) and his dog (Mr Pickles). We talked to him about the importance of international collaboration, coffee, and car-boot sales.
Tell us about your creative background.I grew up reading MAD magazine and looking at National Geographics. My father is a keen photographer so was happy to show me where the film goes and how to read a light meter. I did a foundation course at Norwich School of Art and Design, followed by a photography course in Greece, then back to Norwich to do a degree in Printmaking and Photo-media, where I dabbled in photography, print, animation and collage.
You work predominantly in collage. What is it about this medium that appeals to you? The love of found paper and images - being able to work hands on with cheap and/or delicate materials, using something old to create something new and just the DIY punk-ness of it all.
Tell us about your involvement with the ‘We Are Fucking Awe-some’ collective. I’ve been a proud member of the WAFA family for the last 3 years. WAFA is an international artists’ collective. Our focus is on creating collaborative projects - united by these collaborations, we inspire one another and share not only artwork but ideas and thoughts about our experiences of work and
life in the different countries that we live in.
Why do you think it is important to work with other people on creative projects? Not only do you learn about other artists’ thoughts and processes, but often you’ll also end up learn-ing about your own. It encourages you to let go of your own work and let someone else react to it, or take charge of it, and in the process give it a new meaning. The art world can sometimes seem like a somewhat cold and preten-tious place, so its always refresh-ing to connect with like-minded people who you can be honest and open with, in a down-to-earth and friendly context.
What has been your favourite WAFA project to work on? Recently I’ve really enjoyed working in the journals that we have been creating as a collabora-tive mail-art project - it’s great having something in your hands that other members have physically worked on and responded to, especially in this increasingly digital-based art world.
How did you find making the transition from being a student to being a full-time freelancer? Have you ever
found it tough to sustain your-self through your creative work alone? For the first two years after graduating I worked part time as a cake-baker before going full-time as a freelancer. I found that this gave me some time to develop my work and style and unlearn some of the things that I ‘learned’ at art school. Some months are quiet and financially tough but its all part of the process and learning not to panic and to take advantage of the time you have to explore and learn.
Where do you do most of your work? At home? At the studio? Can you describe this space for us? I work from home. My fiancée (Gemma Correll) and I share a studio space so it’s great to have her and our dog, Mr Pickles, as company. It’s also amazing having someone to be able to bounce ide-as off and get an honest opinion from. Our music tastes sometimes clash but other than that it all runs smoothly, we’re both a bit messy but I like to think of it as organised chaos. My side of the studio has all the books, magazines and paper goods piled and stacked all over the place.
What three things (in your studio) couldn’t you do with-out?
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ANTHONY ZINOSOSNorwich, UK
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Interview
Scissors, UHU and my pug, Mr Pickles.
What do you do from reading a brief to achieving the final outcome? A bit of research, a bit of coffee, some scratching around in books and magazines for the images that I have in mind, hope-fully finding the images, some cutting, sticking, scanning, a bit of
Photoshop fiddling, then send the roughs off to the client. Hopefully the client is happy with the work. Clean images up a bit, make sure there are no dog hairs that I’ve ac-cidentally scanned in, last minute changes, bit more Photoshop fid-dling, then send off the finals and hope that they look good in print.
What are your main objectives when creating an illustration? How do you judge the success of a piece? Be smart and direct but not obvious. I also try and keep it simple and not over worked.
Do you think that it is important to do personal work as well as commercial work? Definitely! Personal work keeps you challenging yourself and experimenting. Commercial work can get a bit monotonous some-times so it’s always good to step away from it and create things just for yourself. Also I find it’s the personal work which attracts most clients. It’s a win-win situation really.
You live in Norwich at the moment. Where else have you lived? Did/do these places impact upon your work? I was born in South Africa, spent my high school years in Cyprus, studied photography in Greece and recently sold everything and moved to Germany – that didn’t really work out, so we moved back to Norwich. My surroundings definitely affect my work – it just
happens subconsciously.
Have you had to move to pursue your creative career? No, thanks to the internet I don’t even have to leave my house.
What’s the creative scene like in Norwich? Small but good, it’s starting to grow in leaps and bounds recently, which is great.
If we came to visit you, where would you take us?First and foremost to ‘The Little Red Roaster’, for some amazing coffee. Then, if it’s car-boot sea-son, I’d take you to the local car-boot sale. If it’s raining, though, don’t worry – Norwich has loads of really good charity shops.
If you could give one piece of advice to someone beginning their creative career, what would it be? Don’t rush. Things take time.
Finally, what’s next for you? More work, more travelling, more car-boots, more coffee…
My surroundings definitely affect my work – it just happens subconsciously.
www.anthonyzinonos.com
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We were keen to find out about the lives, localities, and working practices of all the artists involved in the project, so we sent a short questionnaire to every artist who submitted a postcard. We asked them about their inspirations, working habits, and plans for the future. Together, the completed questionnaires offer an insight into the lives and working practices of emerging European artists. Here are just four, chosen because they illuminate some of the themes that we set out to explore. Alice Pattullo, an illustration graduate currently living in Brighton, UK, tells us about her cultural heritage; Emanuela Santini, an artist dividing her time between Rejika, Croatia, and London, UK, talks about studying abroad, and transcribing emotional responses to place into a visual narrative; Andra Baban, a Romanian ceramicist currently completing her MA in Translyvania, offers perceptive comments about her postcard in the light of her country’s political history; and finally, Manchester-based artist Olivia Glasser explains the idea behind her innovative postcard, and her experience of a recent European residency.
Features
Tell us about your piece.I chose to produce a postcard about where I was brought up: Jesmond in Newcastle Upon Tyne. I lived in the same house for the whole of my childhood and my parents still live there now, but are thinking of moving, after 24 years, to the country. Recently I have been reflecting a lot about my memories from around the neighbourhood, and things that I will miss if they leave. As we have a city garden, when I was little, my mum used to walk me through the local graveyard on the way to our allotment. I would be her scribe as she read out the epitaphs that she found most interesting, or which had the most resonance with the piece of work she was work-ing on as a textile artist. I guess
I wanted to illustrate something about Jesmond that I knew would be a unique experience to myself and might show an area of the neighbourhood that might be overlooked.
How do you usually approach a brief?I usually approach a brief with books and a big coffee! I love re-searching a project or a theme and tend to research lots of different threads until I find an aspect that excites me most. Then I will collect imagery from old books and from the internet, and start producing elements in my sketchbook that come to mind surrounding the topic. For a screen-print or an illustration I might do a sketch for the composition, or I’ll just scan in
Alice PattulloBrighton, UK
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the drawings and see what unfolds as I start piecing them together on the computer, and stop when I am happy with it.
Where do you do most of your creative work?I work from home so I spend most of my time ‘making’ at my desk (which is a haven of ephemera, collected items and inspiration) with a mug, my sketchbook and laptop. I will try and make sure I screen print at least every few weeks as I get withdrawal symptoms, and for this I am a member of a local print studio. I really enjoy the physical process that comes with screen-printing; it is really rewarding to see the translation ‘from sketchbook to computer to print’, and for an
illustrator (which is quite an iso-lated profession!) it is good to be surrounded by like-minded creative people and get out of the house every now and again.
Are you influenced by your cultural heritage?I am definitely influenced by the cultural heritage of Britain. A lot of my work focuses on British tradition and folklore. I find the traditions and superstitions that come with folklore fascinating and often humorous. I think it is actually really important to support
local heritages and shine light on social groups that are keeping these traditions alive. I have recently been talking to the Brighton mummers and am hoping to produce some promotional material for them and hope this will introduce groups like these to different people.
We feel that it is important to cultivate a creative community where you live, especially in areas where it is less apparent. How do you feel about this?I think a creative community is
Alice Pattullo graduated from Brighton Illustration in 2010. Since then she has worked for Whistles, Topman, Twelve and YCN. She works predominantly in screen-printing and is enamoured with 1950s aesthetics.
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incredibly important and I have often found that the strongest ones are in the least expected places. I think sometimes in big cities where cultural events and monuments are prevalent there is less inclination to keep a com-munity going, whereas in small or isolated places creative communi-ties occur naturally. Not having the creative community that University provides (having left a year ago) has made me realise how important it is to engage in the local creative community, and how easy it is to fall out of touch with what is happening in the art world by not doing this. I think it is interesting to consider how
local communities have adapted with the introduction of social networking, and how with the help of things like facebook and twitter these communities can be opened to the world. I guess this is what this project itself is doing!
What’s next for you?I want to keep exploring British folklore and superstitions within my work as it is a topic that I find endlessly interesting. Hopefully I will be exhibiting some work towards the end of the year so am keeping up screen-printing towards that. I am going to try and concentrate on getting some more commercial work, too, as I tend to
be a bit self-indulgent in the way I work which doesn’t always pay the bills! Right at the minute I am producing an illustration inspired by a recent trip to The Shell Museum of Glandford in Norfolk which was a grotto to all things shell related. It’s great to still find museums that have hand written labels saying things like ‘baby’s toes - an exciting find!’
www.alicepattullo.com
Shell Museum (2011)
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Olivia Glasser
Manchester, UK
Olivia Glasser is an artist living and work-ing in Manchester, UK. She works predomi-nantly in 3D, and has recently completed a residency in Shedhalle, Tübingen, Germany.
Tell us a bit about your submission. When I tried to think about my relationship with Manchester, I couldn’t shake how much I would always rather be travelling somewhere else, no matter how much I love the city. The camera reflects this and does a little bit of travelling for me. Staying within an average postcard’s dimen-sions of 170mm by 120mm for the front and back, I constructed a box and embedded a dispos-able camera in it, designing it so that the camera’s operational parts were easy to reach. On a bright yellow sticker I wrote a request for everyone who
handled the postcard to take a few photographs of their surroundings. I wanted to equip this inanimate object with a way of recording its own journey - and I wanted to make the camera/postcard a com-munication device. For this piece of mail the sender and the receiver are not the most important things - instead, it is the way people react with it on its way between them. I’m interested in how the act of photographing can become exciting again if the photographs that are taken can not be viewed instantaneously – I’m hoping the absence is a more unifying experi-ence than if everyone involved were able to see the photographs
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Postcards from Europe submission - Front (2011)
as soon as they were taken.I took some photos at the start of the camera’s journey so there should be a mix of photos from me in Manchester, Royal Mail staff between here and Wem, as well as photos taken in the gallery itself, and photos from its next destination. I’d like whomever the postcard ends up with, when the film has been used up, to contact me so that we can work out what to do with them next!
What’s the creative scene like where you live?Good. Manchester is a nice size, not too big, not too small. (Plus it’s way cheaper up here than down South, so you get to rent a studio for half the price.)
Have you had to move to pur-sue your creative career? No, I was here anyway. I think it’s important that British artists stick at other cities aside from the capi-
We liked Olivia’s camera so much that we installed it in a prominent place in our exhibition in Wem Town Hall. We asked visitors to the gallery to take part in the camera’s journey by taking a photo of something they could see in their immediate surroundings.
We’re looking forward to the results.
Olivia was particularly inspired by the second phase of our project, when, after touring venues in the UK and beyond, the artwork will be returned to the participants. Instead of receiving their postcards, each artist will receive the work of another - to ensure that they gain a tangible souvenir of the project, and to encourage further international collaboration.
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Postcards from Europe submission - Back (2011)
cargocollective.com/oliviaglasser
GLEICH ZEIT, Shedhalle, Tübingen (2011)
tal, as I feel like the sheer number of people that move to London after graduating from University can saturate its creativity.
If we came to visit you, where would you take us? The airport. No, not really. I’d take you on the tram to Castlefield; to my exciting new studio space I have just moved in to in Rogue Studios; to some old pubs and, finally we could go on my favourite bike ride on the Fallowfield loop cycle path from Chorlton.
What’s been the biggest challenge of your creative career so far? Getting the right balance between spending time on taking part in exhibition and residency opportuni-ties, and actually focusing on the practice of making work itself.
Could you tell us a little bit about your creative process?
What do you do from reading the brief to achieving the final outcome?Different ideas go around my head all the time until I come to some kind of idea I can work with, which I then have fun playing around with in sketchbooks and in the studio.
What inspires you?Honestly, anything. If I had to give specific examples from this week, I would say conversations, bike rides, staying late at night in the studio and a new book I’ve been reading.
Do you like to travel? Where’s the last place you sent a postcard from?I love to travel. The last place was Tübingen, Germany. I just took part in a two week residency there as part of an exhibition Platform were putting on called GLEICH ZEIT. I used the two weeks to revisit some old work, play around
with it and simplify it, which was really useful work-wise. I think the set up of the two weeks was what I enjoyed the most though. It was organised very democratically, so nobody was in charge. We all took turns to cook a big feast for everyone each evening. It took place in an old slaughterhouse called the Shedhalle; we cleaned out the basement underneath and had parties there both weekends... Amazing.
What made you take part in Postcards from Europe?I’m really looking forward tocomparing the results and seeing how people have responded to the brief.
Finally, what’s next for you?Making a horse-themed chocolate cake for my housemate’s birthday on Sunday.
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Tell us about your piece.The postcard is made from a page torn from a magazine for the visually impaired. The contour of Romania is sewn with red thread symbolizing the unchained borders of my country after the fall of the communist regime. I have not finished this border line as I still need to find out a lot of things about the past and present of the country I live in, but also what lies outside its borders.This postcard is about freedom but also about the uncertainty of how to handle it; it’s about origin, about literal and metaphoric blindness, and about tradition (I was thinking of the ladies who used to embroider tradi-tional designs on Romanian national outfits). It is mostly about identity.During the communist regime, Romanian borders were restricted, and people rarely had the opportunity to leave the country. Information was controlled and censored. It can be said people were “blind” in regard to what happened outside the borders. Working on this postcard made me aware of how lucky I am to be born in Romania after this period of total limitation and how important travelling and having access to information has been for my personal development and creative practice.
Do you feel as though where you live influences yourcreative practice? Baia Mare, the city I was born in and the city were I spent most of my years, has a great relevance in everything I do. First of all, this city is the place where my childhood memories were created, a fact that inspired me lately in a project, and which has had a significant influence on my work. Secondly, the city gave me the opportunity to study art since 5th grade in an art school where teachers and students together created a
Andra Baban is a Romanian artist currently completing her MA in Ceramics at the University of Art in Cluj Napoca, Transylvania.
ANDRA BABANCluj Napoca, Romania
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Postcards from Europe submission (2011)
distinctive atmosphere. Creativity and curiosity were encouraged. I think the place you were born, the memories, the people you grow with, all have a major influence, even if subconsciously, in every artistic creation.
What is the creative scene like where you live?Although Baia Mare is a small city in the northern part of Romania known mostly for gold mining industry and for the chestnut plantations, the place has a lively cultural life. It is the main city in the Maramures county, a region of vivid traditions where village life is preserved. It’s known for its Plein-air painting colony formed in 1896. The number of cultural events - theatre plays, concerts, exhibitions - is increasing every year.
Have you had to move to pur-sue your creative career? Four years ago I chose to study ceramic art and moved to Cluj Napoca, a bigger city in the heart of Transylvania, where I com-pleted my bachelor degree at the University of Art and Design. Cluj Napoca soon became my second home and the place where I am currently pursuing my MA studies in the field of ceramic art. It is a city with more opportunities, known for the vibrant cultural life and student life. This place changed my pace of life and gave me the chance to be closer to contemporary art spheres.
How does your work for Post-cards from Europe compare with your current portfolio of work?In my work I frequently search for three-dimensional solutions, as I am concerned about space. This is why I express myself easily in ceramic or sculpture. My portfolio consists mainly of ceramic works
and installation, but photography, drawing, and graphics are alwaysstarting points in my work, and I enjoy experimenting in as many media as possible. What attracted me to Postcards from Europe is the idea that you ‘pack’ yourself into an envelope and send yourself without knowing who will open it and how the person will react. I re-ally enjoy the feeling of anticipation you get when opening mail.
Could you tell us a little bit about your creative process? What do you do from reading the brief to achieving the final outcome? I rely heavily on instinct and spon-taneity in all that I do. By endlessly manipulating the clay my hands, I transfer energy and give life to the form. Normally the process is fluid,
as the creation cannot be forced into rigid structures and rules. One of my latest fascinations is childhood imagery; I made a series of ceramic works inspired by my childhood drawings. My interest in childrens’ ways of representing life is also motivated by the need to rediscover purity and sincerity in expression.
What’s next for you? I don’t usually make long term plans as I like to be spontaneous, but what I do know for sure is that I will spend my final MA year half in Turkey with an exchange pro-gramme, and half in Cluj Napoca graduating. The rest will probably come along, spiced up with work, experimentation and travelling.
www.behance.net/andrababan
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Emanuela SantiniRijeka, Croatia
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Emanuela Santini is an artist living in Croatia. She recently completed an MA in drawing at Wimbledon College of Art.
Tell us a bit about your postcards.The impetus for this work is based on my constant travellings. There’s no place like home, but there are some that come pretty close, that have that rare ineffable feeling of instant familiarity. This piece is part of a series of visual diaries about my relationship to an environment/places in which I lived and worked. These mindmaps of emotion are drawn some time after an environment or place is experienced and photographed. I find it fascinating how people ex-perience their environment differ-ently and connect to it emotionally.
Do you feel as though where you live influences your crea-tive practice? If so, please tell us a little bit about this. Inspiration for my work is not
strictly connected to the place where I live. Environments inspire me, people inspire me, but my creative practice is certainly not limited exclusively to the place I live. I dare to conclude that my frequent travellings, regardless of the destination, are very important to the creative process.
Have you had to move to pursue your creative career? I left my country for two years to complete an MA in Drawing at Wimbledon College of Art, Univer-sity of the Arts London. I am now working as a tutor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rijeka, transferring the knowledge that I have gained in the UK to art students in my own country. I will never forget my experience. I would encourage everyone to study abroad!
What inspires you? There is a strong relationship between my work and personal life. My practice is about memories of places, people and events; about everyday life and how an emotion can be transcribed into a visual narrative. I take photographs incessantly and then carefully and systematically wade through them to find those that bring back certain memories and conjure up dramas about relationships. I am concerned with questions about the representation of autobio-graphical moments, distortion, and truth and how different millieu and social relationships can shape the way we think and feel. I am interested in how new places can conjure up subjective memories and how the alien can feel familiar in uncanny ways.
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Isabel Greenberg London, UK
During the project we received 130 postcards from 14 European countries. What follows is a selection chosen to give an indication of the variety of artists’ home towns and countries, as well as the eclectic mix of working practices.
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Elena Xausa Venice, Italy
My postcard depicts a crash between two icons of Venice: pigeons and masks.
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Amy Ellis London, UK
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The City of Romeo and Juliet
Andrea Manzati (Alconic) Verona, Italy
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Anna Maguire London, UK
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Elena Iezzi Twickenham, UK
My postcard is about Professor Cockles (also known as Twickenham’s Tin Can Diver) who performed as an underwater stunt diver during the 30’s, right through to the 70’s. This postcard is a homage to Cockles as well as to Twickenham’s weird and wonderful riverside.
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Ines Brands Rostock, Germany
Yellow
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London, UKBethan Lloyd Worthington
This image shows a handful of items picked up on the Thames fore-shore. A fragment of ruby glass and of yellow flashed glass; a piece of manufactured china with an ancient Greek meander pattern; a piece of blackened and petrified bone, laid on top of which was a wet fragment of newspaper showing an oriental eye. That these far-flung things could be found together - amidst a dense, tidal mass of more - begins to explain something of what the city feels like..
Meandros
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Rolling Sunshine Steps
Milly Freeman London, UK
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Oliver Udy Cornwall, UK
My postcard is actually a set of postcards. The images are of roadside stalls in Cornwall. These are common in rural areas, and have barely changed over time. As a photographer I spend much of my time exploring on my bike, and therefore end up making lots of collections, either physical, or photographic. These stalls are just one of these collections.
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Amélie Fontaine Paris, France
I live in Paris. I wanted to show that the same city is different for every one of us, as we build, mentally, our own city with the places we love to go, the places where we work, the route we make everyday… a kind of mental map. We all have a different idea of the city we live in as we place ourselves at the centre.
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Dylan Spencer-Davidson London, UK
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My postcard represents the countryside and the typical rural houses of North Eastern Italy.
Giacomo Bagnara Verona, Italy
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Bratislav Milenkovic Belgrade, Serbia
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Some days I like to take in a walk in the park near my home. It is always full of people, especially children playing ‘canicas’ (I think you call them marbles). It reminded me of my ‘canicas’ collection as a child.
Abel Jimenez Valencia, Spain
Playing ‘Canicas’
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Tim Romanowsky Halle, Germany
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Sergio Jimenez (Subcoolture) Madrid, Spain
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Ricardo Cavolo Madrid, Spain
Madrid doesn’t influence my creative practice at all. Other places inspire me - places like the mountains in the north of Spain, or the brave north-ern sea. I live in the capital city of my country, but I have always wanted to live in a smaller town surrounded by nature.
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Ece Gökalp Istanbul, Turkey
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The Forest
Maria Corte Maidagan Barcelona, Spain
Step Right Up!
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Alexander Schmidt Halle, Germany
I was born in 1982, a child of the DDR (GDR), until the unification came in 1990. At this time big chemical industries like BUNA and LEUNA (which caused a lot of pollution – every house was covered in ash) made many workers unemployed. Even today there is still high unemployment in my hometown of Halle an der Saale. Things are cleaner here now though. You can even swim in the river Saale. The city has risen from its ashes – so to speak.
Chemical Wasteland
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Cesar Barcelo Valencia, Spain
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Eleftheria Alexandria Spetses Island, Greece
My Beloved Home, Spetses Island
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Ben Javens Birmingham, UK
My postcard is more a depiction of what’s here in Birmingham than of the place itself – and that’s the two most important people in my life, Jenny and Mabel.
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London, UKSoo Choi
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Javier Jaén and Andreu Meixide Barcelona, Spain
The postcard is a semantic game with objects related to the city of Barcelona. The meanings of the objects and the relations between them suggest something of everyday experience in this city.
Nothing to Object
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Pablo Lacruz Alicante, Spain
The Beaches of Alicante
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My postcard is about Headley Down in Hampshire. There isn’t much there apart from houses so my postcard is made up of little drawings that represent things that I remember from growing up.
Tom Edwards Headley, UK
XXIII YRS
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Peter Willis London, UK
My postcard is about the Lordship Lane estate in Dulwich, South London. The chair is the one I spend all day every day sitting in - it has been the single most important purchase so far in my ‘illustration career’. I wanted to allude to the fantastic history of South London and to the inspirational people it has produced: Louise Michel was a french nurse and antagonist who played a key role in the Paris commune. After she was exiled from France she spent a short period living in Dulwich. Knowing that she once walked through the park as I regularly do makes Dulwich’s shortfalls a lot easier to ignore. Charlie Chaplin was born nearby in Kennington.
Lordship Lane Estate
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East Street
London, UKBenjamin Phillips
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Abel [email protected]
Alexander Schmidt [email protected]
Alice Pattullo [email protected]
Amelie [email protected]
Amy Ellis [email protected]
Andra Baban [email protected]
Andrea Manzati [email protected]
Anna Maguire [email protected]
Ben Javens [email protected]
Benjamin Phillips [email protected]
Bethan Lloyd Worthington [email protected]
Bratislav Milenkovic [email protected]
Cesar Barcelo [email protected]
Dylan Spencer-Davidson [email protected]
Ece Gokalp [email protected]
Eleftheria Alexandri [email protected]
Elena Iezzi [email protected]
Elena Xausa [email protected]
Emanuela Santini [email protected]
Giacomo Bagnara [email protected]
Ines Brands [email protected]
Isabel Greenberg [email protected]
Javier Jaen Benavides [email protected]
Maria Corte Maidagan [email protected]
Milly Freeman [email protected]
Oliver Udy [email protected]
Olivia Glasser [email protected]
Pablo Lacruz [email protected]
Peter Willis [email protected]
Ricardo Cavolo [email protected]
Sergio Jimenez (Subcoolture) [email protected]
Soo Choi [email protected]
Tim Romanowsky [email protected]
Tom Edwards [email protected]
Postcards From Europe would like to thank all of the artists who submitted their work for this project. We would also like to thank:
The European CommissionThe British CouncilWem Town HallNOISEfestivalSophia MartineckMark LazenbyAnthony ZinososRiitta IkonenOisin Wood
Artist Contact Details
PartnersOur thanks to NOISEfestival.com and Wem Town Hall for their support in developing and delivering our first
project.
About NOISEfestival.comThrough www.NOISEfestival.com, young creative people (aged 15-30) starting out on their career paths can
build online portfolios; develop their skills, access opportunities and peer/professional networks; to enable them to gain income from their creativity. NOISE brokers media exposure,
innovative projects and work related opportunities for young creatives, based solely on their talents and abilities. For more information visit www.NOISEfestival.com
FundersOur project is funded by the European Commission’s ‘Youth in Action’ programme. Youth in Action is the programme the European Commission has set up for young people. It aims to inspire a sense of active
European citizenship, solidarity and tolerance among young Europeans and to involve them in shaping the Union’s future.The Youth in Action programme (2007-2013) provides young people with a variety of
opportunities for non-formal and informal learning with a European dimension. It builds on the experience of the previous YOUTH programme (2000-2006) and its general objectives are: the promotion and
development of young people’s active citizenship; solidarity and social cohesion; as well as the development and promotion of quality support systems and European-wide cooperation. Specific programme priorities are: European Citizenship; participation of young people; intercultural dialogue; and the inclusion of young people
with fewer opportunities.
Any one interested in applying to the programme should visit www.youthspace.org.uk or www.britishcouncil.org/youthinaction for more information.
www.noisefestival.com
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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission and British Council. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the European
Commission and British Council cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Featuring work by:
Abel Jimenez
Alexander Schmidt
Alice Pattullo
Amélie Fontaine
Amy Ellis
Andra Baban
Andrea Manzati
Anna Maguire
Ben Javens
Bethan Lloyd Worthington
Bratislav Milenkovic
Cesar Barcelo
Dylan Spencer-Davidson
Ece Gökalp
Eleftheria Alexandri
Elena Iezzi
Elena Xausa
Emanuela Santini
Giacomo Bagnara
Ines Brands
Isabel Greenberg
Javier Jaén and Andreu
Meixide
Maria Corte Maidagan
Oliver Udy
Olivia Glasser
Pablo Lacruz
Peter Willis
Ricardo Cavolo
Tom Edwards
Tim Romanowsky
Sergio Jimenez
Soo Choi
Interviews with:
Sophia Martineck
Mark Lazenby
Anthony Zinosos
and Riitta Ikonen
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