If you've been following our blog you would have seen our 'Artist Introduction' series for our Storm Front exhibition. Well, we've revisited one of our artists from that show to see what she's up to now (and to have a good old nosey around her new studio!) If you want to read a bit about how Laura got into art and her processes, click here before you read on!
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| Laura in her studio |
Lauras Studio is located in the Troubador building on Falmouth Wharves. We climbed four flights of cold concrete stairs to a dim corridor but once inside Laura's studio we could see why she chose it, so read on to find out what Laura's been up to, and to have a glimpse inside the studio...
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| Another Space on the Warf |
What have you been up to in your artistic practice since we last spoke to you?
I moved into my studio at Falmouth wharf in Feburary and have started work on a new body of paintings which are slowly taking shape. I have also been involved with several exhibitions and in July I completed my first residency at TAP project space in Southend, which was a fantastic experience that I learnt a lot from.
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| Laura's Desk |
Have your inspirations changed at all?
The paintings I make are abstract works that reference my surroundings, my personal life and my everyday experiences. I have recently been introduced to Japanese aesthetics and the concept of Wabi Sabi which I am excited by, as it directly relates to some of the principles I strive to achieve in my paintings such as simplicity, suggestion and incompleteness.
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| New work |
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| Laura uses layers in her work |
Are there any other areas of art you want to explore within your practice?
As a painter I feel I have just scratched the surface on what I hope to achieve artistically and want to keep challenging and extending my painting practice. Having said that I would like to incorporate some printmaking back into my practice, to see how another element would change the dynamics of my paintings and open up new possibilities for different formal and narrative relationships to become evident. I am also becoming increasingly interested in poetry and text and would like to experiment with these in some way in the future.
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| Stacked work |
You are doing a talk as part of your week in the 'limelight' at Falmouth Art Gallery. Can you tell us a bit more about that?
I approached Falmouth Gallery several months ago now enquiring about their Limelight space and was told that I could have the space for a week in October and could do a talk to coincide with my work being in the space. I thought that doing a talk on my work would allow me to engage with a new audience, would push me out of my comfort zone (which I feel is important) and would also be a good opportunity for me to reflect on my practice and review where I current am.
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| Work on an easel |
Could you tell us a bit about how you use your studio?
When I am working I am very messy and have lots of paints, pallets, tools and paintings all around me. I do however always make sure that I leave the studio clean and tidy so that when next go in everything is in its correct place and I can start working straight away.
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| Ready for work! |
In these posts we like to give you a taster of the artists work environment but if you want to see more of Laura's work, head to her website:
lauramenzies.co.uk
And if you want to keep up to date with her work here's a link to her Facebook, and the event page for her talk at Falmouth Art Gallery tomorrow:
facebook.com/laurajmenzies
We hope you've enjoyed this post. If you are an artist and you are interested in having us snoop around your studio comment below, or drop us an e-mail!
midsummernights21@gmail.com
