7 Artists and makers

Can you walk us through your creative process? Where do you start, and how does a piece come together?

"My creative process typically begins with assembling a fabric composition, usually laid out on a table or the floor. Once it's stitched together, it's then stretched and this becomes the ground for the painting. I’ll usually have colours in mind and often draw inspiration from personal photography. I often integrate fine paper and paint into the fabric, sometimes deliberately damaging areas to be later repaired through stitching or patchwork. Each piece evolves organically, guided by instinct, and shaped by the process itself." - Ann-Marie Williamson

"Driven by impulse and material processes, works incorporate the act of painting as a means of searching for familiarity in the unknown. Work is led not by the destination, but to embrace the unknowability and accidental within its own creation. Through processes of scraping back a painterly excess and re-layering, previous unfinished works are resurrected allowing re-occurring motifs to unexpectedly align and reveal new paintings. With tactile surfaces, ambiguous motifs move sinuously between semi-abstraction and figurative objects; which often suggest parts of the body or landscapes, and in turn become visual innuendos." - Claire Shakespeare

"I think I work quite inconsistently. I will have long periods of research, walking, looking, picking up stones, and arranging things. I need a certain amount of time existing in a landscape to be able to get any ideas I think. That can be quite an abstract landscape if needs be but I prefer a dramatic coastline or an unending valley or some big skies. Then I will work solidly for maybe five full days back to back working on lots of things at once. This means the work can be as true to itself as possible. I like to get as many things out as possible because I don't want them to disappear without getting their fair amount of attention." - Hugo Winder-Lind

"To create this collection, I have used a vibrant red stoneware clay with a little bit of grog in it. I love using red clay because once I’ve painted over it, the warmth of the red still comes through which creates a lovely glow and a sense of depth. I first throw the pots on the wheel, let them dry to become leather hard and then at this stage I can create a more refined shape and add faceted texture on the sides. Also at the leather hard stage I paint the pieces with coloured slips (liquid clay). I blend copper oxide into the slips to create more depth and vibrancy, while also making it more painterly due to the unpredictability of the material during firing. Part of the initiative nature of surface decoration for me, is the idea of using the clay as both a canvas and a palette. Once fired I will apply a clear glaze on the insides of all the pots so they are functional, and also on certain areas of the outside of them, making some areas matte and some shiny." - Imogen Richards

"I have a large collection of vintage materials, books, and magazines. I often snip out the spaces between things, and see what remains and work with this. The pieces might originate in the title of a book, or marks of wear on a cover, or the atmosphere of a particular colour. I often work on more than one idea at a time, moving elements from one piece to another." - Matthew Richardson

"It all begins with the cloth. I describe myself as a maker because the physical act of making is fundamental to my practice— hands-on experimentation comes first; it’s how I discover the potential of the fabric. My process starts with sourcing antique, vintage, and unwanted textiles, focusing on natural fibre materials. I then dye these fabrics, incorporating foraged flora, food waste, and traditional natural dyes like indigo. Rather than dyeing with a specific outcome in mind, I work in batches, allowing the fabric to take on its own character over time. It may sound sentimental, but I let the fabric guide me in determining what it wants to become.
From these dyed materials, I begin piecing together patches of cloth, an intuitive process of arranging colors, textures, and lines. While the compositions may appear spontaneous, every fabric patch is considered, with a strong emphasis on balance and harmony. Once the patchwork takes shape, I overlay it with hand-stitch work, adding further depth and texture to each piece." - Phong Chi Lai

"My process changes from piece to piece but often involves erasing, degrading or destroying and frequently allows for chance to enter the equation. In my photography work, I am looking around my surroundings for the evidence of similar actions that naturally take place and documenting them. I like images that have layers and especially when it's difficult to discern those layers." - Simon Job

Where do you typically find inspiration for your work—does it come from personal experiences, your surroundings, or something else?

"My work is largely semi-autobiographical, with each painting encapsulating a collection of experiences or a single moment in time. The process often feels like an exercise in memory—a way to process and make sense of past events. There’s a cathartic element to it, where creating becomes a means of resolution. In many ways, the process itself holds as much significance as the final outcome." - Ann-Marie Williamson

"In general, I am motivated by natural history. I think with the work I've made in the last year I try to see the paintings as pieces which fit into a larger scene, like a jigsaw or a patchwork.  I’ve moved into a new studio in the city so it's been interesting trying to bring the wilderness indoors. I'm fascinated with finding opposing truths in my work, like two things that shouldn't go together but do. Domesticity and Wilderness both have a kind of collective intelligence." - Hugo Winder-Lind

"Inspiration comes from everywhere—people, nature, and the built environment constantly spark new ideas. I find ongoing inspiration in artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Hilma af Klint, the Bauhaus movement, Mark Rothko, Gerhard Richter, and Fiona Hall, to name a few. 
I’m particularly drawn to the raw, expressive quality of naive art, including the work of the Tjanpi Desert Weavers (Indigenous Australian), Terry Williams (Australian textiles), and Japan’s Nui Project. The ethos of ‘making do’, traditional ethnic arts and crafts (which incorporate natural dyes, hand spun and woven cloth and embroideries), and artisanal fashion designers like Elena Dawson (English), Ma Ke (Chinese), and Raas Leela Textile (Indian)—where the maker’s hand is deeply embedded in the work—also resonate with me." - Phong Chi Lai

"For a long time, I have used the phrase ‘my work is inspired by the theatricality and comfort of nature resulting in other-worldly scenes which balance on the edge of reality’. I feel this has and still does sum my work up perfectly. I don’t know whether this is a result of the influence Alice and Wonderland has had on me, but I have always seen plants, flowers, and trees as beings with personalities. This is something I try to convey in my work.
‘Balancing on the edge of reality’- this is important to me as I want the work to feel surreal enough that it is different, interesting, and a bit weird, but just realistic enough that the viewer can relate to it and see something in it that they recognise.
These key inspirations are surrealist animation, particularly Yellow Submarine (1968), Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), and Alice in Wonderland, both the real-life (1999) and animated (1951) versions. I’ve consistently found these films to be comforting, as they show an obscurity, bizarreness that I always find humorous, but also a realism and sense of homeliness.
For example, in Bedknobs and Broomsticks, the sense of comfort and safety is present through the ever-present beds and sense of home, and is contrasted with the unknown and imagined, shown through the underwater creatures and sense of ‘the other-worldly’. For the same reason, throughout the making process, I have been sketching from films by the likes of Wes Anderson and Yorgos Lanthimos, specifically the dramatic set design in Poor Things. (2023). It is the mix of vibrancy of colour, comedy, and fantasy of these incredible films which inspire the themes within my work." - Imogen Richards

Do you have any rituals or routines that help you get into a creative mindset?

"When I have a full studio day and want to be especially productive, I follow a few rituals that help me get into the right mindset. First, I change into my painting clothes—it sounds simple, but wearing something I don’t mind getting covered in paint immediately puts me in a freer, more open headspace. Then, I make a giant mug of tea and put on some music—loud, if my studio neighbours are out! Music is one of my greatest loves, and it plays a big role in my creative process. I cycle through different genres, but lately, I’ve been drawn to albums that tell stories—right now, I have 1990s Belle and Sebastian, English Teacher, Tapir!, and the King of Staten Island soundtrack on heavy rotation." - Ann-Marie Williamson

"My studio space alternates between order and chaos. Because I work with fragments, I need to keep some sense of order, but not so much that chance and playfulness can’t thrive.
I work on a number of ideas at the same time and I like to feel that the process is fluid and dynamic from beginning to end. Elements are initially pinned in place and then moved and moved again. It might be a very long time before I commit myself to gluing fragments down forever. Once that happens the piece is fixed, but even at this end stage and even though the piece is finished, I want the work to feel as though it still has potential to shift and move (even though that is now in the mind’s eye)." - Matthew Richardson

What emotions or response do you hope to create for the viewer with your work?

"I want each piece to feel as though it has lived—not something newly made, but something that has existed for a long time, carrying its own history, experiences, and scars, yet having reached a place of quiet resolution. My hope is that viewers connect with this sense of endurance and find something familiar, comforting, or reflective in the work." - Ann-Marie Williamson

"I hope people can glimpse themselves in the work. These are sometimes quite intimate paintings, they contain gestures and colours that are really personal to me. They feel like the thoughts I have when I know my life is changing. I want to make work that lets people change, which gives them a chance to understand their place in an ever-changing universe. The paintings can contain mourning, celebration, joy and conflict all at once so they can be quite overwhelming I think for some people, so at a base layer I want people to find some strength in them. A personal strength or truth I guess, in any way that manifests." - Hugo Winder-Lind

"I see my process as a sort of ‘visual poetry’ where a piece comes alive through combining and arranging elements in alternative configurations until everything ‘fits’. I only want to leave what is essential. The fit can be a technical thing such as how one shape is able to fit inside another, however, it is also metaphoric - there always needs to be an emotional resonance, spark or echo that happens through a particular arrangement." - Matthew Richardson

"Frankly, I want people to think it’s nice to look at! Not because I need the praise, but because I want someone to think- ‘that looks lovely, I want it in my home’. To me, home is the most important and safe space in my life. Creating a warm and inviting space is my most favourite hobby, so the absolute ultimate compliment is that someone would want my work to feature in theirs and be a part of their safe and beautiful space. I would love people to see something familiar in my work, something that relates to them, something comforting but also exciting and intriguing." - Imogen Richards

"When I make work it comes from a curious mindset, trying to find new ways to affect a surface or exploring my surroundings for example. I want the viewer to have a similar experience with the work." - Simon Job

What materials and techniques do you most enjoy working with, and why?

"Cloth is deeply rooted in our daily lives, yet it often goes unnoticed. Textile waste, however, is a significant environmental issue—something I witnessed firsthand while working in the fashion industry. Because of the overwhelming abundance of fabric, I primarily work with upcycled and deadstock materials, along with post-production waste fabrics.
What excites me about cloth and natural dyes is the versatility, it exists at the intersection of art, craft, design, fashion, and technology, allowing endless reinterpretation if we so choose. I incorporate traditional textile techniques such as patchwork, quilting, hand stitching, embroidery, mending, and needle weaving—all rooted in domestic arts—while embracing a modern and intuitive approach. Handwork appeals to me because it requires minimal tools and is accessible to anyone, anywhere. Beyond its practicality, the meditative nature of these slow, tactile processes is essential to my creative practice and overall well-being." - Phong Chi Lai

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