Amelia Critchlow is a Visual Artist living and working in London. After completing an MA in Fine Art in 2012 Amelia went on to open and co-direct ArtLacuna Space in South London. Her work encompasses collage, mixed media, photography and moving image. In this interview she shares an insight into how doing what you love is a requirement of the soul, but how the journey there is not always easy…
1. How are you leading a life ‘doing what you love’?
By leading a life filled with art: making and exhibiting my own art, co-directing a gallery/project space and collective art studios in South London (ArtLacuna Space), and writing my blog, weaving words about my journey and teaching. When looking back at my childhood the one thing I loved doing was making and art-ing, whether it be model-making, drawing, painting, illustrating or simply creating something out of materials, I was most happy. It’s a whisper and a desire that has never really gone away and I feel both happy and grateful to be able to make this a part of my adult life-career.
2. What did you do before this?
I became a mother very young and so I can honestly say that most of my adult life has been about parenting. As a lone parent I’ve always had to earn too, so past part time jobs and work have included such as promotions assistant, arts administration, teaching art and running workshops as well as nine years as a CV writer – which was an excellent life lesson in how one should always pursue dreams. I spent so much time with others asking them what they wanted to do and was astounded by how many people didn’t know what they wanted as their dreams had been scuppered somewhere along the line, or else they were very clear on what they didn’t want – I realize now that the universe works in alignment with us knowing what we want, not what we don’t want.
I also spent a stint in a nursing home being the arts and activities organizer for people nearing the end of their lives, and this was the catalyst and wake up call I needed to remind me how fleeting life is and to live it filled with what we love doing is the key to contentment and joy knowing each moment is so precious. I knew one day it would be me at the end of my life and I asked myself what I would regret if I didn’t do them and I knew that pursuing art and being there for my children were two things I needed to do.
3. Why do you do what you do?
Honestly? I feel like I would curl up and die if I didn’t do what I love doing. The final decision to take the plunge and make being an artist a way of life was when I was between a rock and a hard place a few years back now, and life felt like it couldn’t become any harder. Alone with two children, and one of them having (and still has) demanding additional needs, and working in a job that drained me and took me away from my art meant that unless I did what I loved doing life would become a burdensome depressing experience all round. I needed to balance out the hardship with something I loved and something joyful. That’s when I changed my job and became fully free-lance (such a huge risk but one I don’t yet regret!) teaching art and undertaking my MA in Fine Art – another dream I had harboured for years.
It was and still is one of the best decisions I ever made. I now make art, I sell it, and I exhibit. I had an exhibition at the Blyth Gallery in Imperial College earlier this year and I also won a photography competition for Saatchi Art & Music for work made on the MA course. I’ve also had the pleasure of opening up a gallery space and collective studios in South London with lovely fellow artists I met on my MA course (I graduated in 2012). We run a series of shows, and events down at ArtLacuna reaching out to the public, sharing art and creating a physical hub for other artists and art-lovers. It’s been challenging but such a sense of fulfilment to realize another dream I’d always had about creating an art-space for myself and others. I love running the experimental art e-course and have met and befriended many, many wonderful people – the internet is amazing.
I believe we should be the change we wish to see in the world – and the world needs more people doing what they love doing. Our dreams and yearnings are an indicator of what each of us should be doing, yet I feel I can’t encourage others to live and fulfill their dreams if I’m not doing it myself!
4. What inspires you to create?
That’s such a great question. In life I’ve always sought to understand how things work. Why am I here? What am I supposed to do? What is my purpose? Always.
As my life unfolded and I felt and experienced some really tough things I felt I needed answers even more. My experience and the visual culture I witness around me in the UK or maybe it’s the West generally, has given me food for contemplation – why are people portrayed the way they are in popular culture? Why is the status quo in the public eye so very different from the experience I have had? Where did I get my own ‘story’ from? How do I deal with my feelings and emotions, express them and process them? How can art be both useful and personal at the same time?
What would I do if I could change things and how would I do that? Visual art is such a powerful platform for expression, for change, and for many things. We can see that from the power of advertising. Visual art becomes a different language by which to speak and to create dialogues with others and all of this is what inspires me to create and an inner compulsion I simply can’t ignore!
5. You mention that a narrative and story-telling are key to your practice, why is that?
Narrative is tied up in the answer I give above. So much of popular culture’s imagery tells us stories with culturally accepted codes and signs. On watching or looking at an advert in a short minute we’ve just been told a story – but whose story is it? Does it reflect our own personal stories, or does it attempt to create a story for others to follow and if so, is it a healthy one?
I grew up with fairy tales and whilst tales were once oral community based activities they slowly became more moralizing tales for ‘correct’ male and female conduct tied up with illustrations that set these in stone. What if Cinderella didn’t have blonde hair? And did Little Red Riding Hood not make friends with the wolf, or take care of her own destiny? What power is there in actively creating our own narratives?
I think there’s a lot of power in creating and expressing our own narratives, and that’s part of what I seek to do and explore in my art whilst simultaneously questioning and processing what I see around me. It’s an ongoing continuous journey. Art offers an opportunity and becomes a way of asking questions and simultaneously grappling with a range of possible answers.
6. What do you feel prevents someone picking up a brush or a pencil?
Fear of not being ‘good enough’. There is no right or wrong way to do art – only different ways! Just look at famous artists around us to see this. A fear of being judged. Fear of art being self-indulgent – art is hard and it is also a very necessary part of our growth and our culture. I would have everyone in the world doing art if I could – and if they wanted to of course!
Many people think art is easy and a luxury to be able to do, but it’s not and it’s a choice and a job like many others out there, and one that I think is invaluable. Art is also more accessible than many may think, it’s the entry in to ‘how’ that is key. It can be quite panicky seeing a blank white page or canvas; where to begin?! – and this is one of the things I address on the experimental art e-course.
8. What would you say to anyone who’s thinking of taking an art course?
It’s all about giving yourself permission to create and find your natural and comfortable way of making art based on what you are drawn to doing. It’s about freeing oneself to be able to ‘play’ artistically with a range of materials and ideas without fear of others judging you or judging yourself.
I recently read this in Gombrich’s The Story of Art: “There really is no such thing as art. There are only artists.” And I believe we are all artists, we just have different mediums and ways of using those mediums through which to express ourselves, and whether we do it in the privacy of our own home as a hobby, or as a full time living, both are valid and valuable in their own ways and the urge to make shouldn’t be ignored! I’d encourage anyone to experiment with different ways of drawing, painting, photography, collage, contemporary art and more.
9. What advice would you give to somebody who wants to be more creative?
To nurture your dreams, write them down all the time and pay attention to them. 15 minutes a day or every other day to indulge in that dream and if it’s making art, do that (turn off the telly and do something else instead)! The feeling won’t ever go away until we listen to it – or at least that’s what I’ve found and heard in many others I’ve spoken to. Know that being creative is vital to being a happy, healthy human being. Honour what you know deep inside you need to do – our intuition always guides us, we just need to be able to listen and act on it.
As Einstein said: “I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
Creativity is the place where we can be good friends with our imaginations and art becomes a place in which to express that and many great things come out of the process of doing and making art – I can vouch for that!
To find out more about Amelia you can visit her website, read her blog and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
