Welcome to the second weekly interview celebrating the talents of British artists in the field of scrapbooking,
photography, mixed-media, art journaling, feltmaking and quilting. Some
names you may know and some may not be so familiar but they are all
hugely talented.
This week we welcome Julie Kirk.
*Brief Bio
I’m a blogger, freelance magazine contributor and the
one-woman kit creator, product-photographer, branding-designer and marketing manager
behind an Etsy shop selling vintage paper packs and creative supplies.
Then part time, during term time, I support students with
disabilities so they can fully access their University course. This generally means
I get paid to take notes and learn new things. Tell me there’s anything better
than that? [Actually, can you remind me I said that next time I’m
clock-watching in a numbingly boring two hour lecture?]
I share a house and a life in the North East of England with
a small mound of ephemera, shelves full of vintage ‘treasures’, a wardrobe full
of patterned clothes and a man who doesn’t mind any of it.
*Who or what are your
creative influences? And why?
I love the work of writer and artist Graham Rawle. He’s so
inventive and creative and uses collage to great effect particularly in his
book Woman’s World which is a full length novel pieced together solely from
snippets of women’s magazines from the 60s.
In fact, I admire many artists who use ‘found’ materials in
their work as I find my biggest inspirations from non-traditional crafting
supplies too. In this group I’d include the assemblage artist Joseph Cornell
along with current artists such as Susanna Scott and Katie Licht.
I enjoy the work of Austin Kleon whose ‘Blackout Poetry’ is
created by blacking out unnecessary words on a page to reveal the hidden poetry
within. And comic strip artists and illustrators like Berger & Wyse and
Marc Johns always make me smile too. I
feel humour is an important element in art … which perhaps get overlooked in
favour of more serious aspirations.
Oh and I’m a complete colour-addict with a huge fondness for
the abstract colour work of Paul Klee and Mark Rothko.
Finally, I also believe my late Grandma has had an influence
on me somewhere down the line because while she was not at all artistic she
cherished the weird and wonderful, the shiny, the unusual, the colourful and
she is almost certainly responsible for my ability to see the treasure in other
people’s trash!
Now I’ve written this out I see there’s definitely a few
threads drawing all of these figures together: boldness of colour, use of found
items, discovery of found phrases and the importance of the quirky and humorous
… and suddenly I see their influences
looming very large!
*What is your
preferred medium of creativity? What
appeals to you about this?
Paper.
Whether it’s scrapbooking, collage, art journaling or
cardmaking, it all starts and ends with paper for me.
I think it’s because it holds so many possibilities in one easy
to acquire, easy to store , lightweight sheet!
Plus, it’s neat, tidy, you can’t really spill it and ruin
your clothes and, if you get tired of it, you can throw it into the recycling
and still feel virtuous!
*What other areas of
creativity do you dabble in?
I’m a jack of all crafts really, there’s not much I won’t or
indeed haven’t tried out [except crochet, which I hid from when a friend tried
to teach me!].
But more recently, when not paper crafting, my creativity
has been funnelled into blogging which I find a hugely creative activity. Not
only am I creating [hopefully] interesting online content but I’m also creating
myself, my own virtual presence, with every post.
I’m presenting to the world the ‘me’ I want other people to
know, and in doing so, through mining my experiences to create informative
classes and posts, through questioning myself, discovering my opinions so I can
then write about them and through telling stories about my life on a regular
basis not only have I constructed an outer me … I’ve learned so much about the
inner me at the same time. Blogging has been a truly fascinating, rewarding and
indeed – creative - experience for me.
*What is one of your
earliest creative memories?
I remember being drawn to specific coloured crayons in
school. Colours that we didn’t have at home … in fact I still remember they
were a peachy shade and a cornflower blue.
This must have been before my sister and I got a Crayola
Carousel, because after that we didn’t covet another colour crayon again!
*Pablo
Picasso said: “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist
once we grow up.” How did you find this
transition worked in your life?
From the outside, I guess my transition might have
appeared rather precarious.
When I left school I was accepted into art college but
then experienced a period of depression which meant I couldn’t attend. But, fortunately, during my recovery, my
creativity didn’t leave me and I spent my time cross-stitching, patch-working,
drawing and writing.
When I did return to education I changed routes and
followed my love of words taking an English degree instead.
Fortunately I’m at a point in my life where I get
to combine my mutual loves of creativity in art and in writing … which is more
than I could ever have hoped for.
*How did you find your
creative style?
I made a lot of things … which isn’t meant to sound flippant
at all.
It’s just that when you first begin making something, you’re
inevitably influenced by an artist whose work you’ve seen already, perhaps
which led you do take up the activity in the first place. But then, the more
you make, the more diluted those other influences become and lo and behold …
the one and only ‘you’ comes out the other side. More concentrated.
Like orange juice.
Or diamonds.
Yes, let’s go with diamonds instead!
Whatever else I’ve taken on board and digested, I’ve now
arrived at this [diamond-like?] core of word snippety, colour splashing, print
combining, phrase finding creativity which is seemingly ‘me’.
For now at least!
*What activity do you
use to jumpstart your creativity?
OK, these things are actually mutually exclusive but …
I either just surround myself with some supplies, sift
through them casually, cut things out and move things around until something
fits. No pressure. Just find something I like and stick it down.
OR …
I back away entirely. I don’t force it. I go and do
something else entirely. For as long as it takes.
That said … if it’s not a personal project I’m working on,
if I’m working to a deadline … then that’s a jumpstart enough and I just get on
with it!
*Favourite art gallery
or museum?
I adore the Yorkshire Sculpture park, both its outdoor
displays and galleries are always so inspiring, and I try to visit once a year
and usually take photos at every single step!
But I also love my local gallery, the MIMA in Middlesbrough for its architecture and its peace and
quiet in the centre of town.
*Favourite book?
I’m going to have to give you more than one I’m afraid so let’s
go with Ingenious Pain by Andrew Miller, Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, When You
Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris and can I sneak Shakespeare’s Hamlet in
there too please?
*Where to find Julie
Blog: http://notesonpaper.blogspot.co.uk/
Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/juliekirk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/withjuliekirk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/notesonpaper
If you were able to ask Julie anything what would you ask? Please add your question to the comments below.
See you next Friday for an interview with Kate Crane.
