Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Close Up interview with Artist -Jennie Nayton



Artist- Jennie Nayton


“The wind is sliding across my skin and the sun is behind a storm cloud. The air smells electric. I see the rain coming down towards me, hissing along the foreshore. I should get undercover but I don’t. I melt into the weather, unusually one with the rain and waves. All tension just slides, I feel like I could stay here forever, sluiced clean and clear. A dream-like state but I feel so alive, it sounds like a contradiction but it’s not. It is perfect, even the shivers bring pleasure.” (26 Aug 2004, my visual diary.)




Tell us a little about yourself and what you do.
I am a photographer and a sculptor, sometime ago I managed to combine the two by cutting and folding my photographs. I was originally inspired by a technique called origamic architecture which involves cutting and folding but no paper is removed or added and there is no glue. This suits a photograph perfectly as the integrity of the photograph is maintained. Theoretically the photograph could be flattened back down to what it once was, of course paper has a memory so that can not happen. Recently I have been moving away from paper and into sculpting with metal and other mediums as I have started to move into the field of public art.


Who (or what) inspires you to do what you love in your own creative business?
My mother once told me when I was a child that a person spends 80% of their waking life working so I had better come up with something I enjoy. I do love the satisfaction in what I do, there is much hard work and sacrifices but I get a sense of achievement at the end which provides meaning and stimulation to my working life. 


Perfect Day
Jennie Nayton Copyright


Where do you get your inspiration from when you design? 

I once read about Rene Magritte who said he was inspired by both the awe and terror of being alive. There are moments is our lives where we suddenly feel this, more alive, more real. Sometimes this strikes us randomly, other times after a dramatic event, a near fatal miss perhaps.  Things stand out abnormally clear and sharp, our senses of touch and smell are hyperactive. It is a fleeting sensation but feels timeless when you are in it. This moment is what inspires my practice, I seek it in my photographs and then try to make them more real by overlaying the folded pattern onto them, an extended mediation on that frozen moment. It is a very hard thing to capture in an artwork but when I manage to convey an echo of it I am very pleased with myself!
 
Tell us about your very first job and what path have you taken since then?
I knew studied for close to a decade, first I studied photography, then sculpture at Claremont School of Art and finally I made my way to Curtin Uni. My supporting jobs for this period were rather varied, any way to make a dollar! They included being a cleaner, singing telegrams (I was a gorilla!), being a carer and hosting children’s parties as a fairy, among many other things. I was a trainee at Fremantle Art Centre in 1998 which had a major impact, the almost all female staff taught me to use a drill and a level! This was when I moved from photography into art.

Artist- Jennie Nayton
Art Melbourne 2010

Describe a typical day in your studio space?
There is no typical day! All depends on what deadlines are looming and what business needs to be done first. My practice is very varied involving photo shoots, designing templates, cutting/folding and new material explorations. The business side takes up as much time as the creative side unfortunately.

As a Artist what is your biggest frustration?
Paperwork and the dreaded artists block! Having to sleep, only having two arms!

Tell us about how you prioritise your studio work.
By need and by deadline. By what is flowing and what is not. By knowing when to keep pushing something because there is a seed of good in a pile of bad, and also knowing when you are flogging a dead horse and it is time to move on.


TheFolding  Process
Jennie Nayton Copyright

Since you are working at home, can you please tell us about how do you connect with other artists, and your customers (i.e. how do you network)?
I work so hard juggling my life as a mum, managing my household and keeping my art practice growing that I don’t connect as much as I should. I would like to go to more openings as I think networking is quite important. I have been going to Art fairs for the past few years which has been great for meeting other artists and clients. For inspiration I go onto Flickr, the worlds leading paper technicians are on there and quite happy to chat and share tips. I also am a member of Artsource who email me invitations, jobs, arts news. Also I have an ezine I send out every few months which has been fantastic form of reminding people about who I am and what I am doing. An unexpected but great perk is that many artists on it email me back to tell me what they are up too!

What advice can you offer other creative people who are just starting out and following their passions? 
Tenacity with a splash of obsession are important ingredients. Also I personally need a deadline to work against so I motivate myself by always having things lined up to work on. In the early days this meant entering all the local art awards and anything else I could find. I am a bit more selective now.

 Rock Study
 Jennie Nayton Copyright

What dreams do you still want to achieve or fulfil in your life? 
I would like to have the funds one day to go to Antarctica to photograph the ice. That would be amazing! I would also like to travel to other extreme landscapes (like Death Valley in Texas) and explore their shapes and patterns with my camera.

What is your proudest moment so far? 
There are three great moments which have stood out in my art career. The first was when I sold a work to Parliament House Collection in Canberra, and more recently I have won two public artwork commissions which I am currently working on. The first will be on Newcastle St in Perth and the second which is in collaboration with well known public artist Stuart Green will be on Adelaide Terrace in Perth. All these moments made me jump around and do a vigorous victory dance!

Who do you most want to meet and why?
Too many people spring to mind, mostly I want to raid their brains for tips and inspiration! Rene Magritte, Marion Borgelt, Robert Irwin, Roni Horn and Tracey Moffat are some of the artists I admire.

 tripleHelix-detail3-em
Jennie Nayton Copyright


What is the most important lesson in life that you have learned?
I don’t have one most important lesson, just many small lessons which have added up to get me to where I am. Maybe just to take the bull by the horns and also things don’t just happen to you, you have to make them happen.

What book are you reading right now, and do you have a book you would like to recommend?
Foldforming by Charles Lewton-Brain –  a very exciting book I ordered online on folding metal.

Where do we find you and your  art wort &creative services?
I am represented in WA by Gallery East
I also have a facebook group called Jennie Nayton: Art
and I am on Flickr


Monday, November 29, 2010

Inspirational Quote of the Week

"   Don't let your brain interfere with your heart.”
                                                                                -Albert Einstein

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

To Share or not to Share in your Art & Design Blogs (Part 2)

 

If you missed our blog from last week entitled “To Share or not to Share in your Art & Design Blogs” Part One - you can click here Part 1

Last week we shared with you three points to remember when you are posting a blog:

1.    Personal information, what to share & what not to share

2.    Validating your information & facts

3.    Requesting permission

This week we are continue to explore further with the next three points; Proof reading your blog, creating inspiring blogs, and creating "positive vibes"

4. Proof read your blog

Keep you blog in simple English and avoid using slang or jargon. Write for easy reading. Also, you are sharing your words and ideas with the whole world, so remember that some of your readers do not have English as their first language. So a simple English format will help your message nicely. 

Get your blog proof read and edited to avoid grammatical errors. I know how it feels when you get a critical comment from a reader who is put off by your writing. At the end of the day some really don’t care if you’re English is your seventh language. Learn from your mistakes and proof read your blogs before posting.


5. Create inspiring blogs
Your readers come to your blog to learn more about you and your creative passion. They want to know what inspires you to create your art and design, who you admire in the creative industry, and what new arts & designs you have created recently. And even little updates about your personal life sometimes as well. Perhaps you are their inspiration and reading your blog has inspired them to do what they love too.

Keep your blog inspiring with great information to offer to your readers. What they don’t want to see is nothing but sales and promotions every time they visit your blog and nothing new about you, or your business. Of course, there's nothing wrong with wanting to promote your products, workshops etc they just don’t we to received that type of news constantly. Therefore it is great to plan your blog with different themes that will make more interesting reading for your readers.
Want to learn what to write? - You can click here: Writing Successful Blogs

6. Create "Positive Vibes"

In this final point, your readers will come back to your blog regularly if you send out positive ideas.


In saying this you, can share some of your challenges that you experience too. Your regular readers will even thank you for showing them that you 're human being who sometimes faces some great challenges in our lives and business.


Keep in mind though, that you're not focused on the negative all that regularly. It could be a total turn off to your loyal readers...

If for any reason you may have had a bad business experience in the past, don’t just blog about it with anger. Wait until your anger has defused and you've gained a better perspective on the situation. That way you can write a constructive blog telling your experience.


Give your readers a summary of what happened, without mentioning names. Share an overview of how it made you feel, and then provide the steps that you took to overcome that situation.

Food for thought:


Remember that your blog is your platform. Your blog is more than a business or a website; it is a great marketing system than can help you reach out to the world


Remember too, that you have the full control over what you write and what you share with your readers.

Want to learn more about how to write successful blogs?

It’s as simple as 1... 2... 3...


2: Come along to the ArtSHINE workshops in Sydney: workshops@quantumcompass.com.au

3: Contact Vinh for a no cost, no obligation coaching session on 8060 9321,
or 0410 636 138.
FREE COACHING SESSION

Click here: 



s

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Close Up Interview with Jewellery Designer Sophie Cooper from Scoops Design




 Sophie Cooper
From Scoops Design

Tell us a little about yourself and what you do.
I am a jewellery and accessories designer. I started Scoops Design in 2005 as a way of relaxing from a stressful job. My background is in graphic design and art direction and Scoops is an extension of everything I love. All of Scoops Designs are limited edition, hand made and based on characters and an illustrative style that I have developed since early childhood.

Who (or what) inspires you to do what you love in your own creative business?
I love designing and making things and have so many ideas of what I would like to do future wise. I have to keep a book beside my bed as I wake up in the night with lots more ideas! I love travelling and looking at shop windows around the world and have a terrible online shopping habit.


   

Scoops Design Copyright

My favourite fashion designers are: Marc Jacobs, Eley Kishimoto, Tsumori Chisato, Akira Isogawa and Sonia Rykiel. Anything bright and colourful that uses lots of pattern catches my eye. I also have a huge love of retro fabric and have boxes full of Marimekko and cute Japanese fabrics.

Where do you get your inspiration from when you design & create?
I get my inspiration from every day things and life in general. I tend to see everything as a pattern and start making a simplified design in my head as I walk around the neighbourhood and work out how it would look as a piece of jewellery. I also love going to art galleries and looking at artists different points of view and curious ways of seeing the world.
Overseas trips, especially to my favourite places Venice and New York help me relax and come up with new ideas.

Limited Collection for
National Gallery Victoria
Copyright

What are the five words that people who know you would use to describe you?
I put this out to some friends and this is what they came back with…Tenacious, focussed, stylish, confident and talented. I love them- they rock (thanks Anna, Kate and Lauren).

Tell us about your very first job and what path have you taken since then?
My first real job after studying Visual Communications at UTS was in the design department at Foxtel, designing graphics for television. I ended up staying there for 5 years and becoming a senior designer mainly designing for Nickelodeon and Fox 8. After that I worked in a post-production house called Zspace for a few years, working mostly on commercials and television branding. I decided to go freelance and had a successful broadcast design business for 5 years under the name of Fifty3 Creative. During this time I designed television show packages and channel branding for The Discovery Channel USA, Channel 9, 10 and 7, Lifestyle Channel and I also re-designed the Channel V and Music Max website. I was approached by a head hunter towards the end of 2004 to start up a new department at Channel 7 and have been Network Art Director ever since. During this time I have managed a group of 9 designers/ compositors and also looked after the on-air branding for all of Channel 7, 7 Two and 7 mate. I started making jewellery and baby clothes as a way of relaxing from this stressful job and Scoops (my nickname) was born. In 2007 my brooches were picked up by the National Gallery of Victoria and I have designed exclusive ranges for major exhibitions such as Salvador Dali, Art Deco 1910–1939 and Rupert Bunny. Scoops Design has been slowly building and I have just resigned from Channel 7 to concentrate on Scoops- wohoo!

Copyright

Describe a typical day in your studio space?
I have to have a coffee first thing in the morning and like to look at blogs and check my orders to see if I need to make anything or post some packages. After that, I have a list of things to do and try and do the things that need my concentration the most first. I’m much more of a morning person, so I like to do the creative things in the morning and the ones that require less attention later on in the day.

 
Sophie's Home Studio
 Scoop Design Copyright

I am moving early next year and hope to spend more time with Sally the poodle (my parents dog). I will steal her in the morning and as she is getting old, she can sit and listen to me all day long!

 Sally
   
As an Artist and Designer, what is your biggest frustration?
Not having enough time!
  
Tell us about how you prioritise your studio work.
If I have orders, I try and complete them first, otherwise I like to give myself time to create new things as well as working on the production side of things. I am a list writer, so I follow my list!

 Xmas Limited Edition
Scoops Design Copyright

Tell us more about the PYD market that you will be doing and how it has come about.
The PYD design market is based in Waterloo and is just around the corner from one of my favourite places in Sydney Fratelli Fresh on Dank St. I have been in two markets in the life of Scoops Design; The Young Designers Markets at the Powerhouse Museum and the original Hope Street Markets. I decided it was time to venture out again into the world of markets, gain a different audience and hopefully meet lots of new people.

I have made some cute limited edition Christmas decorations and cards to complement my jewellery and baby clothes for these markets.


Since you are working at home, can you please tell us about how do you connect with other artists, and your customers (i.e. how do you network)?
I spend a lot of time chatting to like minded friends and running designs past them. Its great to get different points of view! I also make sure I go to lots of galleries and different shops to see what everyone else is doing out there.

Since I have made the decision to concentrate on Scoops design, I have come into contact with so many amazing and helpful people- it feels like it’s the right thing to do.

What advice can you offer other creative people who are just starting out and following their passions?
Believe in yourself and have a plan! I have been working on my plan for several years now and its great to see it finally coming into place. Don’t listen to people who make you doubt yourself- you can do it.

 Brooches
Scoops Design Copyright

What dreams do you still want to achieve or fulfil in your life?
I’d like for Scoops Design to continue growing and one day open a retail store. My mother and I have been chatting about opening a store called ‘Scoops and Mrs C.’ Mum is fabulous at PR and can talk you into anything, so I hope when she retires as a school principal we can set this up.

What is your proudest moment so far?
Every time I see someone on the street wearing one of my brooches I get really excited. My friends will also text or email me when they see the same- love it.

Who do you most want to meet and why?
I would love to meet Marc Jacobs. I have loved his clothes for years and find his range Marc by Marc Jacobs very inspirational.

Henri Matisse and Gustav Klimt would be up there too!


 Xmas Cards
Scoops Design Copyright

What is the most important lesson in life that you have learned?
After working ,y way up in a corporate job I’ve realised that money isn’t everything and happiness is more important.

What book are you reading right now, and do you have a book you would like to recommend?
I don’t have much time to read books as I have no spare time. I just read Handmade Market- great tips for selling online. I love design books and have about 400 in my collection!

Where do we find you and your products? 
Online you can find Scoops Design at www.scoopsdesign.com.au and my online store at http://scoopsdesign.bigcartel.com/.

Online stockists are  www.hardtofind.com.au and www.georgielove.com

Store wise Scoops Design is stocked in: The National Gallery of Victoria and Antipodes in Victoria, Form in WA, Lellow and the Handmade Market Shop in Canberra, The Collective Store and Anna and Sally in Queensland. The Powerhouse Museum and Published Art stock my brooches in Sydney.

Copyright

Monday, November 22, 2010

Inspirational Quote of the Week

“Do not quit! Hundreds of times I have watched people throw in the towel at the one-yard line while someone else comes along and makes a fortune by just going that extra yard.”
                                   -E. Joseph Cossman 

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Highlights of Magnolia Square Sydney Xmas Shopping Event 2010

Last Saturday  I had a great time visiting the Magnolia Square at Randwick Racecourse, Sydney. Here are the highlights of the show last weekend:

Shopping!!!


Retailers' Xmas Memories


Penny Farthing Design House


 Have You Met Miss Jones


Mattt Hand Made Bags
By Matthew Thomson
 
Hunt & Gather

 Feed the Dog




Saturday, November 20, 2010

Highlights of Art Sydney 2010


Stuart & I had a fantastic time at the Art Sydney grand opening evening last Thursday. Here are some of the highlights:

Sculptures by Gillie & Marc Schattner

Stand B9    Will & Caro

Close Up Will & Caro Artwork

Stand C2    Brett Ashby

Stand S8     Nick Fedaeff

S12   Jaqui Doran
Renai & Jacqui



Kayarna Orginals Ink on Paper

Stand E11   Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery


 S10    Petra Svoboda





















Pure Leverage

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