Ask the artist: Eleanor Louise West

Header image courtesy of the artist Eleanor Louise West (she/they) is an emerging artist and a recent graduate of Camberwell College of Arts. Mainly working in textiles using quilting, embroidery and crochet, the interdisciplinary artist explores their experiences as a queer woman. West’s solo exhibition ‘Feels Like Home’ at Compact Contemporary imagines the gallery as...

Ask the artist: Melissa Procter

Above image: Harmonize by Melissa Procter, 2021 Multidisciplinary artist Melissa Procter presents a series of miniature mixed media sculptures in her solo exhibition 'Balancing Act' at Compact Contemporary, from 1st - 22nd March 2021. Procter uses materials not traditionally used in fine art, preferring those more commonly found in DIY stores. The artist's practice involves creating abstract assemblages, sculpture and...

Ask the artist: 10 questions with Joe Bean

All photos provided by the artist. All artwork by Joe Bean.Joe Bean is an artist I met through urban sketching with Sketch That, though Joe is a prolific artist and also helps run the much larger and well known Urban Sketchers Yorkshire group. Urban Sketching means drawing from life, in public places like cafes, train...

Ask the artist: 10 questions with Jonathan Hooper

This interview was first published on May 5th 2018 on Helen Dryden's Patreon blog. above: Jonathan in his studio Jonathan Hooper paints Leeds. I first noticed his paintings when I saw he had painted my favourite post war shopping mall in the Northern part of Leeds city centre; the Merrion Centre. The Merrion is infamous...

Ask the artist: 10 questions with Rachael Elwell

This interview was first published on April 15th on Helen Dryden's Patreon blog. Rachael Elwell makes highly detailed line drawings on paper using pencil and ink. The repetitive yet slightly differing marks come together to form a textured plane that is a record of the time and labour expended. Looking at Elwell's hypnotic mark making...

Ask the artist: 10 questions with Phill Hopkins

This interview was first published March 20th 2018 on Helen Dryden's Patreon page. Above - Phill Hopkins at 'X', Left Bank Leeds. This photo and all photos used in this article were taken by Tim Balls. Phill Hopkins first came to my attention when I was browsing Instagram and his 10 year retrospective exhibition 'X'...

Ask the artist: 10 questions with Ian Cockburn

This interview was first published on November 13th 2017 on Helen Dryden's Patreon page. In this series we have a chat with artists and illustrators from Leeds and West Yorkshire, in the hope to spread the word about the good stuff going on in this place. This time artist Ian Cockburn answers the 10 questions....

Ask the artist: 10 questions with Letty McHugh

This interview was first published on 28th September 2017 at https://www.patreon.com/posts/ask-artist-letty-14540801 In this series of interviews we get to meet local artists whose work I like, and find out what goes on in their world. I became aware of Letty McHugh through twitter,where she is very funny. She writes a blog http://lettymchugh.blogspot.co.uk/ and makes art,...

Ask the Artist – 10 questions with Ravenchilde Illustrations’s Peter Bradley

Thsi interview was first published on August 22nd 2017 at https://www.patreon.com/posts/ask-artist-10-13633165 Peter Bradley aka Ravenchilde Illustrations is an artist I met via Facebook group Leeds Illo, a group for illustrators in Leeds. I love his drawings of strong Amazon-esque women and the other-worldly romance of his fantasy art 'Castles and Crusades' work. Peter is a...

Ask the Artist – 10 Questions with illustrator Kat Archibald

This interview first appeared July 24th 2017 at https://www.patreon.com/posts/ask-artist-10-13183976 The first in a series of artist interviews. We start with Kat Archibald, a freelance illustrator and designer, based in Leeds.  Kat is also a good mate of mine!   above: Fresh Fruit by Kat Archibald. (All illustrations below also by Kat.) What do you make...