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(A) Drawing Interview ( for June Drawing show in aid of UNICEF) June 2016

Question: Do you try to create imagined worlds in your work ?

Articulating any creative practice in words is never easy and yet we have to discuss it because it is such a deep and fascinating practice. I honestly find it much easier to talk about other peoples work and discuss my students work than my own output. Yet I am fascinated by the creative process which is why I love teaching this subject so much - so yes, I will happily talk about narrative visual language and my inspirations for drawing but I will do it with my Academic hat on, as that will help me be more objective.

I think Cocteau was right when he said "Asking an artist to talk about his work is like asking a plant to discuss horticulture." I am not a traditional academic, I prefer the least attention possible and as such I am much happier teaching and speculating - asking questions of students and of myself.

To try to answer that first question. 'Do I try to create imagined worlds? I'd say no, not as such. For me, imagined worlds has certain connotations of being indulgent or escapist, or 'made up' and that’s not what drawing is about for me – for me it’s about engaging rather than escaping – but yes I suppose I do propose spaces and alternative realities - they are analogies and by their very nature they become quite real as material things once they exist in the world - once they are formed as it were - so they are not 'imaginary' but 'real'

The drawings are often irreverent to the institutions that seem to restrain ordinary people’s freedoms - comical or subversive - and one of those institutions personally for me is Linear Time. I often explore that - so It may well be a form of escapism yes :)

Drawing expresses thoughts and feelings like any voice or instrument - so drawing is a scientific and visual instrument too and of course a way of mapping feeling and memory, expressing strengths and vulnerabilities.

It can also be funny and sad at the same time.