Artist Interview – Claire Sharpe

Name: Claire Sharpe
Location: Bristol
Website: https://clairesharpe.co.uk/

Brief artists statement:
My work is concerned with the built environments we all inhabit on a day to day basis and re-addressing the way we perceive them. Through creating subtle interventions that merge with the spaces they occupy, the viewer is invited to readdress their attitudes and preconceptions of the space, even if that is achieved through only convincing them to linger longer. More recently I have started working in photography, that hovers somewhere in between that and sculpture as a means to embody a space away from its location.

How did you become an artist? Did you always dream of a life in the art-world?
I became an artist the long way round. After completing my A-Levels I went into the world of full time office work for 3 years. 3 years was enough time to realise that a ‘live for the weekend’ lifestyle wasn’t going to cut it for me. I enrolled on an evening course in jewellery making which prompted me to aspire to do something creative. I took a bit of time before committing to a college course. I had failed my Art AS and never took it as a subject at school, but finally enrolled on a BTEC in Art and Design. In the second year I applied for university and started my BA at the University of the West of England in Bristol.

How has your education helped your career?
My education has been vital to my career so far. I know that can be an unpopular thing to say sometimes, but it’s very true. My route into art was very much through education. I currently have a studio at Spike Island, Bristol which is part of my year long Spike Island Graduate Fellowship which is exclusively open to two graduates from UWE each year. I also work for a commercial gallery WORKS PROJECTS, a commissioning organisation Foreground and Arnolfini the South West’s flagship art centre. These three internships are through the university and the links I managed to make whilst studying. So at the moment it’s completely integral and I wouldn’t be doing any of these things without it.

Do you work as an artist full-time? Describe your typical day. Do you have a routine?
I am an artist full time because I don’t think you can do it part time. Am I in my studio every day? No. Like I mentioned I have three other jobs. I have more of a typical week rather than a typical day and the challenge is making sure I show up at the correct building every morning. I do enjoy the variety and feeling like my time is full up, my work is better when I feel like my time for it is precious and constantly contested.

Which historical and contemporary artists do you refer to most often? How are you influenced by their work?
Melanie Counsell is an artist I look up again and again. Her sculpture works describe the volume and boundaries of a space with a real economy of material that I find fascinating and a very difficult balance to strike. If you haven’t heard of her, look her up. My more recent interest has been Becky Beasley, whose work I only saw for the first time last year at Spike Island in Bristol. It was really important to see her work in the flesh. Her framed prints just don’t translate well to print. The scale and the physicality of the tinted glass and the physicality of the actual print were far more prominent than I had expected. It’s important to see work like that to remind you to go and see art in the flesh, especially when it’s only a few mouse clicks away today.

What are the other influences on your work?
Architecture has a very strong influence on my work. Right now specifically Brutalism and Modernist social housing. I’m starting to shift towards Modernism in Russian and some of the sci-fi literature and films that were inspired by it. Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky just made it to the top of my reading list today. China Mieville and Owen Hatherly have featured recently.

What was the last exhibition you visited?
Andy Holden, The Cookham Erratics, WORKS|PROJECTS. Six knitted rocks all telling their own part of a narrative, brilliant.

What are your experiences of the ‘art-world’ and the business of art?
Working in a commercial gallery has given me plenty of insight on the business of art…….

Do you have any tips or advice you wish you had known earlier in your career?
That I could be an artist, but maybe things would have turned out differently and I’m happy with where I am.

Do you have a quotation that you keep coming back to and that keep you going? Have you a motto that gets you through?
Get out of bed you lazy…. or just having a chat with some of my friends about our work. It’s always encouraging to realise we’re all struggling at times, but not on our own.

Which historical artist do you think is over-rated? Why?
That’s tough to answer, I try to not waste time thinking about what I don’t like. I used to hate the YBA’s, but that was probably because everyone else did. Now I think I’m indifferent.

Do you use social networks? if so, how and which ones do you find most useful?
I use Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook. I still find Facebook to be the most useful in terms of work and play, but there’s a very good chance that’s because it is familiar and I’m being a creature of habit.

Which artist should we all look up immediately? What art magazines, blogs or sites should art lovers be looking at?
vvork is my favourite blog, it’s probably not a surprise choice but everyone should look at it. Block architecture magazine is brilliant, I’ve only seen the first two, but their approach to architecture and the quality of print makes it something special.

Finish this limerick: There once was an artist from … Reading, she thought really hard about this, then realised she was happy with the decision not to study English.