During our conversation it would seem that in the beginning there was, for some of you at least, a therapeutic element to connecting with art but as time moves on you all develop into artists. Would that be reasonable to say?
Stenga Sharkey – For me art came first, art has always been my driving passion. You can certainly use art as therapy and in difficult times it can help immensely, but I see myself as a creative person. Art is the foundation, and I would say that painting is the main part of my life, but I have always been creative.
Heather Douglas – I would see myself the same way. I have always been creative .Art and creativity is part of your life, something that emerges within you and comes out of you. Art is also my therapy, I’m making time for myself and creativity has taken over.
Bridgeen Butler – I worked for many years in Local Government managing Community Development Programmes. Often I was working with young people in cross community settings . On reflection, based on the projects or interventions I introduced, such as film clubs, festivals, photography projects, I was directing a lot of projects towards the arts by default. I don’t know if this was my inner artistic core coming to the surface but the arts offers a great platform for individual and community exploration, development and healing.
One of the benefits my previous career offered was that I had a guaranteed income at the end of every month, and that just isn’t the case when creating art – so I just love doing it for the pleasure I get doing it.
Heather Douglas – I think there is something which rubs off on you when you are surrounded by other creative people. It is sometimes the case that people around you, your family maybe, or friends, they don’t get what you do. They think it is a bit odd. Our group is all like-minded people and so if you are quirky, people get it. That is what is great about being part of this group.
Senga Sharkey – That is the other wonderful thing about this group is that it feels like you have found your “real” family and you can explore things in this group that you might not be able to do elsewhere. That is a real bonus.
Heather Douglas – You can have conversations about art without boring everyone around you. That is a real blessing in that people don’t switch off when you talk about art.
Are there any influences, other artists or surroundings, for your work?
Bridgeen Butler – I am quite inspired by the landscape around me, the north Antrim coast. It is here where I get the seascapes and landscapes which are all around me, the clouds, the sky and the sea, but they offer different images all the time.
With portraiture, I have used family members, my granddaughter has been the subject of many of my paintings as has the dog, and I just want to bring them to life through my painting. I want to capture a sense of this three dimensional person, their personality, through my painting.
Norma Slack – I don’t have a particular artist who inspired me, although I do look at other artists’ work and I look at the colours they use, and the images they paint, and that can inspire me. I tend to like artists who combine photography in their work, but my biggest inspiration is the landscapes of the Mournes. That inspires me to keep going.
Senga Sharkey – I have been inspired by many artists, but I don’t think I could pick a particular artist. I do like paintings which tell a story, which have a strong narrative theme. That is what I am trying to do with my paintings and I would use metaphors and particular imagery, to try and tell a story. I don’t mean that people would necessarily understand what I meant by using particular images, that they would understand the story that I was trying to tell. My work is quite open-ended but for me I would like to think people would have an emotional reaction to my work.
As I said, I like artists with a strong voice, so if there was an example of an artist, perhaps Tracey Emin would be one whose work I admire. She has a retrospective exhibition at the Tate Modern which I would really like to see. I think her work is made with passion and is about something and I think if I do get to see her exhibition I would be moved by it as I have been by some of her individual paintings and the work I have seen in her books.
Heather Douglas – I’m a bit like Senga, I really love going to galleries, exhibitions and art shows, but since I did Louise Fletcher’s course, Brian Rutenberg’s work really stood out to me, I absolutely love his work, the colours, the cold and the hot, the foreground and the background and how the colours pop out at you. I was working on a painting the other night and I think that in the end I had created something similar to a Rutenberg. At least I would like to think I had painted something of that quality.
I went to a Vogue exhibition and the colours and fabrics, the way the fabric moved around, I found that very inspiring, and I think that relates back to my fashion background. I also love Pop Art, I love the colours that the artists use.
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