What This Artist Does All Day...

Sarah Kirby

MG: When does your working day start and end?
SK: I’m an early riser … I’ve usually had the first cup of tea by 6am, but the work doesn’t often start before the first cup of coffee an hour or so later!

MG: When/how do you take breaks?
SK: It depends what I’m working on…which is usually more than one thing at a time. 
As a printmaker sometimes it’s obvious - ie: I get to a point in cutting where I want to take a proof to see what’s going on and then have a coffee while ‘contemplating’ results.
Sometimes it’s because my fingers have seized up (getting more frequent with age) and I need to change activity from cutting to drawing for instance.
Sometimes I come to an impasse - usually a point of indecision rather than displeasure, and need to do something different to let the idea take shape in my head …then I walk to the allotment or do chopping or weeding in the garden.
Sometimes the break is a reward - a self imposed deadline for a particular task for instance - get the drawing done on a piece of lino ready to start cutting and then I can make a coffee ! 


MG: What is your favourite kind of day as an artist?
SK: One without commitments, but one with purpose ie. an idea just starting - whether it’s starting the block or taking a trip to gather information and images for a new project.
The point when a piece of work is underway is always best.  There are nerves before starting and fears when coming to conclusions; but the middle bit is thrilling, full of promise and all encompassing.


MG: What marks a successful day?
SK: Starting or finishing a new piece of work.  Working all day on a new piece of work is what I love to do - any day doing that is successful.  Obviously it’s fabulous to be offered a show, or when someone buys  a piece of work … but the longer I do it, the act of doing is the only success that matters in the long run.


MG: How does the place you work influence you if at all?
SK: Always … I sit at a big window looking out at my garden. It’s a safe, quiet, peaceful, yet ever changing backdrop to thinking.  I live in a city but have privacy, space, light and lots of green outside.   I have Radio 4 on, and until very recently, a big beloved ginger cat at my side and try to remember how fortunate I am to be doing what I do.


MG: Where do you find inspiration?
SK: There really is inspiration everywhere … taking time to look  and draw never ceases to provide ideas and emotions.  I am drawn to being outside but an allotment or garden is equally amazing as a vast landscape. I like the connection I can find with a place; the mark of the human in the natural world.
Poetry also often inspires. My current obsession is Mary Oliver.


MG: When is your favourite time of day to create?
SK: The mornings are always best for me.  I have focus and energy for the creative stuff until the early afternoon. I tend to do the ‘admin’, the sorting , the wrapping of orders, the accounts etc in the afternoon if I have to!

MG: Does art help you in other areas of your life?
SK: It touches every part of my life. When everything or anything bad, sad or troubling happens I know I still have my meaning … being able to make keeps me getting up each day.  I tend towards the melancholy and try hard to see it as a positive trait when the rest of life makes me anxious or worried.  On a good day it gives me a belief and a necessary confidence for the other bits of living.

MG: What couldn’t you live without in your studio?
SK: A view / a table!!!  


MG: Do you have the opportunity to mentor or share your skills with young or new artists?
SK: I am a member of an Open Access Print Workshop in Leicester. Sometimes if I need more space I will print my linocut editions there. It’s a lovely environment where all sorts of printmakers also work in the space. I love sharing my process and talking around what I’m doing. To have someone else interested and being able to share is a privilege.
Thank you Sarah. You can see Sarah's work she has created especially inspired by Masham in A Particular Place exhibition


A Particular Place

Charlotte Morrison

Charlotte is a ceramicist from the Yorkshire Dales and works from her home near Masham.  She makes hand built ceramics using porcelain & stoneware clays, to create both functional and decorative items. She uses slab building and slip casting methods, before glazing and applying textures and patterns to her work by hand. These time-consuming methods mean that every single piece of Charlotte's work is unique. The inspiration for her work comes from items she collects, nature & the surrounding landscape. She transfers what she sees and collects into imagery & pattern to decorate her ceramics.

MG: When and how does your working day start?
CM: I’m not a morning person but I always push myself to be in the studio around 9. I certainly prefer working in the afternoon and evening. I must always start the day with a good cuppa tea or two. ​ 

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MG: When/how do you take breaks?
​CM: Regular tea breaks through the day and, if I've got time, I like to head out in the morning for a walk to start the day. 

MG: When is your favourite time of day to create?
​CM: Afternoons and evenings I feel most creative. As I'm not a morning person I find it takes me till then to wind up into the day and feel I'm most productive and creative then. 

Meadow Bowl by Charlotte Morrison

Leaf Vases by Charlotte Morrison

'The Ruin' Vessel Set by Charlotte Morrison

MG: Does your daily rhythm change with the seasons?
​CM: Yes, early on in the year is a restful, but creative, time after the busy Christmas period. Late spring is a hive of activity in the studio preparing for shows starting in late Spring/Summer.  This generally continues through until winter and only calms again come December. 

MG: What makes a good day?
​CM: Handbuilding around 15 -20 pots. A good glaze firing with not too many cracked pots or seconds. 

MG: What couldn’t you live without in your studio?
​CM: The basics for me that I couldn't live without would be porcelain clay and my trusty oversized rolling pin. 

MG: Where do you find inspiration?
​CM: I find inspiration from nature and landscape around me, places like Hackfall Woods. 

MG:How does the place you work in influence you, if at all? 
​CM: I work from my garage and home, a little place in Aiskew near Bedale. It has a small but delightful garden which backs onto peaceful fields and a group of trees used as a rookery. The feeling of bine enclosed by nature and not overlooked by houses is very important to me and comes through in my work. For example, the Rookery set I make is inspired by the trees around my current home and my meadow pattern pieces are inspired by the fields around my childhood home near Masham.

MG: How do you end your day?
​CM: Gardening, walking or a glass of something, or perhaps another cuppa tea.

MG: Thank you very much Charlotte for sharing your day with us.

You can check out Charlotte's work in our A Particular Place Exhibition.

Charlotte's work for sale

A Particular Place Exhibition