The Artists center featured artist Lorrie Whittington

Lorrie Whittington talks about her art

by Bill

Our next featured artist hails from the UK, I found Lorrie while searching through art and art related forums and groups and was immediately struck by her diversity and depth. As I dug deeper I was reminded of my posts in early 2009 around right and left brain integration. Not only is Lorrie a prolific visual artist she integrates her visual ability with her expertise in computer languages giving her a very versatile skill set providing her with a unique advantage in the 21st century market.

As a photographer, I was also struck by Lorrie's photographic skills, from the start, her designer's eye was evident through out her photographs. As I collected images for this series I couldn't help but notice her photographic vision went far beyond the technical skills needed to capture excellent images. It was very clear that the camera was an inspirational tool in her creative tool bag, the link between her graphic illustrations and paintings and her photographs was obvious.

I hope you enjoy this series and find Lorrie's experience as full of insight and inspiration as I did.

You can find Lorrie on line at the following hang outs:

Web site | blog | shop | facebook | twitter | flickr | deviantart

Tell us about your roots....

I currently live in a village just outside Chichester, on the south coast of the UK with my husband Luke and our small daughter Orla. We live within the South Downs, a very beautiful and verdant part of the UK, and just a stones throw from the beach. I was raised in Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, one of the ‘home counties’.North of London.

From a very early age I was drawing and painting, and every Christmas and for every Birthday I was given pens, pencils, paints, paper. I learnt to sew also when I was very young, and my Grandmother taught me how to do embroidery. She had a very old Singer sewing machine, not an electric, you had to turn the handle. I learnt how to use it when I was a little girl. I always enjoyed art and craft at school, creating shapes, patterns and loved experimenting with color the most. My parents always expected I would go to art school and I trained in the early 1980's, undertaking a Foundation Programme in Art & Design for one year, then a two year Diploma at Amersham College of Art, and from there studied BA Fashion/Textile Design + Women's Studies at the University of East London, though I dropped out at the end of my second year. I had been at art school five years at this point and decided I had had enough, probably not a good decision, but still. However, I plan to do a Masters at some point if I can raise the funding. In the late 90's, and early 2000, I studied again, and gained an International Diploma in Administrative Management and an HNC in Business Studies. I also hold various vocational qualifications and awards.

What is your artistic vision?

Difficult question. Like most artists I want to be successful, sell my art and make a living doing so. But, I create art very much to please myself, and hope that others like it. However, I feel that if one becomes too driven by market trends and fashion, trying to create art that ‘sells’, it can make the whole artistic process a hollow one, and it tends to show in the work. So, I try to achieve a happy medium. Create art that makes me feel happy and fulfilled, that is enjoyable to do, but that will appeal to people enough to want to buy it.

You are a very diverse and prolific artist please tell us about what drives your choice of medium, and focus.

I am excited about everything, I really am. I love using different mediums, and just wish I had more hours in the day to experiment more. I find it impossible to confine myself to one or two mediums and styles, I always have. I get so much enjoyment from painting, drawing, photography, sewing, sculpture, etc. Being a mother makes it difficult to achieve as much as I would like, my windows of creativity are pretty small, so I have to be judicious in my choices of tools and mediums. I do as much as I can. Also, my head is so constantly bursting with ideas and visions, that I struggle to keep up and realise them all. That’s why I have so many projects on the go at once, and move from one to the other as the mood takes me. I know that many artists feel it is important to have a ‘style’ or ‘voice’ that is recognizable, that has a ‘signature’ so to speak, but I feel that can be inherently dangerous, and can lead the artist’s work to become too formulaic and ultimately, boring.

Who and what influenced you the most in developing your vision and voice?

My work is mostly abstract in nature and includes many influences and movements, from the Baroque, Renaissance and Rococo, to Pop Art, Impressionism, Bauhaus, Cubism etc. I take my inspiration mostly from nature; sea, countryside, flora and fauna etc. I am very drawn to bold and dynamic colours, form, texture and patterns. I love textile art, Japanese prints and embroidery, eastern weaves, the colour and patterns of the Indus in particular. Also, given my immense love of history (almost as passionate as my love of art), there are many La Tene Celtic influences in my work for instance.

I have no interest in traditional subject matter, like life drawing and still life, I had enough of that at college. I take some inspiration from contemporary art and other artists. However, I am careful not to plagiarise other artists work as I see too much of it going on, and have had my own work copied and in fact, stolen before now. As I originally studied fashion and textile design, one of the precepts drummed into me at art school, was the use of resources, sourcing ideas and inspiration. I have spent countless hours at museums and galleries. My first visit to the V&A in London in fact, took place when I was 15, and I can safely say I have been there a hundred times or more over the years. When I lived in London, I would go every week. I have hundreds of books, many of them about art, design, history etc, and I regularly consult them for inspiration and ideas.