Meet the Artist - Annabel Goodwin
Annabel Goodwin
This month we are thrilled to introduce you to local artist Annabel Goodwin. Annabel is a sculptor based in Eydon, South Northamptonshire. She has kindly agreed to answer our nosey questions into her artistic life. Annabel’s sculptures have showcased several times in our exhibitions and she often exhibits locally. She was also one of the founding members of The Friends of the Heseltine Gallery committee. Thank you, Annabel, for sharing your art path with us here!
HOW DID YOU BECOME AN ARTIST ANNABEL?
Becoming an artist is a hard thing to define. I think artistry of some kind is in all of us from childhood. Art classes at school, adult evening classes and now just working at home are all part of my artistic makeup.
I started sculpting when I joined the sculptor Beatrice Hoffman’s evening classes in 2005 at her home which I adored doing. I think I’ve always been artistic and did O and A level art but I only started seeing myself as someone who others appreciate as an artist when I started evening classes at Chenderit school, in Oxfordshire, and then I was invited to exhibit a piece in the local Forge 2 gallery in Culworth.
Since then I have always been working on a piece, either for fun or for an upcoming exhibition or the occasional commission. My studio above my garage is a sanctuary, which I go to whenever I can and when ‘the muse’ is upon me I get totally absorbed.
Hare, Annabel Goodwin
WHO OR WHAT INSPIRES YOUR ART?
For me inspiration comes through learning from other artists and sharing the pleasure of being immersed in art with others. Being involved with art groups and sharing time working together to make or exhibit your work is a joy.
The people who have taught me have inspired me most. A favourite memory is joining Beatrice’s evening classes and being challenged about what I was trying to depict and why. Another is when joined Caroline Chappell’s occasional painting classes held outside in a country house garden or garden centre. In my early days with ceramics, a fellow ceramicist invited me work with her in her studio, seventh heaven.
I am inspired by art that is expressive and has movement that makes you really feel something. I love to see sculpture in the arena it was designed for, Bernini in a Cathedral or Barbara Hepworth in a garden are awe inspiring, but just as much, is someone’s sculpture made from everyday objects welded together and fixed to their garden wall.
Owl, Annabel Goodwin
WHAT IS YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS?
My sculptures are centred on human or animal figures but I have loved making abstract forms and gargoyles. I generally prefer to use the strong, sandy, water-based clay called ‘Crank’ and use my hands to start making a basic core shape. I build the piece by adding unformed pieces to slowing define both a likeness and the animation for which my work is distinct. I work from my own drawings and from photos and images from the internet and it usually takes me at least a week to make a small piece, in the few hours I have here and there. I like to create texture and detail rather than a smooth finish and have found that under-glazes and oxides offer the subtlety of colour that works best for me rather than shiny glazes.
Embrace, Annabel Goodwin
WHAT ACTIVITY DO YOU RECOMMEND TO SPARK THE ART?
Just get some clay, any clay and start to shape it and make a form. Air-drying clay is great. Plasticine will do if you like colour and mixing colour. The process is the fun part and the end result is the bonus!
If you would like to contact Annabel about her work, please use this email address; annabel.goodwin@btinternet.com
And finally, a minute or two of wonder, watch Annabel’s amazing Hare sculpture come to life below;
WHY I #LOVEART…
I love art because I think art has built my confidence and it nurtures a sense of wellbeing, both making it and seeing fabulous artwork. Beautiful, quirky, challenging, it inspires and brings me beyond myself.
Annabel Goodwin