ARTIST INTERVIEW: CLAIRE ELLERY

Here is an interview I did with the wonderfully talented Claire Ellery from New Zealand, I have done a previous post about her a few months ago, and i really wanted to follow up with some information directly from her relating to her process and materials. Here it is.

I love your sketchbook project, ‘Adhere to Me’ combining sticky tape and portraits, where did this idea come from and what is the background?

The idea was simply to draw my family while at home in Scotland. I challenged myself to draw without correcting or discarding. The backgrounds were paint card samples, and the insulation tape was added at the end. On my return to New Zealand I joined the art house co-op sketchbook project 2011, and chose the title ‘adhere to me,’ which related well to the subject, and to the material used. http://www.arthousecoop.com/library/2305

How many portraits are there in total?

30 originally, which then grew.

What materials other than tape did you use?

Mainly Pen and paint cards, there is a dissected passport photo of my partner reconfigured in tape, and a drawing by my niece which I used as a background before drawing her portrait.

What varieties of tape did you use? And which was your favourite to use and why?

Insulation tape has many qualities, maneuverability, vibrancy and variation in colour, masking tape parcel and gaffa tape were also used.

Why did you decide to work in a sketchbook rather than on separate boards or surfaces?

It developed that way. I wanted to store them safely, and loved the idea of an alternative family photo album. The sketchbook touring the US, as a collaborative project that then becomes part of a permanent collection in the Brooklyn Art Library, appealed to me in achieving this.

What kind of techniques do you use with incorporating tape in your work?

Through play I discover different techniques, that’s what’s so great about any art project. For work that requires accuracy, I often use a scalpel, and stick the tape onto acetate to configure the parts before placing them onto a final work.

Do you have any more projects involving tape coming up? For example in your other life as a stylist?

I have been experimenting with windows and glass, the nature of insulation tape lends itself really well to being viewed from both sides, so I have been drawing and taping window displays http://claireellery.blogspot.com/. I’m also part of collaboration ‘2 birds 1 stone,’ and was awarded an artists residency at the Refinery gallery in Nelson NZ. Our first installation was a tape project. https://www.facebook.com/2birds1stone.nz

Window art at Trouble and Fox is a boutique in the heart of Nelson on Bank Lane in New Zealand