Interview: 10 Questions with... Rachel Wooley
Kayleigh Hinsley · June 25 2017 · 12:00PM
Rachel Wooley, a 20 year old Art History student currently based in Brighton and Devon, creates detailed journal drawings and also enjoys painting, as well as “bad art, worse movies and terrible music”. She has 3 cats and she says she can get “very political VERY fast”. I interviewed Rachel for the first installment of our 10 Questions with... interview series with emerging artists, read it below! Look out for this interview in Issue #1 of our zine (out on Saturday), which will feature loads more of Rachel’s art!
How would you describe the art that you make?
The art I make is almost exclusively decorative. Because I study Art History at university, I’ve sort of been taught that there’s really no reason to make art anymore unless it’s purely for aesthetic enjoyment, so I’m just trying to have as much fun as possible and make whatever satisfies any creative motivation I have!! I really don’t have a message in anything I make. I’d say my art is also pretty whimsical and fun, and isn’t meant to be taken seriously. I mostly draw with ink in my journal, but I also paint often (I post these creations a lot less because I’m much more self-critical of these).
I love the idea of creating art in a journal format, what inspired you to start doing this?
I went to the Ditchling Arts & Crafts museum back in January because they had a William Morris exhibition on, but I was struck instead by the absolutely incredible journals on display by an illustrator named John Vernon Lord. He has been keeping deeply detailed journals with both writing and illustrations included since he was a teenager, and I was INCREDIBLY inspired to start my own after falling in love with his. I actually got the chance to meet him in april and he was the loveliest man ever, and that helped to inspire me even more to continue trying to draw in that journal as often as I possibly can.
A lot of your drawings are quite detailed, do they take long to do? How many have you done so far?
It depends what kind of thing I’m trying to draw, but I can usually finish a double page in my journal in about 2 hours, so I often try to get one done on a train journey. At the moment, I’ve done 82 pages.
Would you say that your drawings are personal?
My drawings are deeply personal sometimes, and other times incredibly detached. I try to use my journal as a form of therapy, so when I’m working through an issue, I tend to make a page or two about that problem. but when I’m feeling great, my drawings are often just about an inside joke or something I’ve seen recently that caught my eye.
We went to college together and I really loved the things you made in Art, how do you feel when you look back on that and do you think you've changed much since then?
I often wish I’d done things differently in A-Level Art, because I think I went too academic and ended up taking Art History at university, instead of doing illustration or fine art, which I now wish I’d done. I also miss it a LOT, because I can be a lot less creative if I don’t have a strict brief to follow, or friends who are doing the same subject so I can feed off their amazing creativity and ideas.
I’ll admit that I was always slightly envious of your painting skills (I can’t paint!), do you still enjoy painting and other forms of making art?
Thank you so much!!!! I still absolutely love painting, and spend much of my time painting things (for free) for loved ones recently. I get so enthusiastic about my friend’s and family’s ideas that I offer immediately to carry out their full vision for them, so I’m currently painting 3 large canvases, and a huge mural on a wall for family and friends.
What’s your favourite piece of art that you’ve made?
My favourite thing I’ve created is probably the teapot drawing from my journal.
Do you have an absolute favourite artist?
This is the hardest question in the whole world and it changes almost daily, but right now it’s probably either William Morris or Alphonse Mucha.
Who or what else influences your work?
My studies influence my art SO much, because I’m introduced to new artists, designers, movements and theory constantly!! I often find myself getting so inspired in lectures that I have to scrawl stuff down in the corners of my pages, rip them out, and put them in my pocket so I’ll remember the idea when I get home. I’m also surrounded by some pretty incredible creative people, who inspire me constantly.
Finally, what advice would you give to other people on being creative and expressing themselves?
As someone who has been having a permanent identity crisis for a solid 8 years, art is an unbelievable resource in terms of expressing yourself. Pick up a pen or a paintbrush or a hunk of clay or a drawing tablet or a camera and go do something with it!!! If you wing it for long enough, you’ll get good.
“I’m loud and fun and constantly wishing I was on the illustration
course, or off the grid somewhere making pottery.”
How would you describe the art that you make?
The art I make is almost exclusively decorative. Because I study Art History at university, I’ve sort of been taught that there’s really no reason to make art anymore unless it’s purely for aesthetic enjoyment, so I’m just trying to have as much fun as possible and make whatever satisfies any creative motivation I have!! I really don’t have a message in anything I make. I’d say my art is also pretty whimsical and fun, and isn’t meant to be taken seriously. I mostly draw with ink in my journal, but I also paint often (I post these creations a lot less because I’m much more self-critical of these).
I love the idea of creating art in a journal format, what inspired you to start doing this?
I went to the Ditchling Arts & Crafts museum back in January because they had a William Morris exhibition on, but I was struck instead by the absolutely incredible journals on display by an illustrator named John Vernon Lord. He has been keeping deeply detailed journals with both writing and illustrations included since he was a teenager, and I was INCREDIBLY inspired to start my own after falling in love with his. I actually got the chance to meet him in april and he was the loveliest man ever, and that helped to inspire me even more to continue trying to draw in that journal as often as I possibly can.
A lot of your drawings are quite detailed, do they take long to do? How many have you done so far?
It depends what kind of thing I’m trying to draw, but I can usually finish a double page in my journal in about 2 hours, so I often try to get one done on a train journey. At the moment, I’ve done 82 pages.
Would you say that your drawings are personal?
My drawings are deeply personal sometimes, and other times incredibly detached. I try to use my journal as a form of therapy, so when I’m working through an issue, I tend to make a page or two about that problem. but when I’m feeling great, my drawings are often just about an inside joke or something I’ve seen recently that caught my eye.
We went to college together and I really loved the things you made in Art, how do you feel when you look back on that and do you think you've changed much since then?
I often wish I’d done things differently in A-Level Art, because I think I went too academic and ended up taking Art History at university, instead of doing illustration or fine art, which I now wish I’d done. I also miss it a LOT, because I can be a lot less creative if I don’t have a strict brief to follow, or friends who are doing the same subject so I can feed off their amazing creativity and ideas.
I’ll admit that I was always slightly envious of your painting skills (I can’t paint!), do you still enjoy painting and other forms of making art?
Thank you so much!!!! I still absolutely love painting, and spend much of my time painting things (for free) for loved ones recently. I get so enthusiastic about my friend’s and family’s ideas that I offer immediately to carry out their full vision for them, so I’m currently painting 3 large canvases, and a huge mural on a wall for family and friends.
 |
| Rachel’s teapot drawing. |
My favourite thing I’ve created is probably the teapot drawing from my journal.
Do you have an absolute favourite artist?
This is the hardest question in the whole world and it changes almost daily, but right now it’s probably either William Morris or Alphonse Mucha.
Who or what else influences your work?
My studies influence my art SO much, because I’m introduced to new artists, designers, movements and theory constantly!! I often find myself getting so inspired in lectures that I have to scrawl stuff down in the corners of my pages, rip them out, and put them in my pocket so I’ll remember the idea when I get home. I’m also surrounded by some pretty incredible creative people, who inspire me constantly.
Finally, what advice would you give to other people on being creative and expressing themselves?
As someone who has been having a permanent identity crisis for a solid 8 years, art is an unbelievable resource in terms of expressing yourself. Pick up a pen or a paintbrush or a hunk of clay or a drawing tablet or a camera and go do something with it!!! If you wing it for long enough, you’ll get good.
Our thanks to Rachel for her time! You can follow her art account on Instagram at @rachelwooley!
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