Curating Illustrations
How I use my curatorial skills and experience to inform and guide the visual direction of my artwork
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In 2008 I walked into the Embankment Galleries at Somerset House and stumbled upon a tour of an exhibition being given by a Curator. I have to admit, I had no idea this job even existed. As I stood listening to the Curator explain how the exhibition came together, I felt excitement building inside me. I honestly decided right there and then that this was what I wanted to do.
Cut to 2024 and I’m sitting here writing not as a Curator, but as an Illustrator so things didn’t quite go to plan! I definitely gave it a proper shot. I got a job at Somerset House as a Gallery Assistant, then a Gallery Supervisor, I went onto study an MA in Curating Contemporary Design at Kingston University/The Design Museum and graduated with a Distinction. I worked on a curatorial project at the Bauhaus Foundation in Dessau, Germany. I went to China on an invitation from the British Council to attend a month long curatorial project at the China Academy of Arts. I curated two exhibitions in my Exhibitions and Events Producer role at Koestler Arts, and I eventually went onto become Assistant Curator for Exhibitions at the National Trust. So yeh, I was pretty serious about it all.
But somewhere along that curatorial path, I picked up a pencil again, and then some more materials.
Japanese cafe, 2016
Illustration felt like the most accessible form of art to me. I suppose it still does. I had been drawing since all through my time living in Japan, but I hadn’t taken it seriously up until the point of when I began working for Koestler Arts. I was surrounded by art for over 3 years there, and I also came across a lot of creative people. They accepted me as someone that had a passion for curating, but also recognised my skills as an artist. I’m so grateful for the conversations I had with my friend, Lee Cutter while in the Koestler house. I can’t begin to express how important they were to me and how much they helped me understand the things that I love to draw.
Curatorial skills
Sotheby’s describes a Curator as someone who has the ability to ‘analyze and filter through the material, recognize important connections, and present the resulting story in an engaging way.’ When I approach illustration projects, I still go through these motions.
I’m going to share a couple of examples of where I’ve put that into practise in my illustration work.
Peaceful Night Pledge
I was invited by the arts team at a hospital to do the following:
‘Create a new design for two leaflets for the Peaceful Night Pledge, a campaign for patients and staff to work together to be more mindful/respectful about the need to reduce noise in clinical settings.’
I didn’t get the commission in the end, but they paid me to present a pitch to them and I LOVED working on it.
Here is some of my pitch:
Since the project was about getting better sleep as part of the healing process, I wanted to use colours and and motifs within the illustration work that would instantly make someone feel calm. I even researched fonts that would make people feel more relaxed. Every visual choice behind the look and feel had a purpose.
In the end, they decided that my work didn’t represent their clinical setting enough and perhaps it was a little too whimsical. That’s fair enough - as a client, they hold the brief.
Ancient Wonders
For my final Pathways brief, I worked with Flying Eye Books on a book called, Ancient Wonders. The book had already been published but we were invited to create our own illustration work for it. Most of these wonders no longer exist and so I felt the concept of time should play an important role in how the book is presented. I pitched the idea of having the book go from dawn to dusk so as you flick through it as a reader, you would feel time slipping away and it would hopefully provide a more immersive experience.
Final thoughts
Receiving certain types of briefs allow me the opportunity to think about ideas in a deeper way, and permit me to play around with finding connections or ways to add more meaning to the final work. This brings an immense amount of joy to me as an Illustrator and also keeps the Curator in me happy.
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