Linda Lovatt- Illustrator

Linda Lovatt

Linda Lovatt at first was determined to be a children's illustrator! She was told at the time she was really good at using three dimensional materials but never felt like that was the path she wanted to take. She worked free lance for twenty years then went on to become an in house designer. She done the pencil sketches of bowls, biscuit barrels etc. (for Winnie the Pooh/Beatrix potter) that would then go on to the modeller and so on.. It started go get a bit repetitive for Lovatt and she didn't like the fact that she couldn't put her own twist on it or anything! She then went on to create her own "cartoony style" gardening books for children and adults. She still felt like it wasn't enough and the pay wasn't great so she decided to open Beastie Assemblage. She had a play making broaches etc. and they were selling fast! So fast that she had to hire some assistants.

 

Her signature theme- "Hares and cute animals"

 

Now she makes things like broaches, necklaces, free standing assemblages and her new clock works. She tells her assistants what she wants and they help her out. She sells to galleries which then double the price they bought it for but she also sells on her online website. Lovatt tends to use the start of the year (January and February) do find new ideas and plan for works that may take place in the future.

 

 

 

David Cass- Artist

David Cass

David Cass is an artist who first studied at BTEC level art and design and then went on to study at the Edinburgh college of art. Cass uses gouache in his works (mainly onto wood) but also uses found objects such as; old coffee grinders, match boxes, postcards, inside cupboards, on walls and farm tables etc. as the surface that he paints on. An interesting fact that I learned was that he uses sea water from places that he has visited to mix paints and things, instead of tap water. When he came into college to do a talk for us he told us how he would go to flea markets (his favourite - in Paris) to find objects that he could paint on. He said that he only ever buys things that he could actually picture with a final outcome. He pretty much gives a new life to things that have already had a life and died.

 

 

Before giving his works away to buyers they are treated for woodworm (occasionally sands it back) but tries to interfere as little as possible saying that he wants the piece to be as natural as possible. He likes the fragile feel of his works, the fading paint, the crumbling. The fact of turning something quite sturdy (like a farm table) into something so fragile and delicate.

 

 

Last year he was in Spain and the Almeria Alpine-Desert. I really liked what he done there. Basically its a very hot place and the ground is all dried up. He made a small hole in the ground and poured the toxic type of resin into the hole, this forms a puddle like form in the landscape. I guess the fact that its quite toxic isn't exactly ideal but it does create a beautiful outcome!