Meet the lovely Nicola Davis, a Trowbridge-based artist specialising in silk painting and other mediums, currently having her work on display and on sale in our S.H.O.P. in Emery Gate, Chippenham, for the next 2 weeks. Ed chats to her about her work as a full-time artist and her inspiration, so have a look at this podcast, get informed and then come on down to our S.H.O.P. and find something you fancy! Thank you Nicola.
Kandu-Arts
S.H.O.P. - Social Hub of Positivity Podcast Episode #195
(upbeat music) Hey, welcome to the Shop of Social Hub at Positivity here in the wonderful Emery Gate Shopping Centre, which is of course in the wonderful town of Chippenham, which is in Wilcher, which is in England, which is a country. Now, there's fantastic artists, and I say that with great knowledge because I've been to one of your exhibitions over in Caution, and we're very fortunate that you've got some of your amazing stuff in our hub window. How long's it at for? - Two weeks. - Two weeks, so if we put this out, we should put this out this Sunday to make sure that people get a bit of notice. Right, so Maya, this should be getting it this week. What's the Sunday this week? Give this to her today till we get it out, 'cause there's a tube in the pipeline. Anyway, this is important. So, Nicola Davis, is that all right? - Yes. - See, I had to ask her 15 times, 'cause I've got one of those brains that doesn't do names. What's your name again, Lauren? You were, is it Batik that you'd call your technique? - It's silk painting, but I have done quite a bit of Batik as well. - Right, can you tell me the difference just because I'm a bit obviously a bit ignorant. - So, traditional silk painting, you're using a thing called Gutter to do the outlining, and that creates a resist on your painting, and the paint will spread up to it and stop when it hits that line. Batik is the same premise, but you're using hot wax. - That's what I was gonna say, it's hot wax, isn't it? - Yeah, I've got a bunch of you guys doing that. - All right, so what's the difference then? What's Gutter? - So, Gutter is a water-based resist, but it doesn't then need to be melted off. It stays on the silk, which means if you're doing silk scarves, it dries very flexible, and you can wear it with the Gutter on, as opposed to Batik, you then have to melt the wax off. - Totally intrigued. What's the chances of you doing a workshop over here? - Yeah, I can do that. I do a few workshops. - Do you? - Yeah. - I don't wanna see that, I don't wanna see that. So, let's look out, everyone, look out, watch out for this, 'cause we've got some footage of Nicholas Art. - You can't do that. - We can do, we are can do, that's right, Lauren, we are can do. Can you get some close-ups of that beautiful, you've got the cards as well, aren't you? - Yeah. - Oh, they're fantastic. Just bought five of them, they're beautiful. So, the art, there's prints as well, and there's original stuff in the window, is that right? - Yeah, I've got a mix, so there's, I think there's seven originals in the window, and then there's the whole variety of prints. - Right. So, the stuff I've seen at that lovely gallery in Caution was quite big pieces. - Those were all originals, and that was the ones I've got to stay there framed in glass frames, and what was in Caution was something I'm just kinda delving into, which is wrapping the silk around a canvas. - Wow, how long you been doing this then? - Straight from school, so... - About two or three years? - Nine years now, isn't it? - Oh, really? - Yeah. - Okay. - Yeah. - And what school do you go? - I went to Caution School, so I did art and textiles at Caution School, then for GCSE, and then for the first year of A-levels, I moved schools to go to Sheldon School. - Wow, Sheldon. - And I hated it. (laughs) - I didn't settle in, it was a good school, but I didn't settle in, and I didn't make friends. And I really struggled. - I volunteered, I did a, I don't know how long I did as a volunteer, doing sort of drama-ery things in Caution School when I was 21, so that was 400 years ago. But it's always been a good school, Caution, so it's a lovely community. - I think that's kind of how it worked out. I did a year at Sheldon, and then I went back to Caution 'cause I missed it so much. - Oh yeah, I'm not surprised. - So my A-levels were a bit trickier 'cause they were then marked by two separate bodies. But it meant I got to do quite a lot of different techniques in textiles 'cause it was two different schools, variations of it, so one focused on fashion and one focused on textiles as art as in making the fabric, not sewing the fabric. - Yeah, yeah. - So I got to do a lot, which is good, really. - Did you ever see the textile artists that we had here? And that, if you noticed that big quilt-like thing that's on the wall that was sponsored by, it's a project we're doing with Wessex Water. And there's a big, what did you call that? I think it's not a quilt or such, but it's patchwork. - Yeah. - Loads and loads of different people, loads of different backgrounds, loads of different age groups, which is great. But her name is Jess Way. - I know that name. - Yeah, she's just some amazing stuff. I think she's currently got a studio in the Pound Art Center. - Oh, okay. - 'Cause there's a couple of art studios there, isn't it? - Yeah. - But artists in residence, Rachel Herds over there as well. - Yeah, I know, Rachel. - She's a great artist. So you're, of course, from Born and Bread. - Yeah, I grew up in Box. Mum and Dad still live there, so. - Yeah. - Yeah. - Yeah. - Yeah. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. In Box. - Yeah. - Cool. - But yeah, Cawsham's always had a, it used to be an art college there many years ago. - Yeah, Cawsham's school was like the art place, really. - Yeah. - Yeah. - Yeah. And it's a very pretty, isn't it? As a town. - The town's pretty. - Yeah, yeah. - I like it. - I like it. - And lots of peacocks, really, it's nice. - Lots of peacocks, which is always a good thing. - Mm-hmm. - Mm-hmm. So. Would you say that you're a full-time artist now? - Yeah. - Wow, 'cause you've got another thing that you do, aren't you? 'Cause Kate, who works with us, goes to one of your art, is it through? - Cawsham as well. - Yeah, of course you've got a creative market. - Have you, isn't there somewhere else? - Oh, was it through a art trail? - Yeah. I mean, there's something, don't you do something else? You do caution, caution, do an art. To explain it, yeah, no you do. I know, look at it. - So, caution market that Kate goes to is the one that I run. Yeah. - And that's separate from that exhibition I saw. - Yeah. - What was that, what's that gallery called? - The caution gallery. - Which makes sense, 'cause it's a gallery and it's in caution, go figure. That's lovely. So, how does that work? Is that just, that was just a one-off? Or do you exhibit regularly? 'Cause there's quite a few artists involved, wasn't there? - Yeah, so I... - I bought a lovely piece I seem to remember. - I, kind of, every few months I tried to get my work in different towns, different places. So, I've just finished the through-mark trail. But, yeah, the caution gallery was, we signed up to be there for one month. - Yeah. - And it was me with two other artists, who has kind of a set space we were given. - Yeah. - But then the gallery has resident artists, you are always there. So, when you go in, there's a lot always to see. - Yes, yeah, yeah, and it's beautiful. A ray of very diverse art, which is always a healthy thing. Like our little wonderful place here. It's really diverse. - Yeah. - And, you know, the volunteers, the majority of volunteers are artists. - Yeah. - So they exhibit here, but they also do workshops. It's just like, it's just a beautiful thing. We do poetry, and we do music workshops as well, and all sorts, but we're gonna be doing more fabric ones. Love to do, what would you call your silk work? - How would you describe it? - I do quite a few workshops, so you can either do kind of tie-dye and make your own scarves on silk, or you can do silk painting. - Yeah. - And make like a suncatcher and an embroidery hoop, so that's quite a little thing you can make in a day, as a group, or silk cards. - Yeah. - There's lots you can do. - Well, yeah, I think we should love a look at that, 'cause it sounds gorgeous. And this is how you make your living. - Yeah. - So you're a fully, I should I sing that song? - It's just, it's spontaneously, get a guitar. She's got everything she needs. She's an artist, she don't look bad. Maybe I won't. But you are an artist. - Yeah. - I like it, it's good. - It took a long time to get it to a full-time job. - No, no, listen, that's it. - But now it definitely is, yeah. - Yeah, we're, well, that's brilliant. It's so commendable, and not listening to it, it's so commendable, isn't it? Yeah, it is. It's commendable because so many people, I think, not just your type of art, as in all the arts, to make a living of it. I mean, the reward is doing, isn't it, in the doing, right? With all art. And it's really good for your mental health. It's good for all sorts of things. Beautiful in many, many ways. A really positive thing. But to actually be an artist and one that continually works and continually sells, and rightly so, because actually your stuff's beautiful, and like many of the artists here sell this stuff, because that's the beauty about art. It's not just standard eyes, is it? It's kind of very much in the eye of the boulder. When you look at a piece and it resonates with you, and then you, if you can afford it, but it's a really commendable thing that you've actually become a fully fledged artist. - Thank you. - Oh, I'm amazed. I'm really, I'm not amazed that you are. I'm happy that you are, but it's actually more often the case what people do in their spare time. - Yeah, I think that's how it often starts, and I think most artists want to do it as their full-time job. I think what no one realises is that I don't paint every day. I do a lot of admin, because what I do is I run a business, you know? And at the last, they want to be artists, but they don't want to be business owners. - That's it. - So I've got quite a good business head on me, so I think that's why I've been able to do it. That's the difference, and that's why if you get to a certain level of art, you'd have an agent, wouldn't you? - Yeah. - It does all that, and sorts that, and hopefully you're free to create. But in the meantime, if you can get your head around the humdrum-ness of doing the figures and doing everything else that needs to be done, otherwise it's-- - I've got like 10 different jobs as an artist, you know, I make the website from scratch. I do all the emails, I do all the social media, I do the admin, I do the tax return, I mean. So I do everything. - Let's make sure we've got all those details. So there we can advertise it. If you want people to see your work, because obviously the limited space and the limited amount of stuff that you can bring here is just a smidgen, isn't it, of what you've got? So I say, when I saw it at the Cultural Gallery, it was much bigger pieces as well. It's like, wow. All right, we'll get the details of that. Anything else you want to say? Anything coming up the sides of the two weeks in the shab, social hyper-positivity? Here, come and see it. First hand, if you're in the Chippin'em area, if not, you can see it on this and you can get in contact with the website, your website's running perfect. Right, anything else you want to say? - I just guess a little quick story about the art itself really. - Yeah, dude. - So I've explained what it is and is in its silk painting of a technique, but the actual inspiration, yeah, does kind of draw back from struggling at school. And I struggled a lot with my mental health, so that's really important for me when people see my art to kind of know the story. And when you look at it and you'll hopefully see some pictures of it on here, is that it's all aiming to brighten up people's day. It's meant to kind of put a smile on someone's face and be positive to be inspired. - That's fantastic, because one of the great things about this place, as I said about the volunteers, is you get to meet the artist and you can discuss their pieces if you so wish. People that come into the space come in here and introduce them to the artist. If I see, that's gonna say a member of the audience, a member of the public come in and then admiring a particular piece, if that volunteer who's done it is in, I'd say, "Oh, that's the artist." Because it's so rare, unless you live with one and you know one personally, that you'd meet an artist, that you can ask what the inspiration is. - Yeah. - I think that that's actually lovely, and I love the fact that you're talking about mental health, 'cause I said it earlier, didn't I? That actually, it's really, really important, as it would have formed personally, the reward is on a personal level for each individual to explore the arts, not worry about selling it, not even worry about showing it, whether it's a song sharing it or whatever, a film, doesn't matter. The fact that you do it is part of the battle, isn't it, of overcoming your mental process to be able to put your thoughts into some tangible form that you can write. So I'm really glad that you shared that bit. I actually thought very much that your stuff is, and I've obviously seen loads of other stuff as well, is really life-affirming stuff. So that's really interesting that you do. - That's good, it comes across. - Yeah, it is, because if it was abstract or whatever, the stories and story, whatever, inspires an artist is really interesting to me, but the fact that you are absolutely, not necessarily on a mission, but that is part of what you're doing. - Yeah, I think that I'm on a mission. - Yeah, well, if anything, I didn't want to put words in your mouth, but I love the fact that you're doing that. - Even though I've got abstracts in the window, that's the sort of thing with art. You don't know from looking at it, but all of those abstracts, they were born from kind of showing the dark meeting the light, and it is kind of all down to really what I'm feeling at the time, and it's important stuff. - So you don't necessarily set out, do you have a kind of, I know you use silk, but a blank canvas, and then does it come to you or do you find-- - I don't like to plan it, no. - Oh my god, that's the same, I'm always amazed what I come up with. - Yeah. - I mean, she's reddish, to be fair. But the process is a great fact. But the idea, 'cause if you've noticed that three of us were talking about a dear art teacher, you know, we were looking at the three of us, we were looking at your art in the window, and Patrick said, we all went to Sheldon's Ali, that's three. Obviously, they're at the same time. And he said, oh, do you ever remember Pete Harris, who was one of our art teachers? And it was an absolute inspiration. And bizarrely, I was traveling a six-hour journey with my brother, and we talked about this teacher, he didn't have as a teacher, he helped me help him move home years ago. We're talking in the '80s. And I said, oh my god, he was such an inspiration, this guy, and he'd been the art consort for the British Embassy in Japan, and he had all this sort of Eastern technique, and knowledge in his house was an art gallery in itself. And then John was like, oh yeah, and he was brilliant, he's fantastic. And he just looked up at things, oh, he died in whatever, which was really sad, but his art's still there, you know? And we're looking and going, well, actually, that you can have that effect as an artist. We don't necessarily have to find the thing with Van Gogh, you know, that his backstory is amazing, but actually his paintings, particularly if you see them in real life, as it were, not a print, not in the book, not in the film, but a thing, but actually in there, you can almost feel the waves of mental energy coming from them. The fact that there's that whole backstory is sad and equally inspiring because, you know, people say that he could commit to this. There's actually conflicting stories about it now. I bet that actually someone shot him, but anyway, that's not the end or there. The fact is that he definitely suffered with his mental health. I think everyone does, to address a larger degree, and the idea that we talk about it, and that we share our coping mechanisms, because Leonard Cohen, do you know who he is? - I've heard of him. - Right, well, a lot of people say I wouldn't listen to him 'cause he's really depressing. It's like, no, no, no, no. He got through all that because he could formulate his thoughts and he could communicate them. They weren't just rattling around in his head. He wasn't consumed by them. He led a really healthy life and shared his art, which was poetry and music. Hallelujah is one of his songs. So it's important and I'm really pleased that you were able to share that, because now I think that people could just look at, on face value, your art is fantastic. The fact that you have that mission is really a great tribute to you. - Yeah, and it is good that it starts conversations. - Yeah. Well, I would look forward to you doing a, obviously we've got all your stuff in here, which is lovely to look at for ourselves, but to organise to do a workshop in not too distant future. - Yeah, that'd be lovely, yeah. - Okay, everyone. This wonderful person will be doing a workshop looking for it in the stuff, Facebook and all those other things, but make sure we put all the details, can make sure that Lauren's got the details to give to the thing about your website, but any other exhibitions you've got coming up when your art market is. One's that again. - That's the first Saturday of every month, Caution Creative Market. - There you go. - And then me, yeah, if you just search Nicholas Davis Crafts everywhere. Where's the Creative Market held? - Springfield campus. - You know, that's a fantastic place. - Yeah, it's good. - Isn't it? - Yeah. - Every town should have all of them. - Next year will be our 10 year anniversary during the market. - Brilliant. - Yeah. - Wow, that is fantastic. I love that campus. The receptionist on the campus, every Caution, when I've been there, has recently did my general election stuff, and I think, well, every town should have a campus. - Yeah. - Every town should have those people on the reception, but that would be ridiculous. They'd be working all the time. They'd never get a break. Thank you so much. - Thank you. - We will see you, all of you, when look forward to it. That's a wrap. ♪ Spinning at a thousand miles of now ♪ ♪ Just another speck in the cosmic shower ♪ ♪ All the universe held within the flowers here ♪ ♪ And submit your head just to feel somehow ♪ ♪ Getting more cares for a body out ♪ ♪ And looking through the stars for a sign of gold ♪ ♪ Turn your head away from the earth ♪ ♪ Look for the answer I must ♪ ♪ Live all refugees on a raft ♪ ♪ We're all sweating around the stars ♪ ♪ Speaking at a thousand miles of now ♪ ♪ Trying to communicate the power ♪ ♪ All the answers that end with love ♪ ♪ Standing on the ledge, having every time ♪ ♪ Getting on your cam 'cause your dream turns sour ♪ ♪ Looking through the stars you hope there'll be a sign ♪ ♪ Turn your head away from your birth ♪ ♪ Look for the answer I must ♪ ♪ Forever ♪