EXHIBITION: ‘ILLUMINATE - THE ART OF ILLUSTRATION’
Anglesea art space
10-21 june 2021
Lucy Burke (Loose Ink Designs) Interview
HG: For this exhibition you’ve included a series of gorgeous monochrome lino cut prints, how did you start this method of art making?
LB: I was living overseas in Canada for a number of years and moved home during a bit of a challenging time. I wasn’t working and had lots of free time, so I went into Artworx in Geelong and I would pick a different medium each week! One day I bought a lino cut kit and loved it.
HG: Did you have any formal art training?
LB: No I haven’t. But I’ve always been creative and art was such a great thing to turn my attention to when I returned home, and it was fun.
HG: Did you follow a tutorial to learn how to do this type of printing, or did you just play and experiment?
LB: I did it in high school, but I really had no idea what I was doing! I did everything wrong at the beginning, I looked at a few Youtube videos but really it was all predominantly learning through trial and error.
HG: You’re currently studying Psychology and in the middle of exams, what do you hope to do after you graduate?
LB: I want to become an Art Therapist. Probably working with teenagers and children, but I’m only in my second year of study so I’m not sure yet. Art Therapy is so broad, so there’s time to narrow it down.
HG: Do you know anyone who is working in that field?
LB: I do. My part time job at the moment is working for a little business called Our Mindful Youth in Geelong. They’re an occupational therapy, art therapy business caring for mainly children with extra needs to help regulate their emotions. I do admin and reception and I’m hoping it will lead to more work. I work with Occupational Therapist Tessa Lloyd quite closely so it’s a really great mentor relationship. Next year I do a placement as a part of uni, so the goal is to do it with her.
HG: You touched on this before, has the art making process been helpful to you personally as a healing tool and helping with your mental health.
LB: Yes, absolutely. I feel like consciously and unconsciously I’ve turned to something creative when I need centering. Whether it’s journaling, dancing (intuitive embodied movement), art or yoga - I’m a yoga teacher as well. Any kind of expression is really helpful to me.
HG: You’ve had quite a bit of experience having a stall in makers markets and I know you are a stallholder at Cowrie Market. How have you found that experience?
LB: I feel as though participating in markets as an artist is a tricky thing. I love the community atmosphere and getting to chat to people, which is predominantly why I do it, as well as getting my art seen, but art doesn’t seem to be a spontaneous buy for many people. I’ve always tried to make sure my work is accessible and I want people to be able to afford my art, so through lino cuts I can try to do that because they are reproductions. Of course the markets before Christmas do really well!
HG: I was having a chat to your mum at the opening and she mentioned how much she loved your fashion drawings when you were studying. Tell me about the fashion course and how you got into that and how important drawing or illustration was.
LB: I got into fashion design because I loved sewing and making my own clothes. At that time it was my number one creative outlet.
HG: Did you learn sewing and design at school?
LB: I did, I went to Sacred Heart all girls school in Geelong and they had a pretty awesome textiles and home economic program, sewing started from year 7. I did fashion design in VCE and loved it, and I had sewing lessons outside of school. My mum and my grandma are big makers…
HG: I love that intergenerational sharing of skills. It’s so important and we’ve lost a lot of that.
LB: Yes, I was lucky and I loved it.
Then I got into RMIT in Melbourne city campus to do the two year diploma of fashion design through TAFE. I really liked parts of it and I got an internship in my second year. It was wonderful but during that internship I saw the fashion industry full circle and while I was there the company folded. It made me realise I didn’t have the passion or the gusto for that kind of career.
HG: What medium did you use for your fashion drawings?
LB: Mainly watercolour and pencil and a bit of digital art.
HG: Were they the mediums you used in school?
LB: Yeah, absolutely. But I left them when I finished the course. It’s only now that I’m starting to get back into that. My lino cuts have been so nature heavy, but with my two new female silhouettes that are in the exhibition, and I have a few more on the go, I sense myself going back to the female form and doing more portraits. Which is cool!
HG: What would you like to be doing next? Is there anything else bubbling away in your mind?
LB: I’d like to explore a few different mediums. About six months ago I bought a pyrography (wood burning) kit and I have these big beautiful rounds of wood I’d like to use. I’d also like to play with using lino cut printing in different ways – on fabric, or incorporating embroidery. I also experimented with Cyanotype (photographic process that produces a cyan-blue print) over summer. So there’s a few things.
HG: Do you have an idea what kind of mediums you would like to explore with others within an art therapy practice?
LB: Absolutely, everything has its place! Lino cuts with children (safely!), and painting and sculpture, even just colouring. Any form of art can be so useful.
HG: As a children’s art therapist do you work in schools or is it more an external consultation program?
LB: I feel there are different ways you can do it. Our Mindful Youth is NDIS registered and works with children one on one in a private practice, but I can absolutely see a place for it in schools and in group therapy. And one of the art therapists I work for goes into nursing homes.
There’s so many options and I’m looking forward to finding out what feels best for me.
> www.looseinkdesign.com
> www.instagram.com/looseinkdesign/
LUCY’S BIO
Loose Ink Design is the creative outlet for Lucy Burke, a printmaker and illustrator from the Surf Coast in Victoria. Inspired by the coast she grew up on, as well as many years spent hiking, camping and exploring the mountains around Vancouver, Canada; Lucy is influenced by nature, travel and human connection. Using traditional linocut techniques, Lucy brings her drawings to life by hand carving and hand printing every design; allowing each piece to be truly unique. Her pieces are for ocean lovers and mountain climbers who find balance in mother nature's hands.
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