Artist Stories

Su Blackwell

Fairy tales spring to life in Su Blackwell’s delicate sculptures made from vintage books

A dark forest, a lost girl, tangled trees and twisted castle towers… Su Blackwell’s sculptures take the otherworldly landscape of fairy tales and makes them three-dimensional – adding an extra level of magic to our well-loved stories. Anyone who spent their childhood lost in stories of princesses, fairies and enchanted swans will respond to her whimsical but sometimes dark and unnerving pieces.

Su says: ‘With older books you can get more of a sense of history across. Old paper is thicker, more fibrous and textured, and it gives you more stability when you’re making things from it. It’s also quite dog-eared, stained and well-thumbed which adds another level to the story. Some of the books I’ve worked with have been over 100 years old and passed down through the generations. The idea of children growing up with them adds meaning.’

Michelle Holmes

Michelle Holmes takes mismatched swatches of found fabric to create characters and worlds that you long to escape into.

Some people tell their stories with words or pictures, but Michelle Holmes weaves hers with thread. She invites you to peek through the door of a cosy, old- fashioned haberdashery, gaze past city chimney pots at a fantastical moon or take tea with Betty, the elegant ladylike figure who often pops up in her machine- embroidered sketches. Working in a rural studio on the Leicestershire/Derbyshire border, she is inspired by the natural and human world alike, creating work to lose yourself in. And it’s all done with odds and ends of vintage fabrics.

Michelle says: ‘People give me unwanted garments. Sometimes a friend will be wearing something and I’ll ask if I can have it when they’ve finished with it. A few years ago a second-generation tailor in Leicester gave me all the offcuts he and his father had saved, from all these high-end bespoke suits. They’ve been invaluable. A friend also got me some amazing fabrics from a theatrical wardrobe sale in Stratford; I keep wondering what play each piece appeared in!
I regularly trawl vintage shops looking for silk ties. The backs of the fabric are often jacquard weave and really beautiful when you undo them. One of my textile heroes, Janet Bolton, once advised me to always look at the reverse of fabrics – you don’t have to use the “right side”.’

Saint Floral

Romantic floral storyteller Hannah Antmann – aka Saint Floral – draws inspiration from art, history, fashion, period architecture and antique objet d’art and textiles to create modern floral scenes reminiscent of the Dutch Masters

With a mother who is an antique dealer, interior designer and painter, Hannah Antmann grew up surrounded by history and culture. Hers was a Georgian home filled with antiquities and a walled garden where she would lose herself for hours in the magic of flowers and their evocative scent. Art and flowers were a constant love throughout her education, and Hannah created close-up studies capturing floral forms and poetic petals, and was magnetised by the Impressionists, Pre-Raphaelites and Dutch Masters for their moody floral depictions and the adumbral power of chiaroscuro.
Later studying floristry, Hannah gained a practical insight into a world which married perfectly with her love of whimsical storytelling, romance, antique and vintage objet d’art, lace, ribbons, fashion and period architecture. It became apparent that her early floral love affair had sparked an appetite to tell stories through the medium of flowers, alongside dark, moody photography. Out of obsession and curiosity, Saint Floral was born as the creative outlet for Hannah, whose work is nothing short of art.

Hannah says: ‘The work of Impressionists and Pre-Raphaelites such as Morisot and Millais, and Dutch Masters like Marseus have had a huge influence on my composition, whilst fellow dark artists and photographers Tim Walker and Laura Makabresku never fail to inspire. Photography makes up a part of my creativity too, something which led me to dig out my late father’s old OM2 SLR camera and start capturing my bouquets in their fresh to faded states. This was perhaps the most pivotal moment in identifying my floral style as I really started to channel chiaroscuro concepts, embracing the dark and delicate. Fashion designers Alexander McQueen, Dior and Valentino are endless inspiration for their dark florals and delicate intricacies through rich brocade, lacework, velvets and silks.’