Why did you pick fine art?

To be perfectly honest art was one of the few things I actually enjoyed in school. At the same time, I was never the ‘arty kid’ so I didn’t have the pressure of being top of the class, which actually made me like it more. When third level decisions came around, I was totally driven by my heart – if I’m going spend every day for the next four years doing something, I want it to be something I love. It terrified me to say it out loud that I wanted to do it though because what if I didn’t get in or I wasn’t good enough? Once I sort of said it out loud I realised that it was exactly what I wanted and if I didn’t get in this time around I’d spend a year re-doing my portfolio and then reapply.

 

Who are your current influences?

I think that Marina Abramović’s stuff is super interesting. I’d never really been into performance art until recently because I found it really unsettling, but now I’m also intrigued by it. Her piece ‘Rhythm 0’ kind of terrified me, but I also couldn’t stop thinking about it after I looked into it. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that the fact that it’s haunting sort of inspires me to make people think. I also have always loved the Impressionists because I love colour. Recently I’ve also looked more into people like Howard Hodgkin, who’s influencing my current work in college. Being in the studios with friends who all have totally different approaches to the same task is really cool. Trying to work in a vacuum doesn’t work. Over the past few months I’ve noticed that I am influenced by their work and their processes.

 

What sort of themes and mediums do like to use?

I’m a big lover of paint, mainly acrylic. I love crazy thick stuff that creates cool textures on the work. My favourite way to paint is with knives and my hands more than brushes because you can create more textures. But for notebook stuff I favour watercolour, pencils, and graphite sticks. I used to love charcoal, still do, but it’s too messy for notebook work and a lot of my current work is revolving around colour. Different texture values of materials, forms, the effect they have on each other and all that jazz. I’m a very tactile person and even though I find, say, working with plaster where you need to be very exact in your cast difficult – when I’m exploring an idea I’ll find myself making little tape structures or creating texture similarities with embroidery. I guess I came straight from school where most of the emphasis for us was on 2D work so I’m only now starting to work in 3D and 4D [incorporating time-sensitive elements]. Something our tutors are always telling us is to let the work inform the medium, so don’t try and make a 4D piece a 2D piece because it’s what you’re more comfortable with.

What’s your background and how do you think it affects your work?

I came straight from secondary school. None of my family are involved in art but they’d be interested in it. As a kid my dad used to bring us to the National Gallery a lot and my mum did Art History in college so she’d be chattering away about various things when I was growing up. I think that kind of helped my interest in art. I think coming straight from school into art college is strange. In school it’s kind of formulaic, you’re rewarded for doing exactly what they want, not exactly for creativity. Whereas at third level they push you and force you to fight back and really engage with your work. It’s less passive than secondary school and I think that that transition for me was really hard. But it’s also made me more aware of how I work.

 

What’s your favourite piece?

I actually have two, they’re also from different stages in my art career. The first one was the product of one of the first times I used acrylic paint. It’s just a study of my friend’s eyes and one of them isn’t actually finished but I like it. And it’s only wee and I was testing colours all up the side of the card to see how they looked so it’s a bit messy.

The second one is one I did for my portfolio, I actually hated the painting I did of it (which was the finished piece). I made a bouquet of roses out of onions – the 3D of the onion bouquet was pretty cool looking even if it stank and made me cry and ended up rotting in a corner for a few months because I didn’t want to throw it out.

Grace Collins is currently in her first year of studying Fine Art in IADT.