Meet the local artist - Erin Veness

Yay, it's time for another 'Meet the local artist' interview and this month I have the great pleasure in sharing an incredibly talented artist with you, whose art I absolutely adore. It's beautiful. It's moving. It's poetic. It's beyond inspiring. And this interview finds out a bit about where that inspiration comes from, how it is created and more.

Erin Veness - Adventures & Tea Parties interview

Hi there, can you introduce yourself to all my lovely blog readers please?

I'm Erin, 28 (I think), Fine Art graduate, occasionally drink too much. Work in the care sector with end of life patients and those with dementia. Diagnosed with BPD. I've lived, let's put it that way.

Erin Veness

What kind of art do you do?

Currently I'm knee deep in a printmaking vibe, which I love but when I first graduated I was doing big installations, which I really want to get back into again. It's the repetitive thing, both printmaking and the way I create installations are about doing the same thing again and again, which is almost a metaphor for life but also really calming.

Erin Veness

How do you work and get inspired?

I work nights and often about 50 hours a week so my work is sporadic right now. I'll spend all my time at work plotting ideas and then when it gets to having a day off I'm so exhausted that I end up on the sofa watching programs on serial killers. I'm a big believer that inspiration takes work, that art is, at times, work. You can't sit around in a bubble waiting for inspiration, so my installation inspiration comes from living life and the printmaking inspiration comes from the printmaking itself. I'll try something out and it'll go wrong but there will be something nice in what went wrong and that becomes exciting and I work into that.

Erin Veness

What do you love about art?

The thought and philosophy. Everything feeds into everything and it's exciting. It's political, it's beautiful, it's horrific and stunning and there is something for everyone. Chuck Palahniuk wrote once that everything you do is a self portrait and I believe that massively, everything you do shows your hand, even more so in art. I'm also this bizarre crazy person that is fascinated by people and so their art becomes a window to the world and that just excites me a stupid amount.

Erin Veness

What's the art scene like in Hastings? 

Amazing. There is a brilliant sense of community, art openings are always well attended and not just for the free wine. Everyone is so supportive of each other. My best friend is an awesome illustrator, my boyfriend a graffiti-ist. There's this real diy/lowbrow/grimy feel to it that binds us all together. Hastings is going through this weird stage right now, people from far more affluent places keep moving down because it's cheap but locally we're rebelling and keeping that home grown feel. It's awesome and despite how small and limited it can be, there's no where else I'd rather be.

Erin Veness

If you had to take only one art tool to a desert island, what would you choose and why?

Can I say my hands? Because then it might force me into creating more installations with the other stuff you find on a desert island. I feel like this answer is a massive cheat though.

Erin Veness

If you could go to an Art Award evening with any 5 people (dead or alive, real or fictional), who would you choose? 

Tracey Emin, Egon Schiele, Louise Bourgeois, Grayson Perry annnnd David Shrigley.

Thank you so much, Erin. As a fan of your work, it's a real privilege hearing all about your artistic world and what the art scene is like in Hastings; sounds like it's got a great creative vibe there. And ooh, I love your choice of people for the Art Award evening. Keep up the incredible work!

If you enjoyed discovering all about Erin and her artistic world, don't forget to check out her Instagram and Twitter pages, as well as her website, which has a wonderful blog too. And if you'd like to discover more artists, check out my previous 'Meet the local artist' interviews here and if you'd like to be featured, I'd love to hear from you, so do drop me a line.

Photo credits: Erin Veness.