FeedbackStudents home
Graduate interview: Faye Green
[enlarge]
Faye Green, 'Miami Slice (part one)', mixed-media, 2012. Photo: Nottingham Castle Museum, John Hartley. Courtesy: artist. Copyright: Faye Green.
Nottingham Castle Open 2012 exhibition view.
[enlarge]
Faye Green, 'Miami Slice (Big mustard)', mixed-media, 2012. Photo: Krystina Naylor. Courtesy: artist. Copyright: Faye Green.
Nottingham Trent University degree show 2012
[enlarge]
Faye Green, 'Miami Slice (Pink Flecks)', mixed-media, 2012. Photo: Krystina Naylor. Courtesy: artist. Copyright: Faye Green
[enlarge]
Faye Green, 'Tree frog', 2012. Photo: Krystina Naylor. Courtesy: artist. Copyright: Faye Green
Richard Taylor shares a Google document with Faye Green, a 2012 Fine Art graduate from Nottingham Trent University, who’s not afraid to pull apart her work to produce sculpture anew.
What have you been up to since you graduated?
I’ve been making work in various locations over the past couple of months, as I have yet to lock down a studio. Early in summer 2012 I showed some new sculpture at Crocus Gallery in Nottingham, with other graduates from the East Midlands. Then in September, in time for ‘World Event Young Artists 2012’ (WEYA) - a ten day event in Nottingham that showcased 1000 artists from 100 nations - I was given a design brief to make a chandelier for Lee Rosy’s Tea Rooms, alongside paintings by Kryssy Naylor and a mural by Calvin Sangster. In October I exhibited at Nottingham Castle Open 2012, and was shortlisted for the Grand Prize. I have also spent time helping out friends with exhibition deadlines as well as working as a full time bartender.
What was your experience of applying to the Nottingham Castle Open, did you propose new work, or was it a re-working of another piece?
My application consisted of four works, which they selected one of. The chosen work 'Miami Slice' was a segment from my degree show that I altered slightly for the open. The main difference probably being that there was no longer a Mexican tree frog living in the palm. I didn’t find out he was there till after degree show so he wasn’t in the materials list but he pretty much migrated from America in the soil.
Tell us more about the chandelier, how did the brief come about, and is this mode of making sculpture something you have done before?
This was the first time I had worked to a brief. It was refreshing making something out of my comfort zone and exciting, as the brief was left really open. I am used to making free-standing sculpture, so it was a challenge working from the ceiling. I incorporated some of my favorite materials; gold chains, cacti and spray paint then added a peculiar twist giving the ‘chandelier’ a Mexican/voodoo vibe.
It sounds like a piñata: do you often use the ‘suggestion’ of other cultures in your work? And what made you work in sculpture in the first instance?
Oooh I like piñatas. Yeh I think a lot of my work stems from my idea of ‘other places’. Certain materials and colours automatically suggest certain places or certain eras, I really enjoy playing with these ingrained associations. When I started my course at Nottingham, I got straight into video and performance, testing out some of the same ideas, but in a completely different way. It just hit me one day that I wanted to build things.
How are you building things now: without the access to space you had at university, do you consider ‘studio practice’ to be important in relation this building?
Absolutely. Its limiting not having a space and the workshops that I got so used to. I’ve been sawing up old work instead and re-configuring it. And painting.
I take it you’re not precious about the objects that you conjure then! Do you think learning to be less precious about your work comes hand in hand with being more open as an artist after graduating?
I don’t think it has differed for me since graduating. I have never been really precious about what I make as I find it restricting. I would rather spend time testing out ideas and taking risks than worrying whether I have made the perfect artwork, which is why I am able to chop things up and explore new ways of working.
Review of Nottingham Trent’s Fine Art 2012 degree show, in which Green's work is mentioned, BA Fine Art by Beth Kettel »
Green's work 'Miami Slice', which she submitted to the Nottingham Castle Open, is mentioned in this review on nottinghamvisualarts.net »
For more images of her work see fayegreen.co.uk »
Richard Taylor
Richard is an artist/writer living in Edinburgh. He works as online editor on behalf of a-n The Artists Information Company for the Degrees unedited and Students community sites. He also produces art news for the a-n News site.
First published: a-n.co.uk October 2012
Post your comment
No one has commented on this article yet, why not be the first?
To post a comment you need to login
© the artist(s), writer(s), photographer(s) and a-n The Artists Information Company
All rights reserved.
Artists who are current subscribers to a-n may download or print this text for the limited purpose of use in their business or professional practice as artists.
Parts of this text may be reproduced either in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (updated) or with written permission of the publishers.
Back to top