After graduating from university, a local creative has taken her first steps as an independent artist.
Lorna Smith has unveiled her first solo collection of work at Mother T’s, a community shop and art gallery in Laxey.
Her debut exhibition features paintings and drawings created over her time studying for a Fine Art degree at Falmouth University and the year since she graduated and moved back to the Isle of Man to live.
The exhibition opened last week, and Lorna said she was amazed at the turnout and the level of support she received.
’I was blown away by the amount of people who came to see my work,’ said Lorna.
’I expected a lot of friends and family to come, but I didn’t expect so many people would turn up.
’Everyone was so supportive on the night too, and it gave me an awful lot of encouragement.
Lorna’s exhibited work is a mixture of styles and techniques, and she said that she is still searching for her favourite method of producing her artwork.
’I have been concentrating on drawing, recently, and I’ve created a lot of pictures and illustrations with colour pencil and fine line pen,’ said Lorna.
’I prefer to produce line drawings. They take a long time to produce, but they are really rewarding afterwards, which I love.
’It is a really nice process for me to do, as it is quite a meditative process, and you can find yourself just sat for hours sat with some music on, making small marks and details. I’m proud of those pictures.
’But each picture is a bit of a journey. I might wake up one day and decide to do an abstract painting, and the next I will do a line drawing,’ she continued.
’I suppose I am trying to find a pattern, or a direction to go in, but at the moment I am still trying a lot of different things.
’At the same time I really like using different mediums and experimenting with styles and colours.
’I always wanted to do everything at university, whilst my tutors were trying to get me to focus on one direction.
Holding this exhibition has allowed Lorna to show off her work, and she hopes that it will help her to develop her personal style further.
’I want to press on with my work, and push it, to create something more coherent that shows who I am and how I see things.
’Art doesn’t have to make sense, but I would like my art to make sense to me, at least.’
’I’m really not sure how to describe exhibition or how to sum it all up.
’It is a bunch of different styles and ideas, but essentially it is me, my processes, and showing where I am at the moment with my art.’
Lorna’s exhibition is free to view, and is on display throughout September.
by Mike Wade
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