Artist Talk, Angela Harding:

Artist Talk, Angela Harding. On Friday 28th February 2020 I attended Angela Harding’s artist talk. Angela is a very inspirational woman who mainly focuses her art in the areas of print and illustration. The artist told us how she likes to live a ‘Hippie life style’ and how she spends a lot of time with her husband on their boat, their journeys also help her with inspiration towards her work. Hardings work deeply is inspired by Wildlife and Landscapes, she even stated at one point how she used to collect roadkill and take it with her to use as a drawing reference. The artist explains to us how she has a huge love for Birds and that is why they’re so involved in all of her work, Angela actually has a whole book based completely on her work of Birds which she teamed up with a woman named Miranda Krestovnikoff.

Angela Harding creates the most stunning Lino prints which I had the privilege to see and touch within her artist talk as she passed them all around the room. From just looking at her prints I can see that she uses a handful of layers to add in a range of different colours. I really like how it looks like she uses a ‘etching’ technique when it comes to carving her Lino to create beautiful details for example the Birds feathers. Everyone was absolutely blown away by her art and we were so interested in her method which she went on to explain to us and told us how she prefers to use Heritage paper and Japanese Vinyl for her Lino prints.

She also showed us her collections of items such as: tea towels, calendars, cards, books and so much more things that all her very own patterns on. Each item she showed us was presented beautifully. The artist even stated how she has plans to print 30,000 of her calendars this year. It is fair to say that Angela has a very unique talent when it comes to printing and illustrating.

Angela mentioned something in her talk which was really pleasing as such, she told us how she never thought she could earn a living from selling her art but look where she is now. This was so nice to hear as many of us artists worrying that sometimes our art won’t be enough, but to hear this made me feel more motivated and determined. She also stated how she is near the age of retirement and she has never been busier!

At the end of her artist talk she gave us all the oppuntity to buy her Book of Birds at a discounts price of £10 so of course I had to buy one, she also even signed them all for us! I was so luckly that one of her helpers also gave me range off different postcards designed by her for free, I was so happy. She even added my Instagram story to her story too!

I attended this artist talk to gather information upon Lino printing as this is a technique I want to presue a lot more of within my module.