INTERVIEW WITH LUCY UNSTED 

What is your work about?

My current work stems from my curiosity of Still Life and the control I have over the inanimate objects I choose to make a series of compositions.

What themes have you explored within your work?

Aesthetics is a theme that I consider to play an important role in my work. I am an incredibly visual person and the objects that I choose for my work are based on whether I find it aesthetically pleasing, interesting to look at and how well they would work as an ensemble or individually. 

Still Life is a very old and traditional genre of art, why does it interest you so much?

I like that I have control over the objects I use and choose when creating a still life; they’re inanimate, I can move them however I please and I have control of the environment I put them in.

Who are your biggest artistic influences?

I admire Paul Cezanne’s still life paintings, in particular his still life with skull painting. Phillipe de Champaigne is another artist I admire. I found that Vanitas and Memento Mori paintings have definitely influenced my work.

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        Why is that?

I have included objects like skulls, fruit and flowers in my past and upcoming pieces not just for the aesthetic, but finding out that these are just some of the symbols to remind us of death, we are only temporary and to maybe put less emphasis on the luxuries we have in life is so clever and fascinating to me.

I have noticed on your website that you paint as well, what is your preferred medium and why?

I have experimented with paint and other mediums but my speciality is drawing and currently my preferred medium is charcoal but I do use pencil and coloured pencil. I prefer charcoal because I love working in black and white and how I can emphasise the shadows and light using charcoal in my work.

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What processes do you use for your artwork?

I would set up the still life to my liking and I would often use artificial light to emphasise the shadows and the reflection of the light bouncing off the objects. I have often worked in life but nine times out of time I would take a series of photographs and work from those, as I find it easier to edit the photos in black and white as I’m working in charcoal.

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What are you going to do after you graduate?

I will be sticking with my current place of employment for the time being as well as completing commissions over the summer. But I will be applying for a masters in Fine Art as I wish to continue and develop my knowledge in this industry an fulfill my goal to become a full time artist.

What advice would you give to a student starting their first year of their degree course?

Enter the course with an open mind. I started the course adamant that I hated charcoal, I didn’t get along with it and couldn’t use it properly. But then I ended up using charcoal for all of my final pieces in the degree show.