ARTIST INTERVIEW: AMELIA WOOD
Amelia Frances Wood
Tell me about yourself, what inspired you to create sculptures?
I’ve been lucky to be held by a community of creative people who have been fundamental to my practice and journey in art. My family is very creative, from a young age my parents have always educated and encouraged me in the importance of the arts.
I've always been a tactile person. I enjoy using my hands and feeling connected physically to my surroundings, whether it's planting in the soil or sculpting with clay. It is one in the same to me, it's cathartic, calming and feels inherent.
How important is the meaning of the material in relation to the overall meaning of your work?
The materials I chose to work with have great importance to my sculptures. I enjoy working with tactile materials such as clay, organic material and fabric. Clay for example: gives me that same sense of connectivity to the earth as does planting in soil; it is alive and fertile. Clay is an organic material that needs a physical intervention to mould it, akin to soil. I am the intervention, the force that can mould a material into a new creation, whether that be through sculpting clay or earth, the raw connection is still the same. Working with clay, reminds us of what we came from and what it means to be human, as Sue Stuart-Smith mentions “However distinct from soil and plant life we may be, we are made of the same stuff and must return from whence we came.” The Well-Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature.
The history encapsulated within a material or object is a recurrent point of inspiration.
Clay has exceptional durability and longevity allowing clay artefacts to last the test of time. When properly fired, clay objects can last for thousands of years, surviving centuries buried in the earth or preserved in archaeological sites. This longevity ensures that the creations of our ancestors endure, providing tangible links to the past and a means to explore our shared human heritage. The clay body also holds within it the minerals of the earth walked over by those who have walked long before us. Clay body invites us to reflect on the cyclical nature of human life and the enduring legacy of our ancestors, echoing those who came before us.
The Well-Behaved Teacup and Saucer
Leeds Art Gallery, Photography taken by Rob Battersby
Where do you find your inspiration?
Coming from generations of farmers, nurturing, growing and interconnectivity with the earth is one of my most valued practices in my life and artwork. I have an allotment, which inspires me heavily. While digging, I often find bits of glass and ceramic revealed to me through the gentle turning of soil like small treasures alongside the potatoes I harvest. The longevity of these objects, a forced preservation of nature to man, is a constant reminder to me of the impact and shared responsibility we have to our landscape. These artefacts serve as a tangible link to the past
This connection with the earth drives me to be hands on with the materials I sculpt with. Clay for example: gives me that same sense of connectivity to the earth as does planting in soil; “it is alive and fertile”.
I would like you to think about your most recent work, how did you come up with the concept? What does this piece represent?
My most recent body of work was part of my solo exhibition at OUTPOST Gallery, Singing Over The Bones.
‘In Singing Over The Bones, Amelia Frances Wood invites you to an intimate dance between the departed and those they've left behind. Singing Over The Bones works as a temporary imagined/reality/other/in between space serving as a portal to the other world unlike the one we can see and touch. This consciousness, soul space, pools memories from our collective history and ancestral bones. We listen to the echoes of the past, through life giving waters and whispers through vessel's holes.
Amelia Frances Wood explores the ways in which material can hold collective memory, and aims to explore the invisible threads in which we are connected through our ancestral bones and heritage. She highlights the instinctive choice to focus on using clay and other tactile materials in this exhibition to emphasise the relationship these materials have and remind you of the body that made them.
Materials serve as tangible links to history because they carry with them the physical and cultural traces of the people and societies that used and created them. From the primal forces that shape our bodies to the memories etched within our being, this exhibition invites us to reflect on the cyclical nature of life and the enduring legacy of our ancestors. Through archaeology, memory and materials providing a tangible link to the past we celebrate the richness of our collective heritage and the ever-present echoes of those who came before us.’
What is the importance of colour in your art?
I’ve always used the colour red, even as a child, my grandma has a fond memory of me in her garden. I'd taken the watercolour set, gotten partially naked and painted myself red. I'm drawn to the heaviness of the colour. Red is historically associated with sacrifice, danger and courage and a modern association with love, birth, death, anger, blood, fire, sexuality and passion. The weighted meanings you can infer from the colour red is why I enjoy using it within my work, it creates a deep individual experience by the person putting their own interpretations onto the colour.
Do any of your works reflect how you feel?
My work is a reflection of my own experiences, thoughts, feelings, dreams and state of mind. I see my work as autobiographical in an abstract sense because of this.
Who is your favourite artist? If they were sitting next to you right now, what would you ask them?
Louise Bourgeois is my favourite artist. I would like to ask her what her last dream was about.
How does your work reflect issues in society?
I’m a feminist, I spend a lot of my time reading literature by women and women identifying people and reading feminist essays. My practice indirectly reflects this through my own experiences as a cis woman making sculpture and my strong beliefs on body autonomy, consent, pro-choice decisions, sexual health education and period poverty.
I’m an environmentalist. My practice is centred in my own deep feelings of collective care we should all hold for the earth, focusing on cultivation with care, a knowledge and importance of understanding where our food comes from and how it’s grown, the importance of native planting and the healing and restorative power of being in nature and access to green spaces.
What are your greatest achievements/challenges as an artist?
My greatest achievement is personally that I'm continuing to make art, in a post pandemic, cost of living crisis and conservative government that cultivates (in my opinion) greed, ignorance and toxic ideologies. I’m time rich and money poor. This brings me on to my biggest challenge I face as an artist, funding my practice.
Why do you think art is important in society?
Art is an important tool to constantly challenge and question beliefs we uphold in society.