Ella Quinn

I am a multi-disciplinary artist/maker who is driven by making and creating; sometimes it feels as though I could not exist without creating. I love combining craft techniques and fine art ideas to make pieces that explore the natural world, mythology, fantasy, my emotions, and more. My work often uses found materials, reclaimed fabric, and other materials that would otherwise be destined to end up in a dump; I like to salvage what I can from what many see as rubbish, even it is only a little.

Q&A

Artist Statement

I am an Irish born artist that creates with any material I can get my hands on. I was born and raised on a farm in rural Wicklow, and my life and art are forever influenced by the natural world and the magic it holds. Creating has always been entwined within my person, I cannot help but make, whether that be sewing tiny beetles over stains on my mothers dresses, or covering my bedroom walls with murals as a child. I am a maker, I could not escape it even if I wanted to. I primarily work in various forms of sculpture, focusing on textile art. Masks, large scale soft sculptures, strange dolls, I just love the potential of fabric. I also create a lot of 2D textile works such as embroidery. Additionally, I am also a painter, digital artist and jewelry maker. If I am creating, I am happy, no matter the medium.I am heavily influenced by Irish mythology, fantasy, the natural world, my childhood and my own emotions, with all my work referencing at least one aspect.

What craft do you work with?

I work in a number of crafts, mainly textiles. I recently graduated from NCAD Applied Materials Textile Art and Artefact, though I have worked with embroidery, fabric dyeing, patchworking, textile sculpture and hand and machine sewing since 2018. My favorite technique at the moment is patchworking and blending fabric scraps using machine and hand embroidery to use in soft sculptures. I am also a traditional sculptor, using clay of various types, found materials, and home-made clays made from recycled paper.

What inspires you to work with this craft?

I am passionate about the potential of easy to access, sustainable materials. I am a material lead maker. I often find an old shirt in a charity shop, or piece of recycling in the bin and let the material lead me to what it wants to become. In the fish soft sculpture above, the eye is the top of a slushy cup I found on the side of the road and I knew it wanted to be the glazed over eye of a dead fish. I believe that textile crafts matter for a number of reasons. Textile crafts of all types, embroidery, lace making, weaving, they are all or have all been seen as less skillful, less expressive or less worthy because they were classified as “women’s work”. I believe that the continued use and development of textile art is important because the stigma surrounding textile craft has caused less people to explore and develop the craft. The materials I like to use are varied. I am fascinated with fabric of all kinds and the potential they hold, I also like to incorporate found materials such as glass, plastics, natural materials such as bones, leaves, sticks, stones, shells. I love using used clothing especially, I love the idea that this item of clothing had life before I found it, and that I can lengthen that life.

How do you start your creative process?

I typically begin with a material of initial idea that inspires me, then I create concepts using watercolour paint, inks and pens, I go though many rough sketches as well as scrawled ideas until I settle on a loose idea. From there I begin making, often stopping to experiment and problem solve before returning to the work. My favorite part of the creative process is the making its self. I love using my hands, diving deep into the making process and getting lost in the feel and flow of the work. I often find the most difficult part to be knowing when to stop. Is that too many beads? Too much detail? I can get so lost in the making that I can take the work too far.

How would you best describe your workspace and what tools could you not do without?

My workspace is chaotic, and I like it that way. I am typically surrounded by fabric scraps and dyes, threads in my hair, needles in my shirt, scissors in my pocket. I keep a clear and tidy desk where I use technical tools such as my sewing machine or Dremel, any tool that has any safety risk. Otherwise, I have a separate space where I do my hand work, arrange my patchwork and draw up my deigns. My favorite tools are a sharp scissors and a very sharp needle with a large eye, and of course, a spool of strong thread. I also rely on a large cutting mat, a good metal ruler, new scalpels and a rotary blade. I am very fond of my sewing machine for creating strength and structure in my work, and I dearly miss the free machine embroidery machine I had access to in college.

Are there new techniques you would like to try?

I am looking into fabric block printing to create my own patterned fabric. Additionally, I am wish to explore more dyeing techniques such as shibori dyeing and natural dyeing.

What have you learnt or the best advice you have received that you would like to share with fellow crafters?

I have learned that for me, making is where I feel the most content and fulfilled. I have also learned that sometimes (with safety in mind) it is beneficial to try a technique, tool or material without fully knowing how it works. Sometimes the best innovation comes from not knowing the limits of a tool, material or technique. I would adore a collaboration with creators whos craft is completely alien to me, as well as fiber artists such as crochet, knit and weaving.My professional dream is to create work that is accessible to most viewers, something aesthetically appealing and enthralling for both artists and non-artists. In an ideal reality I would work to create large scale performative pieces, masks, highly detailed and tactile works.