Artist of the Week - Lou Trigg

Lou Trigg is a textile artist living and working in Brighton.

One favourite living artist? Why?
Tracey Emin - her work is always made with such intense feeling; I can relate to a lot of her history

One favourite historical artist? Why?
Frida Kahlo - another woman who painted from her heart; for me, that's what real art means

When and where did you first want to do what you do?
I have always dabbled with my creativity but never felt it was 'good enough'. I did my foundation course at City College (with the wonderful Phil Tyler) and made my first animation which made me realise I could produce work that I was proud of.
http://blip.tv/file/836685

What place in the world has inspired you?
My heart

Do you work best on your own or in collaboration?
On my own

At age 15 who influenced your style?
Roger McGough

How much do you bend your 'vision' to suit the marketplace - if at all?
No way!





Who would you say buys your work?
I think it's usually women, but generally anyone who has been touched by as well as amused by my 'stitchures'

How do you set about starting a new project?
I tend to get an idea and then rather than thinking about it, planning it, sketching it, I tend to rush in and just start stitching. I am impatient but I have learnt to accept that this is how I work and it works for me.

Where and what is your studio?
A big spare bedroom in my house in Brighton

Do you have a good work/life balance?
At the moment I do as I am not working or studying. However, immediately after the Brighton Art Fair, I begin an MA in Gender and Media at Sussex University which will be a great challenge and will, hopefully, help to feed my sewn work. I am doing the course over 2 years in the hopes that I will still find time to stitch!



What one word would describe your feeling of doing your work?
Obsessive

Would you rather be doing something else?
No way

Are there other fields that you'd like to apply some facet of your work into?
I have animated my sewn works and self published a poetry book; whilst my main love is the sewing machine, I would like to combine it with film again.
http://blip.tv/file/1260753

If you could exhibit in any gallery which would it be?
The Tate please

Most overrated artist/maker?
Damien Hirst

Where do the majority of your inspiration / ideas come from?
Song lyrics, films and dreadful internet dating profiles



Where did you train? Favourite / least favourite aspects of training?
Foundation Course, City College
MA Sequential Design, Brighton University
Machine Embroidery, Connaught Centre
It was all good stuff.

Please list any exhibitions you have had in the past 12 months.
Congregation, St Paul's Church, Brighton, 2009
Artists Open Houses, Brighton, 2009
The Great Escape, Thistle Hotel, Brighton, 2009
Presenting The Top 100, Jealous Gallery, London, 2009
Frou Frou, Weston super Mare, 2009

Any other relevant information?
My primary focus is on the invisibility of women in their 50’s. Cosmetic surgery has become the norm and is seen in a similar light to changing hair colour or buying a new dress. Looking good equates to looking young. Women over 50 are not allowed to look their age - as if ageing itself is a disease and, unless their faces have been stretched to appear expressionless, women ‘of a certain age’ simply become invisible.

For the artists open house in May I created an installation of a dressing table, depicting a vast array of original cosmetics from the 1950’s and 60’s showing the efforts made by an older woman to “keep young and beautiful”