Arran Artist of the Month
Our Arran Artist of the Month for December is Ann Hume, who makes beautiful jewellery in Brodick.
How would you describe your work and the philosophy behind it, Ann?
My work is created mainly by folding silver circles and ovals. I sometimes hammer along the fold before opening it out, a little like the petal of a flower opening. I am concerned with the way the metal naturally behaves when it’s folded or hammered. When metal is heated and cooled, a process called annealing, it becomes softer and more malleable enabling me to create soft curves.
I then solder groups of these shapes together to create organic looking forms which I hope are delicate and beautiful. I don’t polish highly as I love the contrast between a matt finish with linear highlights drawing around the form.
Where did you grow up, go to school, and go to college or university?
I grew up and went to school in Renfrew. I then went on to study Drawing and Painting at Glasgow School of Art which was a great privilege. To spend all day drawing and painting for four years and share the experience with other young creative people was just great. My oldest and closest friends come from that period.
What other jobs have you done?
Soon after leaving art school I had my first son and during his early years I worked in various part time jobs from children’s portrait photography, working in bars and restaurants and in a florists, this kept the wolf from the door!
In addition to this I taught Saturday morning art classes to 11-16 year olds at Kilmardinnay House in Bearsden and an evening class in drawing and painting, so I was very busy.
In 1988 I joined a post graduate course in Primary teaching and began teaching in the south West of England in ’89. After 22 years teaching, with both my sons having left home, my husband and I decided to return to Scotland and Arran and I made the decision to leave teaching and draw a line under that phase of my life.
At the present time, when not making jewellery, I work part time in the Tourist information office and I have just begun teaching a silversmithing evening class at Argyll College which I am enjoying very much.
Tell us something about your journey in art – how is it that you are here now, on Arran, and doing what you do?
Arran goes back a long way in my life. I spent summers here working at the Glenisle Hotel and Lochranza Tearoom in the 1970s and I loved it. The plan was always to return and we did this in 2010. Throughout the time I spent teaching and bringing up my family, I had little time for anything else. As the children grew up I began to spend more time on my own creativity. I have always made time to draw. When I’m drawing I think of nothing else but looking, seeing and feeling the marks I am making on the paper, very much in the here and now. It’s when I am at my happiest and most content.
About 10 years ago I joined a short course in silversmithing, mainly to accompany a friend, and I got ‘hooked’. I loved the way you could manipulate metal and especially enjoyed seeing the way the metal behaves naturally when folded or hammered. I am mainly self-taught and have done some workshops with contemporary jewellers to develop my skills. The possibilities are endless when working with metal but I choose to stick to my own style and develop it. I make what I want and hope that enough people like it. I am in the fortunate position of being able to do this. It is challenging to keep this approach. I now have three galleries on mainland Scotland with my work with Arran Art Gallery and the Rockpool on Arran. I have no plans to increase this as I want to have the time to ‘play’ with my work and continue to enjoy and develop it. I do have a desire to paint again and know that I will at some point.
Who or what have been the greatest influences in your work? Which other artists do you most admire?
I admire the work of a young silversmith Theresa Nguyen who creates beautiful forms in silver. If I could afford the silver I’d work on this scale, perhaps one day? Most people will probably not have heard of her but she’s worth a Google.
Charles Lewton Brain who has developed the technique of fold forming metal and I also admire a jeweller who is at the forefront of ethical jewellery, Ute Decker. The source of the materials I work with has niggled me, the idea that I create adornments from material which has been mined with dubious connections. The human rights and environmental issues are huge and the supply chain for materials is very complex. I have begun to look into this and my supplier can provide 100% recycled silver. This is not a perfect solution as you never know exactly where the original silver was mined but it’s a start. There is an excellent blog on Ute’s web site if anyone is interested. I will continue to explore this area.
In terms of painting I particularly love the work of Scottish painters Anne Redpath, William Gillies and Elizabeth Blackadder. Having now returned to live in Scotland I’m very much enjoying getting in touch with Scottish painting again. Lucien Freud’s drawings are another favourite. To be honest there are too many favourites to mention.
Describe your workspace or studio for us.
My work room is at the back of my house which looks onto Stronach wood. With its monumental Scots pines, which squirrels spiral around, it can be distracting but very beautiful.
How do you tend to work – in concentrated bursts, sporadically, or in a regular daily pattern?
The frequency and intensity that I work in is dependent on how much work I have on. My preferred way to work is in bursts of a couple of hours, stopping to potter for 10 or 15 minutes and then returning. It can be quite intense working on a small scale and having to be precise. Training as a painter I was encouraged to make huge free brush strokes, silversmithing is very different. I don’t like working to time pressures and resist this as much as I can possibly do.
And what are you working on at present?
I am continuing to develop my work on folding. I find that as long as I am working ideas develop and creativity flows.
Thank you very much Ann.
