Southbank Arts Trail: meet the artists

We grabbed quick interviews with four of the talented artists exhibiting at this weekend’s Southbank Arts Trail (May 14-15, homes and venues across Southville, Bedminster and Ashton).

Yurim Gough
An artist working with ceramics, former fashion designer Yurim (pictured above) is opening her home in Kingston Road.

Tell us what you’ll be displaying during the weekend.
I will be displaying ceramics, mostly bowls with life-drawing sketches on the inside surface with gold highlights. I draw straight onto the surface of each piece in front of a live model, marrying the pose to the contoured surface. The lines from the model are communicated through the rough texture to the fired stoneware pinchwork with a ceramic pencil. The jagged lines soften under glaze.
On the walls, I will be showing paintings, sketches of people and landscapes and, for the first time, my life drawings which I have not offered for sale before.

How important is the art trail in your calendar?
Southbank is as important to me as exhibiting in the Arnolfini for The Other Art Fair last year. It’s unique in that it’s free and gives visitors an opportunity to see a much greater range work at a lower price.

Sue Gruffydd
Arts Trail regular Sue shows her distinctive recycled ‘Bagladies’ at a house on Merrywood Road.

Tell us about your work, Sue.
After leaving art college I worked in London advertising agencies, mostly drawing fashion, and spent one year as a painter on the film Yellow Submarine. I took a degree in illustration, always loved drawing and painting women, and regularly go to life drawing classes.
Bagladies emerged about ten years ago after plastic bags seemed to be spilling out of every cupboard and drawer at home. I started playing with them, scrunching them up, joining them together – and female shapes began appearing. I covered them in papier mâché, painted them in acrylics, and haven’t stopped playing since.

How would you describe your style?
I love gentle British humour, old proverbs and curvaceous women – and I try to combine all three. I guess my main influences are Chagall and Fernando Botero, with a bit of old-fashioned seaside postcard humour mixed in. I’m happy when my work makes people laugh, cheers them up, or gives pleasure.

How important is the Trail in your calendar?
I think its greatest importance is allowing absolutely everyone to gain confidence and enjoyment through showing their work, whether it’s a young child painting designs on T-shirts or a grandmother making delicious jam. It’s also a perfect opportunity to bring local artists and visitors together. There’s a true feeling of community, which I reckon is unique.

Dave Young
Film-maker and photographer Dave Young is showing work from a variety of personal projects at his home in Kingston Road.

Tell us about your work, Dave.
After studying Documentary Photography, I worked for various national magazines as well as shooting advertising campaigns, but I have always nurtured my own, self-motivated projects – among them a series called High-Risers (about tower-block living), some of which I’ll be exhibiting.
The limited-edition prints on show will also include images shot for an illustrated book called Kitsch Deluxe (all about the trash aesthetic – think garden gnomes, leopard skin and Hula girls), as well as photographs from The Season ­– a personal project which grew out of my first significant film commission, a mini-series on the Wimbledon-Henley-Ascot scene.

And your influences?
My work has been heavily influenced by documentary photographers such as Robert Frank, William Egglestone, Eugene Richards, Alex Webb and William Albert Allard. My personal style ­– quirky, colourful, ironic – has been compared to that of Martin Parr, although I like to think that mine is warmer and more sympathetic.

Ruth Broadway
Graphic artist and print-maker Ruth, works in a basement studio in her parents’ home in Mount Pleasant Terrace. Her contribution to the arts trail is part of Broadway family collaboration: Father Steve, mother Moira and sister Hannah will all be displaying their work for the trail.

What sort of work will you be displaying over the weekend, Ruth?
A full-time artist, I make bright, colourful and graphic lino and screen prints as well as jewellery and illustrated products like tea towels, t shirts, mugs and cards. 

How important is the Art Trail in your calendar?
Southbank is always a highlight of my creative calendar.  I love to see our local community enjoying art together.  The space where we (my family: dad, mum, sister, husband and friends) show our work is my studio in normal life, so it’s also a very good point in the year for me to have a thorough sort out and a proper tidy up before people come through in their hundreds (we’ve counted!). It’s always lovely to see returning customers and I try to produce some new work especially for trail.

Southbank Arts Trail May 14-15, homes and venues across Southville, Bedminster and Ashton, 11am-6pm. You can read our preview here: for more info, visit www.southbankbristolarts.co.uk