MICHAELE WYNN-JONES

Please could you tell us a little about yourself and your background (where you were born & educated; were/are your parents/grandparents creative?

I was the eldest of six children born in London to a Polish/Russian father and an English mother and we relocated to Eastbourne when I was eight. If one describes creativity in its broadest form then my mother certainly had a fertile imagination and could knit anything including life sized football players! We know nothing about the paternal side of our family but  my mother’s parents were both creative and my grandfather, a mechanical engineer who developed power steering, was an accomplished pen and ink illustrator. His daughter, My aunt was a professional portrait painter and painted mayors of Wimborne and Bournemouth, illustrated books and one of her daughters is a sculptor. I have also several professional artists amongst my nieces and nephews.

Did you have an interest in art as a child? 

I have always been a creative: musical, writing, drama, stage set painting, and all forms of art and craft from childhood but it was never really thought of as a particular talent as so much was in the family.

Did you have a formal art education or are you self taught?

My formal art education stopped when I was 15 as my educators did not consider art a subject so I was self taught until I went off to art school in Scotland when I was 65!!

Was there a moment or a person or a place in your past that influenced you or you feel set you on the journey to where you are now?

Actually no. I have always done what I do and take it very much for granted.

What’s the best thing about being an artist?

Having an excuse for not having the time to iron or keeping my house clean and tidy (!) and the thrill when someone likes what I create enough to buy it. I also love working alongside artists from other disciplines to my own. I currently share a studio with a wonderful guitar maker and a ceramist and consider myself very fortunate. 

And the worst..!?

Not having the time to iron or keep my house clean and tidy!

What inspires and influences your art?

Virtually everything but particularly colour, nature and the natural world 

Where are you finding ideas and inspiration for your work currently?

I search out gifted teachers and go to work with them. For example I have studied portrait painting with Peter Keegan in Buckinghamshire and the portraits I have done with him have been amongst my best work. I also travelled back to Scotland where I worked with two outstanding abstract teachers because I thought abstraction was ‘a cop out for people who couldn’t draw.’ So I went to find out and the workshops were amongst the hardest work I’ve done. 

During Covid I decided that oil painting was too smelly to be doing at home so I started experimenting with oil pastel and acrylic. 

Please tell us a little about the process involved in making your art?

My process is simple really. I turn up everyday and make art. Gradually my work improves and I develop the confidence to take risks with different approaches, different media and genre.  I create purely for the pleasure it brings me.

As an artist, what's your most indispensable item? 

My eyesight. My mother went blind in her eighties and I remember her intense frustration 

Do you belong to any societies or groups?

I participate in a small art group on Thursday mornings where we encourage each other and enjoy sharing what we are currently doing but apart from that I don’t belong to groups. 

If you weren’t an artist, what would you be? 

I would be a stage director or a concert pianist.

What's your ambition/aspirations for the future...?

I always thought it would be great to have an art gallery since I am so prolific and work across lots of media but for now I am thoroughly enjoying seeing at first hand what is involved by being at The New Art Gallery with Peter Patterson. 

What is the most important thing to know about you? 

I believe art is a natural gift and that it should be centre stage in education. And I speak as an ex deputy head teacher in mainstream as well as someone who met educational failures who turned out to be excellent art makers,  whilst I was teaching in a men’s remand prison.  

Creativity and art education should be treated with as much respect as maths, science and English. But that’s just my opinion.