Meet the Artists... Emma Hardaker and Rachel Hinds...

From a disused pie factory to the dark satanic mills of Brighouse, and back again... curator Si Smith talks with artists Rachel Hinds and Emma Hardaker about where they've been and where they're going...

Si: Hi Rachel and Emma, and welcome to the exhibition blog.When we approached each of you about making some work for this show I didn't realise it, but you know one another from back in the day, when you shared a studio at Enjoy...

Emma: It feels like so long since I was a studio holder with Enjoy!

Rachel:  Ah yes, the landscapes that I painted there. I remember being very excited to have my first ever studio space - it was in Mabgate, and I think the building used to be a pie factory. It was very cheap with a mix of professional artists and art enthusiasts…

Si: So I’m wondering what you’ve both been up to since you shared that studio space?

Rachel: I'm still painting landscapes, I can see how they are improving technically all the time. I'm keen to continually strive to improve and eventually achieve a very high standard, to be among the best!
This sort of study takes years, decades even, and in this age of 'the Next Big New Thing in Art' it’s essentially going against the tide. Which is something I frequently find myself doing…
Since I left Enjoy studios, I've been figuring out the direction I want my painting to go. I'm pretty sure now I want to concentrate on two areas - achieving excellence in my figurative work, and experimenting with colour and form in my abstracts.

I recently found out that the Atelier system was alive and well, so my aim this year is to go to Manchester to study with a realist art school. What direction has your art career taken Emma?  I remember doing a workshop with you last year in the Corn Exchange!

Emma: At the beginning of 2014 I decided to open an art supplies shop and started running and teaching classes. I closed the shop end of last year and I am now concentrating once again on my own practice, whilst running a few workshops here and there… I am also working with Assembly House as a programmer and, in a strange turn of events, have recently returned back to Enjoy running their project space along with the rest of Assembly House! Where is your studio at the moment - or are you working from home?

Rachel: I've a studio about 12 minutes walk from my house! 

It's great to hear that Enjoy is doing well - I remember that substantial exhibition space upstairs - Leeds could do with more spaces like that for emerging artists to showcase their work.  After the  drama surrounding the opening of the British Art Show 8, myself and other artists were surprised to learn that Leeds has so few opportunities for artists to exhibit in the city centre.  Manchester and Liverpool are more on the game - let's hope Leeds steps up. The north of England has a hard time getting the attention it deserves in the national art scene as it is. 
What's the focus of your art practice these days?

Emma: I make conceptual pieces - often constructed from a combination of film projection and performance. They're visually quite stylised and often cinematic...

I think that having live elements encourages the audience to interact more with the work, and that enhances the whole experience...

Si: I'm really pleased to have you both onboard for the exhibition, because I think that you'll each bring something quite unique to the show... I don't want to pressure you into giving any secrets away, but can you tell us something about the work that you've made/are making for us...?

Rachel: Well, I've always admired Blake's passion, and his beatific visions of England. So for this exhibition, I painted a scene of a small mill town - Brighouse, in Calderdale, complete with mills and chimneys and a flock of curious cows…

Emma: I really like that piece and look forward to seeing it in person soon. It feels very much like you are seeing the very place that Blake speaks of in the poem, and the atmosphere you have created with the colours is like the feeling you get just before it rains… For this show I have been exploring ideas of patriotism and religion - mainly looking at ways I can relay the thoughts and feelings of the poem into an installation or performance. So far I have began making films using repetition and rituals, and I have began planning an endurance performance using needle work which makes reference to the labour ensured in the "dark satanic mills"...

Rachel: So what’s your take on Blake, Emma?

Emma: I’ve been inspired by Blake since I was bought a poetry book with poems of his, selected by Patti Smith, for one of my birthdays as a teenager. When did you first come across him?

Rachel: I bought the work of a flurry of poets - including William Blake - 20 years ago… Looking back to my younger self it was probably because I thought poets, like other creatives, were exploring the human condition with words rather than painting images, and at the time I was trying to make sense of the world. I still am…