give and receive by lydia stonehouse

Graduates 2022: Lydia Stonehouse: Fine Art Painting

“I have loved the course so much – it couldn’t have been a better fit for me! It’s been the perfect mix of theoretical discussion and practical exploration around the vast and yet specific subject of contemporary painting.”

Hi Lydia, please tell us a bit about your work and your influences

“I make paintings which explore how being present to our bodily senses can help us make sense of the world we move through, linking internal corporeal sensations and our exterior world.

“A curiosity of how to visually capture the essence of these everyday human sensory experiences in a way that re-triggers something of that moment for the viewer is worked through in the play between abstraction and figuration within my practice. My process driven approach to painting allows that blurring of abstract/figurative boundaries, with suggestions of recognisable forms appearing through pushing paint on and off the canvas, layering up gestural marks and veils of colour in a way that amalgamates all aspects into a kind of visual map of a sensation.

How have you found your course and time at Brighton? 

“I have honestly loved the course so much – it couldn’t have been a better fit for me!

“It’s been the perfect mix of theoretical discussion and practical exploration around the vast and yet specific subject of contemporary painting. The time in the studio has been invaluable, often spending more hours in the studio than anywhere else in a week has made for a tight knit community of fellow students ( or should I say artists!?) who propel each other forward to produce exciting work.

The eccentricity of Brighton as a place to live and study in has been freeing, and the ‘anything goes’ mentality has definitely fed into my painting practice – for which I am grateful!”

How did you choose your course – why did you choose to study Painting? 

“Studying Art at A-Level, I got really into painting, spending any free period in the studio making as much work as I could. I found the way Painting’s refusal to die throughout history and its constant re-invention of itself intriguing and I wanted to take the time to explore that along with it’s complexities of materiality and conceptualism. During that time I’d seen the quality of the work coming out of the Painting course at Brighton via Instagram and It caught my attention.

“Having visited the studios on an open day I was completely sold, the amount of space compared to similar courses in London was amazing and the more I heard about the content of the course It really felt like a perfect fit.  Having been frustrated by the start-stop nature of ‘briefs’ during my foundation course I was excited at the prospect of a more continuous development of a contemporary art practice over 3 years in a place where I, as a painter, would be nurtured and able to hone my skills.”

What are your plans after graduation? 

“Having felt like I missed out on some of the buzz of Brighton during various lock-downs I feel I have unfinished business with the city. So, I’m planning to stay a little longer and continue to develop my painting practice alongside some part-time work, So I’ll be on the hunt for a studio, hopefully with a few fellow painters who are also keen to stick around.”

Find Lydia on Instagram @lydia_stonehouse_

Visit Lydia’s website

Summer Shows (brighton.ac.uk)

Find out more about Fine Art: Painting

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