Before Make it at Market BBC1 Oct 2023

Charlotte Savill Stained Glass Artist Bristol

Musings on my art beginnings

I studied Fine Art at University, I specialised in Sculpture. I have always been interested in design and construction and as I child I was encouraged to create. My Dad is a traditional wooden Boat Builder, he's always had a workshop covered in sawdust that smells of glue and swarfiga. My Mum made all my clothes when I was little, and was a super fast knitter. She had a love for tiny things and had the most steady hands for intricate detail until she got arthritis and they gave up on her.

My work once appeared on the Gallery on Blue Peter. I drew around my Mum and covered it in gold and silver milk bottle tops that took me months to collect from friends and neighbours. It looked like a spaceman and I was very proud of it when I saw it on the telly.

Ideas and Execution

During my time at University I found Fine Art too conceptual, we had to question everything we did and have a reason for doing it. I found this all very frustrating as I wanted to make beautiful work to look at and people wanted people to appreciate my craftmenship. The students who got the highest grades on my course were the ones who made abstract conceptual work and their talent was definitely not their artistry. Their ideas were more important than the execution and they had the confidence to articulate them. I envied them, but at the same time I found it all very frustrating and always felt like I had to explain myself without being able to just create. This became a burden until relatively recently.

Creative Play

Maybe the change in my attitude has come from wisdom, maybe I'm less self conscious or maybe we are all now more mindful. Creative play is a big part of my practice and my process. Creativity is a journey, not a destination. It's important to explore and make mistakes and not take yourself too seriously. I don't feel the need to justify or question what I make to anyone and I am very proud of the skills I have developed over my many years of playing.

If people like it and appreciate it they buy it, if they don't, they don't.

I wish that I had that confidence after I graduated.

Have you struggled with putting yourself out there?

Charlotte