Sharon O’Connell

Do you concentrate on one medium, or do you work in several? 

Before my degree in Applied Arts I completed a two year Fine Art foundation course (with units that included print making, photography, design, photoshop, art book making etc) and also attended a silversmithing course alongside it. My degree covered ceramics, silversmithing, stone masonry, wood, paper and glass fusion. My mum designed and made wedding dresses (as light relief from her nursing) and taught me a lot of textile techniques growing up….. so, as you can see I have a broad background in many art forms.

I call myself a textile artist at the moment, as presently I tend to use felting methods predominantly in my work, but that could change next year!

My fine art training means that I sort of look at art as a problem that needs solving and so use whatever techniques or medium “fixes” the problem.

Tell me about your workspace

My personal workspace is a converted bedroom (now full of everything I have collected over the years “just incase” I need it) looking over rolling Derbyshire fields – just wonderful!

However, for this exhibition I will be working from The Back Room at The Derbyshire Makers shop and gallery at Peak Village in Rowsley.

I am getting quite excited about it as not only will I being working alongside the incredibly talented Jude Shore, but we are taking the whole of January to create the exhibition in The Little Gallery and will start the creative process on Day One.

We will have the door open so that people visiting the shop can see our creative process in action – so if you hear gales of laughter coming from The Back Room it will probably be two aging artists creating art!!

What inspires you?

The natural world is a huge inspiration for me, not just rolling hills and crashing waves, but also the tiny, alien world you see under a microscope. I love taking photos of everything – my family think I’m a little crazy when I get excited by bark on a tree or the colours of oil in a puddle. I’m really drawn to dramatic weather too or crashing waves.

I have recently realised that all my work seems to be governed by layers…. these can be layers of colour, or materials, or both.

I am an instinctive artist and find the process of “making” guides my creative direction – I don’t spend much time planning, but do like to research new techniques I can use, which is one of the reasons I am looking forward to working with Jude, as she has such a wealth of experience to call upon and will hopefully teach me a lot.

 Do you have a favourite piece in your Little Gallery exhibition?

As we haven’t even started the creative process yet, I can’t really answer that, but I am really intrigued which way our installation will go – I do know that it will hopefully be an immersive experience for visitors. But we really will have to just “watch this space”!

Hopefully you will visit several times during January to see the progress.

How did you start doing what you do?

I have always had art & craft as a hobby – my entire family growing up were very creative, but like many I got a “proper job” and joined Marks & Spencer straight after A levels as a Commercial Management Trainee.  I then worked in various sectors (including event project management) and when my children were at school and we were in a financially more secure place, I was lucky enough to take a few years out to complete the foundation course and degree. I have since built up my art business and in the last few years taken over the running of The Derbyshire Makers – culminating this year with opening the shop and gallery at Peak Village.

I think one of the reasons that I am so excited to be doing this art installation with Jude is, because I have concentrated on the shop and running all the other areas of TDM, I haven’t had any time to create art myself this year. My hands are starting to become twitchy and I know that I need to get making again. It is a challenge though, as I haven’t taken part in a collaboration of this nature before and it is a tight deadline for us….

 Do you work on your creative business full time, or do you have another job as well?

At the moment TDM is talking up nearly all of my time – I hadn’t intended for it to be full time (my husband has recently taken early retirement) and I am looking at ways to get help with some of the jobs, so that it doesn't consume me as it is doing at the moment. However, that said – I LOVE IT! Meeting all the Makers and helping them with their businesses is so rewarding and hearing how much the customers enjoy the shop makes me proud with what we have achieved.

 If you have spare time, what do you do with it?

What spare time!!

I have just been blessed with my first Granddaughter, so I have to say any time I do have free is usually spent having Granny Cuddles :)

I also like to read - everything from cookery and craft books to Shakespeare and a good historical romance.

What’s next for you?

I have soooo many ideas for The Derbyshire Makers, but just don’t have the time to put it all into action. I have had to be strict with myself and concentrate on just a few projects at a time.

The first couple that you will see early next year are the exhibition/ installation with Jude and then we are also launching a series of Maker led workshops throughout the year.

I also want to plan the “Next Chapter” for TDM and make sure that the future for our wonderful collective is secure, as and when I want to step back.

So, I think the bywords for me at the moment are “watch this space”!