MEET EMILY HASTIE
What was the inspiration behind your piece for SWELL Sculpture Festival 2022?
‘Ne Plus Ultra’ is inspired by my love for surfing, our coastal amenity and a preoccupation with where we as a species have come from and are headed.
What does exhibiting in the 20th year of SWELL Sculpture Festival mean to you?
Having grown up on the Gold Coast and seen the epic calibre of artwork that has collectively built the celebrated reputation SWELL Sculpture Festival over the past two decades, I am honoured to have my first sculptural artwork among those chosen to represent SWELL for this extra special milestone.
If you had to remove one colour from existence, which colour would you choose? Why?
If it was only one, and didn’t mean you’d lose the rest that have pigments of it, I’d say red. Most colour blind people wouldn’t be blind anymore then, in theory?
What is your favourite meal to cook when trying to impress someone?
Some sort of hot pot ramen style soup. Simply but tasty, easily vegan and gluten friendly, and I also don’t have to follow a recipe so it let’s me talk freely if I’m entertaining (thanks Leoma)!
You’ve been transported into a fictional world of your choosing. Which book, movie, or TV show would it be?
If it doesn’t involve receiving a letter from an owl, I’d go to Rivendell to live an enchanted life as an elf queen (LOTR) or Velaris to live a high-cultured faerie life in the Night Court of Prythian (Court of Mist & Fury). No mortal worries, just magic, long life and utopia.
What do you wish you knew about being an artist before you started creating?
Being an artist is to have courage and conviction, above all else.
What tools would you use to manage creative burnout?
My art making is all about managing creative burnout – I pull out the soldering torch and irons!
How would your friends describe you?
A quick survey returned “ethereal”, “unassuming”, “fairy-like”, “intriguing” and “acrobat” – a mental one, maybe?
What is your favourite part of the creative process?
My favourite part is when you begin to truly see and feel the artwork come into form and emanate its own presence. There is a stage where the eyes come alive and even though the rest can be blank, I feel it there with its own personality and power.
Where do you do most of your creating? Is it from a backyard, a studio, or a kitchen bench, or other?
I am typically found creating in the studio co-op Mint Art House among 14 other artists, but in the case of this unusually large sculpture, the creating has happened under the roof of the charming warehouse where Mint was founded in 2019, courtesy of the legends at OM Engineering.
What is the strangest food combo that you love?
Vegemite and jam together on toast.
What is your favourite Karaoke song? Do you have a music genre that always inspires you?
Not one for karaoke, but if I want to drop into the mood I love playing cinematic soundtracks so my art making process instantly becomes a part of an important, moving scene.
The Author
Joss Smith is an emerging graphic designer based in Tweed Heads, loving everything visual and immersive. Her passion for the creative arts has led her to study a Bachelor of Visual Communication and Graphics. She hopes to balance her love for the arts, culture and nature with her strengths in communication and management to create wicked designs with wicked people.