Our Autumn Open Call Memento Vivere runs October 10th to 18th, featuring twenty-three artists showcasing a range of styles and mediums.

Chloé Grimes is a third year Painting & Printmaking student at The Glasgow School of Art. Born in Glasgow and raised between Scotland and the United States, she often struggles to identify with one nationality as she feels a deep sense of connection to both countries, thus is keen on expressing her love for where she grew up and making others aware of what it is like to live by the Florida Everglades. Fascinated by nostalgia and how it dictates one’s decisions in adulthood, she creates work based on memory and the longing to be somewhere you cannot. She specialises primarily in drawing and realistic painting, emphasising the beauty in the things and places she finds most comfort in. More recently experimenting with form and painting outside of the traditional canvas, she aims to create visually interesting pieces which leave the viewer asking more.

Hi Chloé! How did your artistic journey start?
My artistic journey started as long ago as I can remember. I have faint memories of painting at my dining table at maybe 3 or 4 years old in my Glasgow cottage before moving to America when I turned 5. My parents became aware of my art practice when I brought home a drawing I made in Kindergarten, which they thought I coloured in from a colouring book before realising I had actually drawn the entire thing. Since then, I attended countless art studios and classes for kids with art school always being a dream of mine as I knew I wanted art to be in my future, and am more than happy to be where I am today. 🙂

What do you do to keep motivated and interested in your work?
To keep motivated and interested in my work, I take a lot of photos and videos on my phone everywhere I go of things that I think look interesting or would be fun to paint/draw. This includes photos of some very grand things such as a beautiful sunset over a landscape, or some very small mundane things like a piece of trash on the ground. Having all of these photos on hand gives me ideas of what to make if I ever feel stuck in my work and also allows me to practice photography as a medium without purchasing a expensive equipment.

What challenges did you experience during the creation of your work and how did you overcome them?
During the creation of Making Ghost Bread, one big challenge I faced was cutting out the correct shape in the wooden knife which I attached to the painting. I used a cheap scalpel and only had the one wooden knife on hand, so I really wanted to get it perfect on the first try, having to cut out the exact shape of the finger holding the knife which was already painted on the board. My lack of measuring curves accurately made it so difficult to cut around the finger, but with a lot of patience and time spent on every detail of the cut, I managed to get around it perfectly and attached the knife in the right position. It was definitely a tricky one and I could’ve sourced better tools to do so but I’m very happy with it worked out in the end.

How do you know when a piece is complete?
Honestly, I have always struggled with this as I am a perfectionist and will always find one more thing to fix before finally deeming a painting as done, and then I will find another thing to modify again. I think that an artist may never truly ‘complete’ an artwork as we are always drawn to go back and continue with what we’re making until we eventually decide to leave it as it is. But I think it’s nice that most of my works still feel like they in progress while on display, as it allows others to get insight into my working methods and let them in on the creative process as it plays out.

What advice would you give to artists who are just starting out?
To artists just starting out, I would give the advice not to give up. Many times while I am creating, I get very frustrated and feel like I can’t execute the piece the way I wanted, but in the end it always ends up working out in some form, even if it’s not the same as originally planned. Experimenting and trying out different ways of making is important, so even if something doesn’t turn out like you first thought it would, it doesn’t mean it is ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’, it actually shows a lot of perseverance and creative skills to keep going even when it seemed like nothing was going to plan. I also think that admiring and being inspired by other artists is crucial, but sometimes we can compare ourselves to someone else, however that shouldn’t put down our own practice as everybody has their own style and there is no one one worse artist than another.

Are there any upcoming events or additional information you would like the audience to know?
Being back at art school and just starting third year, there are some exciting projects coming up. My next body of work involves workshops at Kelvingrove Art Galley & Museum where I will pick one object that drew me in for whatever reason and work to find out why I was so attracted to it. It will involve a lot of research as well as learning to empathise for the object as I aim to give it a voice, making work about where it came from and how it got here. I’m looking forward to this project as a fun way to kick off third year while bringing more still life into my work.

Find out more about Chloé’s work on her Instagram. Memento Vivere runs at Six Foot Gallery until Friday 18th October.