I like to think I spend a good amount of time celebrating my inner child, and anyone else who does so too is automatically going to be my favourite person in the room. Su Blackwell, creator of these whimsical paper sculptures, is one of those people.
Firstly, I think we had the same childhood:
As a child, I spent a lot of time playing in the woods near to my home, in my own make-believe world. I gave the tree’s names, and believed they would protect me. I made dens, with curtains and carpets that I scavenged from home. I didn’t like school much, except for my English lessons, where I liked writing stories, letting my imagination run free. I enjoyed art at school, but I didn’t like the way it was taught. It was too didactic. I left school, not really knowing what to do next.
Su did end up happening upon a textiles course run at the local college and she later worked as an artist-in-residence in Scotland at which point her work began to get noticed and she was invited to do her own shows in London. Today she has relocated her studio to the English seaside.
Speaking of Su’s work, an antiquarian bookseller points out: “I can see the influence of her textiles training, too – there are multiple repeats and each letter is like a stitch. It’s as if she’s weaving with words”.
