LOCAL TALENT // ALY MCLOUGHLIN-HARTE

I have been following Aly McLoughlin-Harte for a while on Facebook.  It is simply lovely to have one of her drawings pop up from the bottom of the screen of my smart-phone as I scroll, pausing for a moment or two, grateful for something so beautiful to have come to break up the monotony of social media.

Aren’t her drawings magical?  When I first saw them I remember thinking how wonderful it was that something so delightful could stem from some seemingly simple marks on a page and, how everyday objects that we take for granted could be given significance through quiet re-presentations of them.  “Placing importance on the everyday” states Aly on her twitter profile.  Her artwork certainly does.

It’s not only self-propelled transport that Aly draws however; she describes herself as a mark-maker and photo-taker and as well as images of everyday objects she also creates abstract oil-stick pieces of local landmarks including The Stormont Assembly Building, The Giant’s Causeway and Samson and Goliath, to name a few.

I love how these pieces portray a sense of the here and now.  There is something so inherently fleeting about them that we can immediately identify with the time of day or the time of year: a single point of a remembered vision that you can only imagine in terms of colour and feeling, forcing us reconsider our immediate environment and the ‘beauty that lieth there’.

If you would like to see more of, or know more about, Aly’s work, you can visit her website at alymcloughlinharte.com or visit her on Twitter or Facebook.

LOCAL TALENT – Deborah Toner // Belfast

I have always had a passion for the combination of traditional materials with modern design so when I first came across the unique work of textile designer, Deborah Toner almost a year ago I was keen to find out more about her range.  This week I asked her what inspires her work, and what her plans are for the future.

Created from traditionally woven Irish linen and her own architectural drawings, Deborah Toner handcrafts a range of stunning cushions and panels that celebrate the heritage of the Northern Irish textile industry as well as Belfast as a modern urban space.

“I studied Architecture at university yet it was only while working towards my Masters that I discovered I could use different media to express my ideas.” says Deborah.  “I have always had a big interest in textiles and studying in the Art College in Belfast made it easier for me to explore different ideas.  I began by making a series of maps which went along with my Thesis. The Ulster Museum bought these from me and I think that’s when I realised I could maybe take my methods and ideas further.”

Having been developed from her initial university pieces, Deborah’s current maps provide a wonderful snapshot of urban landscapes and, through the use of different colours and textures, highlight the layers of the city that have built up over time.  Her map showing Belfast’s listed buidings (above) evokes a sense of the layering of the past with each green block representing one of the city’s historical landmarks.

“I am inspired by architecture and the built environment around us [yet] I love that something as precise as an architectural drawing or map can be made into something soft, luxurious and tactile.  My work has a lot of unique qualities. I try not to make the same thing twice.“

To ensure that each of her pieces is unique, Deborah continually switches between different linen types and thread colours ensuring that each image becomes an indivudual re-presentation of her initial drawing.  Through her use of machine stitching, her images also appear to show the ubiquitous movement of the urban landscape whilst at the same time capturing an immediate, fleeting moment of time through the sense of light and space.

Since completing her Masters a couple of years ago, Deborah has been selling her work at St. George’s Sunday Market as well as through different shops, some of which she has created bespoke ranges for.  She also takes commissions saying:  “I think my work sparks an idea in people’s minds and is nice to work along with them to create what they want.” 

You can find out more about Deborah Toner at:

Twitter: twitter.com/TonerDeborah

Facebook: facebook.com/pages/Deborah-Toner/

Online: deborahtoner.co.uk

LOCAL TALENT: ANGELIKA LATKO

I first came across Angelika Latko at the monthly Fine and Dandy Market at Belfast’s Crescent Arts Centre and was struck by the unique way that she seemed to interpret her subject matter.   It encapsulated all that I though was ‘totally cool’ when I was a child: fairytales, dinosaurs and simply beautiful drawings and it evoked in me a real sense of nostalgia. I was keen to find out more about her work and contacted her to ask her a few questions about her work and background.

“I studied fine art in my native Poland for five years before coming to Belfast to study Graphic Design.  I was keen to learn something more contemporary and wanted to consolidate my passion for  illustration, collage, photography and animation.”

Her combination of these four design elements is clear through her wonderful Red Riding Hood series, created for the MacMillan Prize 2013 brief which portrays the classic children’s story through a set of five images (see 3 below).

Angelika graduated from Ulster University in July last year and I asked her about her plans for the coming year.

“I am currently working as a freelance illustrator and want to continue doing this through 2014.  I also have a couple of ideas for self initiated projects I would like to make happen in my spare time and I would love to devote some time to create an animation, one of my lifetime goals.”

You can find Angelika at February’s Fine & Dandy Market or online at www.angelikalatko.com.