Philomena Harmsworth is one of many local artists working out of studios on St Michael’s Trading Estate in Bridport.
Having been born in London, Philomena moved to Dorset when she was 13. After studying A-level foundation at the Camberwell College of Arts she completed her degree in technical art and theatre design before a successful career as an Art Teacher and Scenic Artist.
Her latest exhibition the “January Nudes” was held in Stoke Abbott last weekend.
HAVE you always been involved with art?
Yes, my whole life I was always drawing. I would come back from school and just draw and draw all evening. I always knew I was going to do art.
WHAT does a scenic artist do?
I trained as a technical designer and I did a few design jobs for the theatre. I had to paint scenery, which was quite often backdrops and effects like wood effects and marble effects and things like that.
WHAT shows did you work on?
I did a lot of TV towards the end. I worked on Eastenders, Have I Got News For You, Midsomer Murders. I did every series of Big Brother from when it moved to Elstree Studios. I worked on the film Sleepy Hollow. It’s hard to remember it all now because it was a long time ago.
WHAT were the most fun to work on?
The most fun has always been theatre, I loved that, which is weird because it’s always the least pay, the worst hours and the dirtiest workshops. It was always the most creative jobs though.
WHAT was the inspiration for your latest exhibition?
Life drawing is a discipline that every artist does and I love doing it. It was a result of a two week period of very intensive life drawing sessions in the morning and afternoon. The poses would range from short poses of two to 15 minutes to medium poses of 20-30mins and then long poses, if I were doing an oil painting or something. It was completely varied. I really liked the short poses because you can really just knock them out and lots of energy goes into it.
WHAT is your favourite thing to paint?
Last year I was absolutely obsessed with landscapes and I just had to keep doing them and doing them. Then I was asked to do as a commission and I was sent off to Weycroft Nurseries to meet Veronica and her mad amazing nursery. I had a spate of being really obsessed with plants then. This year is going to change a bit because so far I have been doing paintings but now I am going to do pictures.
WHAT is the difference between a painting and a picture?
It will be something where there is an idea involved with more philosophy behind the picture. Last year I was doing landscapes and objects and it was just figurative painting so I was just drawing what was in front of me. This year I have some paintings that I want to do which I was dreaming up all last year and there are going to be a series of four which I am going to put into the Dorset Art Week.
IS West Dorset a good place to gain inspiration?
It’s fantastic, honestly if it wasn’t for the setup down at St Michael’s Studios, I just wouldn’t have really known where to start down here. Everyone has been so helpful and welcoming. Everybody inspires you with their different styles and philosophies and what they’re doing, but even down to really practical stuff like what framer to use.
WHAT is special about St Michael’s?
Just the fact that it’s a real centre, it’s a buzz and it just gives you a place to go that’s full of energy and there is so much going on there. The organisation of the open studios is fantastic as well, it’s very professional. The building is beautiful and I’m sure people come to the open studios sometimes just to see what it's like.
WHICH artists inspire you?
Van Gogh has inspired me throughout my life. Picasso was a real innovator as well, every painting he did was like a new phase of art that people went through. At the moment I’m really mad for the futurists. The futurists are an Italian lot, there philosophies are a bit funny and I’m trying to get through their manifesto. It’s a bit strong, I’m not all for war and all that sort of thing but I love the art that came out of it, it was very revolutionary. I suppose they inspired me before when I went onto to do film because they felt that art should have a purpose, so they went into sets and things but the actual paintings are just gorgeous.
DO YOU think anyone can be an artist?
I think you can but you need to work really hard. You can definitely learn to draw and if you have the confidence to do it then you can do it. Especially nowadays it’s about building pictures and it’s more about a visual language. You have Damien Hirst who pickles sharks and stuff, so in that sense, without being too cynical, anyone can be an artist. It’s actually about using your visual language and saying what you want to say with images.
WHO would be your three dream guests at a dinner party?
I hope it would not be to cliché to say Van Gogh but he is like a god to me. I’d love to meet Louis de Bernière who wrote Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. I’ve just finished reading it so I could ask him all about it. He was down here last year for the literary festival. My third would be an astronaut. I don’t follow them or anything but I’d like to speak to them to just see what its like up there in space.
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