In conversation with: Alice Lee, BA (Hons) Illustration lecturer

Alice reflects on her recent residency at Moosey Art Gallery and explores how her creative practice shapes and informs her approach to teaching.

About Alice

Alice draws birds and occasionally makes ceramics. Using a geometric, graphic approach, she uses birds as vessels to help connect us not only to nature but to memory, thoughts and how we process things. Recently, she has been exploring how to animate drawing in 2D into 3D by engineering and constructing a series of automata. Alice has a BA in Graphic Design/Animation and MA in Curation, both from Norwich University of the Arts and now lectures on BA (Hons) Illustration.

How does illustration play a role in your practice?

Illustration is central to the way I communicate my ideas, whether it be in 2D or 3D. I’m not a traditional illustrator in a vocational context, more of an artist working through ideas and concepts that interest me. However, storytelling is a key part of my practice and I’m able to do that visually through drawing and its application.

Talk us through this project and how you came about the opportunity?

I collaborated with Moosey Art Director Frazer on occasional projects when he was starting out, so we have seen each other’s art careers grow over time. We had a conversation towards the end of last year about whether I’d be interested in doing a residency with them and, as I had never done one before, I was really keen, especially as it was in Norwich where I live.

For the Moosey residencies, they group artists where they see links with the individual practices. I was put together with Laurel Graham and Kay Healy as we all work in slightly alternative ways to the painters they often host at the residency – Laurel and Kay both work with textiles and I work with mixed media.

Can you share your experience of participating in the residency?

My aim was to make a new body of work, including drawings and sculptures, testing out ideas for moving installations for future projects. I wanted to take advantage of the physical space of the studio to make 3D work.

We had access to the studio 24/7 for the whole of September. It was great to be able to work in a large studio again as I had recently moved out of OUTPOST Studios – where I’d been for over 10 years – and have been making work at home. I really enjoyed the experience of working with Laurel and Kay, we were ‘yapping’ so much that I’m surprised we actually got any work done. One of my main challenges was adjusting to working in a space with other people as I often need to be alone to think and make. We ended up naturally falling into a rhythm with our studio time. For example, Laurel made the most of earlier parts of the day, me late nights and Kay around her family commitments, and we would overlap at points but still have time to focus. It was amazing to have people around who could give you instant feedback as I would usually send photos and descriptions on my phone to friends and wait for them to respond. I value feedback very much as it’s hard to be objective on your own and it helps to improve and develop ideas.

We were offered the opportunity to showcase our work at Moosey Gallery at the end of the month, rather than having an open social at the studio itself. As Kay and I made some sculptural pieces, they felt it would be better seen in that space. It was exciting to have the chance to ‘exhibit’ our work but making new work that’s presentable and gallery-standard in less than 4 weeks was not easy! Things didn’t click into place for me until the final week, so I felt a fair amount of stress. However, the intensity of the pressure was part of the residency experience, and I appreciated it for the drive it gave me (even though I wanted to give up several times). On reflection, I was happy with the work I produced in the time frame and there is a lot of scope for development, leaving me with food for thought. I learnt that the residency experience is dedicated time and space to test and play with ideas alongside artists with similar aims and that was certainly what I was able to achieve.

In what ways does your work or creative practice influence your approach to teaching?

I think it’s so important for academics with art practices to continue making work alongside their teaching. It helps to level the playing field between student and lecturer, as we have similar experiences, working towards deadlines and developing our practices together. It helps us feel more relatable to each other and closes the divide. I hope it’s also motivating and inspiring for students to see us producing work, enabling them to see how our experiences correlate with what we are delivering.