Meet The Artist: Sophie Cullinan
January 13, 2025 | BlogsRead about the eclectic practice of multi media Artist Sophie Cullinan.
What kind of artist are you?
As an artist I work in a variety of media, although I was originally trained in Textiles (embroidery) so a lot of my work has been fabric based. I particularly like working with domestic materials, such as discarded clothing, and all the incredible things that can be found in scrap stores. My favourite being some enormous rolls of shiny plastic foil that I think were sweet wrapping and have infinite uses. I find that a lot of what I do is problem solving, having an idea and then trying to figure out the best way to make it. This used to really frustrate my father who could not understand why I kept wanting to reinvent the wheel. He was a painter turned Graphic Artist and believed in honing skills not wanting to try everything new out! I am a sucker for the new shiny material, or making method, however all these things end up informing each other and can be helpful in the overall problem solving!
Where do you find inspiration?
As my dad was always working on lots of graphics projects and always drawing, he was a big inspiration for me. He always had lots of interesting tools, pens, paints, inks and (the best) Letraset (sticky lettering for graphic design used before computers) which he freely let me experiment with. In later years he let me have a space in his studio though I don’t think he was inspired in the same way with the bags of weird scrapstore stuff I worked with.
What advice would you give to anyone who wants to be an artist in Northamptonshire?
This is a big county and being an artist here can feel a bit isolating at times. It has really helped meeting up with other artists and creating support networks.
Do you have any memories of Made With Many projects that are important to you?
I am currently loving working on the ArtFULL project at Pen Green with two other really inspiring artists, Liz Clark and Mike Payton. A previous Made With Many project I really enjoyed was working with lots of primary schools in Corby to create a watery lake out of empty plastic bottles for Grow Festival 2018.
What is your favourite biscuit?
I’m not big on biscuits but can never resist a breadstick!
