Arists in Focus: Crafty Stitching

For my second Artists in Focus post I'm excited to introduce you to Nuala Maguire, the crafty face behind Bluebird and one of the artists for ReFound Belfast. Nuala is, among other things, a free-lance textile artist specialising in up-cycling. Years and years ago, she actually started out with a degree in footwear and accessory design, but never took up work in the fashion industry. Instead, she trained as a conservator and worked for the museum and heritage sector, something she still enjoys doing today. 

Crafts was always something she kept up on the side, but when Nuala moved back to Belfast she started to seriously look into it as a business. Setting up her own crafts business was difficult. "Making the things is the easy part", she comments, "it's the 'selling' that requires a different set of skills." The Market Start Up Program run by Belfast City Council was a huge help to her in getting her business on the way. The project, which is free of charge, helps those dedicated to opening their own food or crafts business by teaching them necessary skills, such as marketing and financial planning. The program made her realise how important it is to have a brand identity, a theme. And as part of it, she got to sell her wares at St. George's Market, a beautiful food an crafts market happening every week on Saturday and Sunday in Belfast. 

For Bluebird, she creates beautiful vintagy accessories and jewellery, such as purses, earrings or bangles inspired by the 1940s. Her inspiration for bluebird comes from the Mend and Make Do spirit of the Second World War, where things and materials were re-used and mended. Nuala can literally find a use for everything. Even the tiniest scraps of fabric she works into pretty pins and earrings. A best-seller are the bangles she creates out of old plastic knitting needles by bending them into shape. 

"I look at 'rubbish' as a material. I love finding worth in what people discard and turning it into something useful and beautiful. The down-side is, I can't throw anything out anymore! I literally cannot walk past a skip!"

When one of her friends was about to throw out over a hundred vinyl records, she took them and created brooches and necklaces out of them. The new material was interesting for her to work with. It was a challenge, something different. Word got around quickly, and now people constantly 'gift' her 'left-over materials'.

Her work for ReFound follows similar principles. As one of the Refound artists, she up-cycles and re-styles old furniture which is then sold at the beautiful ReFound boutique at the heart of Belfast's city centre. Although working on furniture, Nuala always manages to incorporate her textile skills. She hand-embroiders old lampshades with delicate little birds while also re-designing big chunky armchairs (complete with hand-knitted cover of course!). 

Nuala tells me that for her final project in her undergraduate, she actually re-cycled old tea towels to create Victorian boots. It didn't take off back then though, the up-cycled art. It didn't stick. "Maybe it was just too early", she muses. Thankfully it seems to be working now!

Nuala has been selling her products at a number of markets and festivals around Belfast. For the Maritime festival for instance, she created the cute nautically-themed buttons below. She's currently selling at the Black Box Bazaar. "I love selling at Markets. It's always a great buzz. They are a lot of time and effort though," she concedes. She couldn't manage one a week, she thinks. Also this would mean she would have to buy all the fabric and materials, which would kind of defeat the purpose of her re-cycled art. 

Working free-lance is not always easy. With the freedom of it also comes a great deal of insecurity. It's very organic, Nuala explains. There are bursts when she is drowning in work and then nothing happens for a few weeks. How does she deal with it? She laughs: "By being very good at time management and at 'not freaking-out'. I have a great support network. A lot of my friends are also free-lancers and that really helps." Networks are important not just for an occasional moral boost, but for artistic inspiration and learning. 

"I have learnt and benefited from other people so much. Fellow artisans and craftspeople have been a huge inspiration to me."

Nuala is part of Belfast Stich and Bitch, a local knitting circle (in case you're interested: they meet every Wednesday in the Starbucks behind Victoria Sq from 4.30ish!). She is also one of the volunteers helping with the Imagined Through Textiles Project. A partnership between ArtsEkta and Arts for All, this community textile project will create a number of tapestries based on the history of the ports and docks of Belfast, which will then be displayed in venues throughout the city. I can't wait to see the results!

When I ask Nuala why she is putting up with all the hassle and all the frustration of being a free-lance artist, she smiles and says:

"I'm a creator. I've always made things - it's who I am. If I no longer used my hands to make something, I would be miserable."

I guess craft just stole her heart...

Nuala Maguire also sells her creations online on her facebook page and - you'd be glad to know - she does bespoke orders too! So head on over and give her a big like!

Artists in Focus: Meet the Dollybirds

Welcome to the first post of Artists in Focus, my brand new blog series. Artists in Focus introduces local artists and designers who work sustainability into their art and showcases their environmentally-friendly creations. Creating sustainable work often involves a great deal of creativity and you may be surprised by how much of it happens right outside your doorstep!

For my first post I had the pleasure of talking to Eimear Maguire, the artist behind the Dollybirds. I met Eimear for a coffee in the bustling Avoca in Belfast's city centre, where a selection of her work is available for sale. When we finally manage to get our cappuccinos and grab a seat, Eimear plunges straight into telling me about the Dollybirds and her inspiration for her work. There is no question as to how much she loves and enjoys her work. It also shows in her creations; Eimear's delicate portraits of native birds perching on branches in front of pastel backgrounds are beautiful to behold.

Having grown-up in a family of artists, drawing, sketching and painting has been part of her life for as long as Eimear can remember. Together with her father and sister, she used to own a gallery space in North Belfast. The inspiration for her work Eimear finds right in her back garden and on her long walks up Cavehill with her dog. "We don't appreciate the wealth of the nature right around us," she says, shaking her head.


So what's sustainable about the Dollybirds? There are a few things actually...

All about the Frames

Rather than framing her originals and prints in new frames, Eimear recycles old, discarded and vintage ones. She sources them from anywhere she can think of; salvage yards, second-hand shops, flea markets, friends and acquaintances. She fixes them up and works on them until they match her Dollybirds. To paint them she uses toxic-free, eco-friendly chalk paint from Annie-Sloan. Having worked with modern frames at the beginning, Eimear finds that she prefers the old frames. "They give character to the birds. They tell a story."

A House for every Bird
To give her birds a home, Eimear has also started to create beautiful bird-houses. She fashions them from reclaimed wood and old floorboards and using the same chalk paint employs a sanding technique to achieve a vintage look. With the native bird population in decline, bird-houses are actually a way to contribute to our birds' survival by providing them with a safe place to nest.
Working with organisations such as Headway and Engage with Age, Eimear also uses the bird-houses in community art workshops she runs with senior citizens and people who have suffered head injuries.

Left and Top: the beautiful Dollybirds display at Avoca, Belfast. 

When I ask what Eimear finds most challenging about her work, she sighs and exclaims: "Time!" Eimear, who trained as a secondary school art teacher, still teaches one day a week. With two young children to look after and the community projects her schedule is full to the brim. She paints when her children are at school and often late into the night. Trying to build a business is not easy even if you have all the time in the world, so Eimear had to be realistic in what she could achieve. "I had to do something that's accessible, something I could do from home."

Despite all the challenges, the Dollybirds have been a huge success. Having only started painting them last year, Dollybird prints and bird-houses are already available in Avoca, as well as in the lovely interior design shop Dandelion Lane in Portadown, the cute Olivia Boutique in Donegal and in My Shop Granny Likes It in Galway. A show of Eimear's work at the John Hewitt has recently finished and when talking to me, Eimear had just sent 17 original Dollybirds to an exhibition in Oxford. But the artist's head is still bursting with ideas and she's currently thinking about branching out  and collaborating with her sister to make aprons and other vintagy household goods. 'Hats off' to Eimear and her Dollybirds is all I can say and I can't wait to see whatever else she creates.

I hope you enjoyed the first Artists in Focus. You can ogle more cute birds on Eimear's website and stay up to date by following her on twitter.

If you're a local artist that creates sustainable work and would like to be featured in Artists in Focus, get in touch here.