Seaton based Magie Luff tries to avoid being classified or pigeonholed. She experiments with different mediums and styles. Katherine Locke has been to meet the part-time artist who was one of the winners of last year\u2019s Marshwood Arts Awards.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u2018Come on in\u2019 says Magie Luff, opening the door to her Seaton flat. Situated in a period terrace overlooking the sea, it is the place she has called home for almost twenty years. When visiting artists in their homes or studios, there is always an element of surprise. Something new to stumble across or an unknown aspect of the artist\u2019s work, but none more so than Magie Luff. Magie is making a name for herself as a printmaker and painter, winning several prestigious awards (including the Marshwood Arts Awards in 2015) and building an impressive body of work. She describes herself as \u2018still experimenting\u2019, but far from being a young artist fresh out of art school, Magie didn\u2019t start working until 1996, when her adult children had left home.<\/p>\n
Her entire working life has been spent as a hairdresser. \u2018I started to cut hair when I was thirteen\u2019, she tells me. She left school at fifteen and started work full time at a local hairdresser. Her hairdressing career has included running three salons of her own and she continues to work freelance in Seaton. \u2018I took on clients when I moved here\u2019, she says \u2018There are a few who are now in their nineties and one who is over 100 years old! It is almost like a community service\u2019.<\/p>\n
Alongside working full time, Magie completed an HNC in Printmaking at SCAT (Somerset College of Arts and Technology) and then made the decision to enrol on a part-time Fine Arts degree via Plymouth University. \u2018It was an extremely busy time\u2019 recalls Magie, \u2018I was working full time, renovating my flat and balancing student life\u2019. Sadly, she was very disappointed by her time as an art student.<\/p>\n
\u2018It wasn\u2019t at all what I expected\u2019, she says. \u2018The work was very conceptual, with virtually no painting, which was the only thing I wanted to do\u2019. She was directed into working with video, mainly because it was something that didn\u2019t require much space. \u2018We didn\u2019t even have a studio to work in\u2019, she says. The focus of the course was on abstract art theory, rather than practical application. \u2018There were elements I enjoyed\u2019, she says, \u2018but the emphasis on the philosophy of art really wasn\u2019t for me\u2019.<\/p>\n
It was when she finished her degree, she really began to learn how to use paint. \u2018I took classes and workshops, read books and studied online\u2019, she says. Magie wanted to try out all painting mediums\u2014oils, acrylics and watercolour\u2014as well as a wide variety of styles.\u00a0 She was, and still is, hungry to learn everything she can. \u2018I don\u2019t want to be classified or pigeonholed\u2014I am still experimenting and developing\u2019, she says.<\/p>\n
This becomes entirely evident when looking at her work. She has a huge variety of medium and styles, all of which are very accomplished. She could choose from any one of them to be her signature technique, but instead continues to change and learn. She uses acrylic and oils as well as mixed media and her work ranges from landscapes to life studies to still lives, with some abstract stuff thrown in for good measure.<\/p>\n
\u2018I am very interested in texture\u2019, she explains, and she uses many different techniques to make marks. \u2018At the moment, I am enjoying working with pallet knives\u2019. She is concerned with the pure beauty and aesthetics of a subject, rather than the thinking behind it. Although much of her work is interpretive (she thinks that a photographic likeness would be boring), there is a technical aspiration within her compositions to match her imaginative reading of the subject.<\/p>\n
\u2018I love still lives\u2019, she says, \u2018setting up a still life can be done at any time of year and is so accessible for the artist. It can be left for days and still be there when you return to work on it\u2019. Her flower paintings are particularly vibrant\u2014\u2018I want my work to be playful and cheerful\u2019, she says. She concedes that her work could be described as \u2018feminine\u2019 and the flower series are reminiscent of Georgia O\u2019Keeffe in their flamboyant use of colour and form. \u2018I am not interested in replicating what is in front of me, rather I want to transform it into a bright experience. I want my painting to be happy work\u2019.<\/p>\n
She has a studio in Lyme Regis (Studio 19) and plans to have a slightly larger space there in the future. She is also intending to spend a lot more time there. \u2018I am trying to organise my working life so that I can continue with hairdressing in the morning and paint in the afternoon\u2019. Does she see any dichotomy between her two occupations? \u2018Not really\u2019, she says, \u2018There is a sensitivity involved in both. The physicality of hairdressing is very tactile and I think my paintings are too\u2019.<\/p>\n
However, the difference might be found in the end result. Magie says when she is painting, she doesn\u2019t think about the viewer, the audience, at all. \u2018Painting is a completely immersive experience for me\u2019, she says. Part of the joy of painting for Magie is \u2018being totally focussed. It is almost like a meditation. Time disappears and I get lost in the work\u2019 she says. Her delight in the process is evident, as her work conveys a sense of complete attention to the practice of applying paint.<\/p>\n
Her future plans include continuing with her diversity of styles and not obstructing the learning process by limiting herself to one discipline. She has also started a side line, producing exquisite little seascapes which she intends to sell at local craft fairs over the summer. My advice would be to look out for them, as they have a charm all of their own. Magie is living proof that life is a continual learning experience and one that she has embraced with gusto.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Seaton based Magie Luff tries to avoid being classified or pigeonholed. She experiments with different mediums and styles. Katherine Locke has been to meet the part-time artist who was one of the winners of last year\u2019s Marshwood Arts Awards. \u2018Come on in\u2019 says Magie Luff, opening the door to her Seaton flat. Situated in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2796,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[68],"class_list":["post-2811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts","tag-katherine-locke"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2811\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}