Studio Life: Kingston's Hawks Road Artists

Just moments from the centre of Kingston there is an artistic hub collectively known as Hawks Road Artists. Miranda Jessop meets four of the creatives occupying the space

Inside a former hospital laundry in Kingston’s Hawks Road there are 50 studios for a broad spectrum of artists who, thanks to Artists Studios Company (ASC), are able to let their creativity run wild. Established over 20 years ago, the ASC charity was set up with the core aim of supporting artists and now provides space to over 700 practitioners across nine London sites. “The ASC Kingston studios opened four years ago and our rents are much lower than commercial market value, making it affordable for artists such as myself,” explains current chairperson Ben Nicolas, who creates sculptures based on organic forms. For two June weekends Hawks Road Artists, as they are collectively known, are opening their studios to the public. I had a sneak preview when I met four of these talented individuals.  

Lindsay Terhorst North

Lindsay grew up in a small village in South Africa and moved to the UK in her mid-20s. “I came here for an adventure and ended up rediscovering my passion for art.” Today, Lindsay is a painter and installation artist and her studio at Hawks Road is packed full of her striking paintings, many of which are inspired by her love of trees. “I like the way that trees tell a story and I see that as a metaphor for life. As you go through the journey of life, the marks of experience make you more interesting and it is the same with trees; the way they regenerate after a fire, they have this incredible resilience about them.

Lindsay’s work is very varied and, on the day I’m there, she is busy putting the finishing touches to an installation for the Anagrams exhibition at Kingston Museum; a Damien Hirst/Andy Warhol inspired piece which involves a dead rat, currently sitting in a plastic tupperware box just beside us, waiting to take pride of place in her installation. “With this particular piece, I have never been more out of my comfort zone, I have had so many sleepless nights.” Taking on the studio at Hawks Road has completely changed Lindsay’s life. “It means I have made a commitment and I can legitimately think of my art as work. It’s also brilliant having that contact with other artists; you are inspired and influenced by them.” 

Jo Buonaguigi

Jo enjoyed a successful career as a professional dancer and 17 years working with the fashion designer, Issey Miyake before stumbling upon her artistic talents almost by accident.  “I was walking past an art shop in Kingston when I saw an advert for a watercolour painting class and it really went from there; I joined an art society and started painting houses and views.”  But it was when she asked her friend if she could go along and observe her line dancing class that her work took off in a completely different direction and she found her niche. “I went with the idea of doing some squiggles and that’s really how it all started with the movement and dancing. It was a third career that was never meant to happen,” she chuckles.

Jo has exhibited her work for the last 20 years and her paintings are an interpretation of a love of dancing, a love of music and a sense of fun. When Jo tells me that she usually paints to music, I assume it must be classical. “Oh no,” laughs Jo. “I do loads to Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire; I find it really gets the adrenalin going. My work is all about music and movement and the freedom to let the paint do what it wants; you can see by the state of the floor!” Jo has been at Hawks Road studios since they opened. “It’s my hideaway, my bolthole. I try to get here at least once a week but if I could I would be in here every day. It is such an amazing privilege to be able to do something that I love.“

Richard Tomlin

Richard studied graphics at Portsmouth College of Art and worked as a graphic designer in London for over 40 years. Incredibly, he hadn’t drawn or painted a single portrait during this time but that all changed after he went to Lucian Freud’s last exhibition. “There was so much going on in his paintings; I wanted to stand in front of them for hours and I was completely inspired.” Richard decided to take some art classes at the Landmark Arts Centre in Teddington and has never looked back. Today, his portraiture work is the result of long periods of observation, the images gradually edging towards realisation. He works slowly and the larger the better. “I find it endlessly fascinating; it is completely absorbing and I absolutely love it.”

Earlier this year, his drawing of his old friend David, ‘Nice Shoes’ was selected from 1,973 artists and was hung in the 2016 Columbia Threadneedle Prize Exhibition, one of the largest and most valuable art prizes in the UK. Richard can be found in his studio six days a week. “People think I’m bonkers spending so much time here but I love coming into the studio; it’s a refuge and reminds me a bit of being at art school. My art fulfils an inner need and I am hugely lucky that I have found what I want to do.”

Janet Brotchie 

Janet’s love of pottery started out as a diversion from her busy career. “I worked as a consultant psychologist for 30 years and took an evening class in pottery, really as the complete opposite to my day job.” When Janet retired she decided to concentrate on her ceramics and, two years ago, she took a studio at Hawks Road where she keeps her beloved wheel and kiln. “I find ‘throwing’ on the wheel almost a meditative experience as you have to be completely focused and every worry or preoccupation just disappears. But I do tend to get rather coated in clay; I am not the tidiest of workers and often go home looking like I’ve rolled in it,” she laughs.

Janet tends not to take on commissions but she enjoys selling her pieces at open studios events and has plenty of repeat customers. “I love the fact that pottery used in the home has an impact on a person’s everyday life; looking at and using an object that you regard as beautiful can really make you happy.” Her favourite piece is a delicate Japanese style teapot with a dragon on the handle.  “I am deeply attached to dragons and they appear all over the place.” As well as the useful teapots, bowls and mugs,

Janet also enjoys experimenting with her pottery. “Just for fun, I started making a ‘dysfunctional’ series, where I take a functional pot and rearrange it so it doesn’t work at all. With this one, the handle is the wrong way round and the bottom is at the top so you can’t actually use it.” Clearly Janet has found her passion in life and she usually spends three or four days a week in her studio. “I just love the process of throwing, turning, decorating and glazing clay. With pottery, there are so many techniques involved and I adore them all.”

If you'd like to learn more about the Hawks Road Gallery you can go to its website by clicking here

For more great arts stories, click here, like our interview with Perdita Hunt, director of the Watts Gallery

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