THE CANVAS…Meet the artist: Ahn Wells

article published in The Newcastle Post, Wednesday, 16 February 2011

When did your artistic passion begin?
When I started drawing as a kid, like most kids I suppose drawing and colouring in was always a good entertaining pastime. But it wasn’t until I started Art School in 1997 that I realised how seriously I liked it.

Describe your work.
My work, at the moment is going in two different directions. There’s my experimental works on paper which I spend the majority of my time making in the studio I share at Newcastle Community Arts Centre (NCAC). The other is hard to describe but I call them my “woolie wall works” because they are made from coloured wool that has been crocheted, cut, joined to make a pattern that is formed when the strands are attached directly to the gallery wall using nails. There is one of these work in the current Newcastle Art Space exhibition at NCAC.

What inspires you?
Everything, unfortunately. I say unfortunately because it means I end up having too many ideas and never feel like I’ve really had the chance to explore one before I’m moving onto the next. But lately, I’m finding I have settled down and more comfortable to stay with a single overall idea and exhaust that fully until I move onto the next one.

What has been your greatest achievement?
I think my greatest achievement in relation to only my art practice, has been the discovery of my own visual language that I am totally comfortable with now. But my greatest achievement is setting aside 2/3 days per week to spend doing/making art while also working and living like everybody else has to.

What would be your advice for budding artists?
Always keep drawing, no matter what art discipline interests you. Drawing allows you to work out your visual ideas instead of trying to find words to describe them. Take your work seriously, if you don’t how can you expect others to. Ask lots of questions. Volunteer.