Kimberley Bright
Kimberley Bright is a Glasow-based artist. Shop her I’m OK – You’re OK T-shirt here.
When did you know you’d found your medium as an artist?
The very first time I picked up a paintbrush. I have always loved painting. I have an early memory of really enjoying making a big mess with blue and green poster paints at nursery school – I painted right up to the edges of the paper, to the extent that the person who had to lift it up from the table couldn’t do so without getting paint all over their fingers.
I guess those rascal tendencies are still a strong theme in my work today. I made an ode to this early memory for my degree show at art school. After being thoroughly discouraged to paint by my tutors there, I made a self-mocking set of painted-to-the-edges A4 sheets of paper, pinned them to the wall and scribbled the words “You Will Make It As A Painter” across separate sheets. These words had been used in appraisal from one of the only tutors who actually encouraged me to paint when I was in my first year there. I should have listened to him then. I didn’t, but I am listening now – so thank you Iain!
In keeping with “On The Inside”, what’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced as an artist?
I actually found the brief for this project quite challenging. Making art is one of my truest joys, it’s the thing that makes me feel most like me, so it was difficult to pinpoint an anxiety that I attach to my practice. That said, I have had my fair share of mental health problems over my 38 years on this planet. Episodes of anxiety, specifically social anxiety, low self-esteem, low confidence and a 20-year long eating disorder. Over the last few years I’ve done a lot of work on myself and I’ve made huge progress overcoming a lot of this. And since I began making art again my entire perspective on life has shifted. I feel like a whole new person. I am the happiest, most confident and most satisfied I’ve been in my entire life. Making art, for me, is nothing short of a healing tool for my mental health.
Making art is one of my truest joys
How do you overcome self-doubt?
I’ll be honest, I genuinely don’t have a lot of self-doubt when it comes to making my work. I reckon that this comes down to the simple act of keeping going with it as often as I possibly can. By trusting my instinct and recognising what it is that makes my work mine, and what makes me me. By experimenting and improving. And ultimately, by playing, by being silly and by having fun.
What’s the worst advice you’ve ever gotten?
To stop painting! As I mentioned previously, when I was at art school in Dundee in the early 2000s I was told by a few of my tutors to stop painting and do something more ‘interesting’ instead, because painting wasn’t ‘in’ at the time according to them. I was young and impressionable so regrettably I listened. It has only been within the last year that I have dusted off my brushes and resurrected my long-lost inner art-making self. I have some regret for the years of not doing it, but I’m so glad to be where I am now and to be back at it. I promise never to put my paintbrushes away again!
When do you feel most creatively satisfied?
There’s this rush of excitement and adrenaline I get when I’m very nearly finished a new painting. That’s the magic moment right there. Or it’s when I see someone laughing at my work. Laughing, and making people laugh, is one of my all time favourite things to do.
Bora Murmure
Bora Murmure is a multimedia artist based in France. Shop their Emotional Season T-shirt here.
When did you know you’d found your medium as an artist?
I don’t know if I have found just one medium, as I love to be curious and to always experiment, and play around with multiple mediums and forms of expression. I knew that art was my path because of the emotion I felt, and still feel, when I practise it; I have no words to describe it, you feel shaken from the inside. For me, making art is like building a garden that you love to spend time in, which will grow through many seasons and surprise you every time.
In keeping with “On The Inside”, what’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced as an artist?
The biggest challenge is probably to not give up, and to keep showing up for what you feel is your life path. No matter what people around think or project onto you, in the end you are the only one who knows what your path is. Protect and cherish your uniqueness, and remember that we all have something to give. It can be a bumpy road at times, but sharing the support you built for yourself to others, caring for others and supporting them in their own dreams is really important. I believe in transmission.
How do you overcome self-doubt?
I guess I don’t overcome it, I let it go through me like a wave, and I welcome it as a friend that came to visit me for a reason. I listen to my fears, and then I try to let it go. Doubt is very present in my life, it is part of us, and it happens because we care. I try not to see it as an enemy, and give myself some love.
I listen to my fears
What’s the worst advice you’ve ever gotten?
I don’t have a specific example in mind, but every time I have had conversations with others and felt I was not enough. That I had to be different than I was, or hide my truth in order to fit, or to be seen. Once someone from my family told me I should stop making art and do something meaningful, and that it was naive to believe I would succeed. I was very young and really thought they were right for a time. Now, I have learnt to listen to my intuition, and not follow what people project onto me, and vice versa, I’m trying not to project onto others. I now know that success for me is to feel aligned with my heart, not to ‘make it’.
When do you feel most creatively satisfied?
When I let myself free from any rules, what I ‘should’ be doing, or any limits in my practice. When I’m honest. When I’m embracing the present moment, and welcoming what comes, even though it’s not what I was waiting for. My practice is always surprising me; I love to shape-shift.
Read More: Are Creative Jobs A Scam?
