Meet the Maker - Sheona Beaumont

Monday, December 10, 2012

Please can you introduce yourself and tell us a little about your work? 
Sheona Beaumont, a photographer and writer based in Bristol.  I think photographs have something magical about them, something that tells you about the unseen as well as the seen - so my recent work project 'Bristol Through the Lens' looks at the familiar sites of Bristol, with multiple images from different years, seasons, times and even places.  It's about looking in different ways.

What do you think makes Paper • Scissors • Stone special? 
It's brilliant way for artists to have a common platform to show their work - individually it would be so much harder, but together, with everyone pitching in, it just works.

What do you love most about working in your chosen discipline?
It feels like winging it! Trying for an early morning photo shoot, and not knowing whether it's going to work; or finding an unintended effect on-screen that fits perfectly. Plus it's not messy.


Describe your studio or workspace?
A small kit and a big computer - I spend more time playing in 'post-production', where I can hole up and keep the family at bay while I work at home.  My room is crammed with books, which I can't get enough of, and smaller pieces of work that haven't quite worked out a storage location.

Are you involved in any Christmas Markets, if so what?
Yes, the Made in Bristol fair at Colston Hall on Dec 8th, and I'm also part of Bristol Creatives Christmas Cracker' exhibition in the Parlour Room until Dec 9th.


What is your favourite part of Christmas? 
I have yet to find out! My husband's in his first year of his job as a vicar, so things will be very different this year, it's a working week and the busiest time of year for him - I suspect my favourite bit will be when he's told he's off-duty!

If you could choose one Christmas gift for yourself from Paper Scissors Stone, what would it be? Just one?! Almost impossible. I do like Emily Ketteringham's work - one of her spirograph-landscape combinations probably.

Which is your favourite local independent shop or eatery in Bristol & why?
Is COOK independent? On Whiteladies Road, brilliant for someone who hates cooking, but wants something tasty and home-made. 

What are your plans for 2013?
Keep ploughing on with my PhD - I've just started my second year at the University of Gloucestershire, looking at photography with biblical or spiritual imagery.  It's such interesting research, and I'm in the middle of a mini-history of photography's spirituality - a largely overlooked part of criticism of the photographic image. Aren't all photographs about people's world views? Practical work might take a back seat for a while.

Finally if you were a Christmas cracker, what inside treat would you be and why?
A lenticular ruler.  It's got to be a pictorial gadget, and these keep people entertained for longer than 2 seconds.

Thank you Sheona!  You can find Sheona's incredible photography at our Artists Temporium Paper Scissors Stone Volume 5, Quakers Friars, Cabot Circus.  Open daily until the 31st December.

No comments:

Post a Comment