We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Laura Hepworth a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Laura thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?
As an artist and art teacher, my mission has always been to bring awareness to the many ways making art can be utilised as a form of self care to support good mental health and well being. So I guess the legacy I can only hope to leave behind when I am gone is one that would help and support others in freely exercising their creativity, unapologetically and unfiltered, with the premise of them processing each stage of their artistic journey as they find their own individual definition of sanctuary through the arts and what that means to them long term.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Laura Hepworth is an abstract expressionist artist based in Honor Oak Park. Laura paints large scale canvases full of vibrant colour, for one purpose, because it feels good for her soul.
Hepworth is mostly influenced by colour, nature and landscapes.
Through each piece Laura paints she feels a deep shift in reality, this transforms the aesthetic of the places that holds personal history to her. Words that once seemed impossible to say aloud pour so freely and sink into the fabric of each painting she makes- speaking only through colour, shapes and line.
By day, Laura wears a couple of hats- The first she work a full time as a specialist art teacher, working with children in EYRS Reception, KS1 and KS2 at a primary school in South West London. And the second Laura manages the @lovenorthcrossrd community IG page as her passion project to support the small business family of shop owners and market traders on North Cross Road in East Dulwich, South East London.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Through the years I’ve learnt a lot about myself through my practice, that it could become a way I could process my grief after losing my mum at the start of 2020. Through painting I practiced being present and embracing my vulnerability, along with the joy I felt everytime I would put my brush to the surface of my canvas. In this way it has given me an allowance to let go and communicate all of the things I couldn’t somehow say allowed.
Through each piece I find myself influenced by listening to the stories and places that are significant of others, and the tales of our experiences and how we can feel individually and collectively stay connected through them.
How did you build your audience on social media?
Starting out as an emerging artist from university in 2015 and planning my first solo show. I decided to hire a local space to showcase my artwork and show some support to my local community in South East London.
Through the process of planning I became a member of the Space @ 61 network of small business owners and began to make myself visible on and off of social media by checking in a little bit each day with an offering for my viewers to read about each day at peak times. As time has gone on now a few years has passed, I have been lucky enough to see how such a supportive community of friends, clients and fellow small business owners could grow organically around you as you grow through time.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @laura.e.hepworth
