Elin & Ellie
Two Welsh artists looking at themselves in a mirror.
There’s a lot behind this picture and it’s one of my favourite shots taken last weekend at the Hiut Denim Mavericks + Makers gathering.
Ellie is helping Elin to paint herself. Unseen in their hands are bamboo handled Chinese calligraphy brushes, soaked in black India ink.
“Try not looking at the paper” Ellie said to Elin.
“Just a make a few lines. Maybe start with the way your eyebrow comes down to your nose.”
Ellie’s art “disentangles everyday moments” and a glance at your face in the mirror is the most everyday of moments. The way we view that reflection is probably the most tangled vision of all.
A blank sheet of paper is scary for writers and painters alike but this weekend Ellie coaxed dozens of reluctant mavericks and makers to create runny self-portraits that were often surprisingly uncanny likenesses. As Alex said, you have to “make that first mark”.
Artists sign their work of course, so Ellie made everyone sign their portraits too.
Although I didn’t see Elin’s finished painting, I suspect it echoed the loops of the E and N of her signature that brand the insides of the pockets of the thousands of pairs of jeans she’s made, in Cardigan.
The Hieatts will tell you that Elin is the heart of Hiut Denim. She is THE Grandmaster. She was the key that unlocked the door to the new factory and then the old factory too, so ‘seamstress’ isn’t quite enough to describe a woman who has made jeans for rockstars and princesses.
I think that if a Maverick is also a Maker, they’re probably an artist. It feels like as good a definition as any.
So two Welsh artists in a mirror.
