Self-taught printmaker and graphic artist Zoe Cloke is the face behind Leave Me Hanging. Based in Kent, England, Zoe’s works tell stories, capturing a moment or a place to evoke memories. Her work is graphical in nature and often evolves from a photograph she has taken, selectively removing detail and using blocks of colour and fine lines or patterns to create focus. “I am driven by the idea that art encourages you to look differently or more closely at life, challenging what you see the first time, and pulling you back to look again” says the printmaker.
Zoe creates lino, Giclée and graphic prints whilst also undertaking commercial commissions for logos, marketing material and art prints. Many aspects of her creative process spread across Affinity and Adobe products; “I enjoy the flexibility of creating anywhere on my iPad in Designer or Photo, particularly since the addition of a Paperlike screen protector making it feel more like drawing again, but years of muscle memory always bring me back to Illustrator or Photoshop once work is transferred to the iMac to finish it.”
It is only in the last couple of years that Zoe has expanded from graphic and Giclée print making to include relief techniques after she attended a weekend course. She explains; “I get excited by the commitment of drawing, transferring, carving and printing to only know if the idea has worked once you lift the paper on the first proof print at the end of all the work.” Zoe enjoys exploring the variety that can be achieved with relief printmaking, as well as the amount of experimenting that is possible with changes to ink and printing technique. She has now invested in a larger press at home to be able to fit printing more easily into her life; “I also recently received my Open Press Project 3D printed press and cannot wait to start trying other forms of printmaking on a miniature scale”.
During the first UK lockdown whilst feeling isolated from family and friends Zoe began creating fine line black and white pen drawings of homes as isolated islands. The project snowballed, and she now has a small collection of houses complete, with the first seven available as Giclée prints in a limited run of 49 to represent the seven days a week the seven homes were isolating. “I have many submitted homes that I am currently drawing and hope to create a large print that explores not only the isolation we felt but how we became connected in new ways” states Zoe.
Lockdown provided the opportunity for Zoe to get involved in the #oneofmanypostcard initiative on Instagram started by John Pedder. As part of the project she donated postcard sized works to send to people, who in turn gave to a charity of their choice. She says; “I donate a significant amount of my time to supporting and volunteering at a local arts charity, The Horsebridge Arts Centre, so finding another way to support charities across the world through this project has been incredible. It relies on hope, kindness and trust which feel really important right now”. The design also became one of two submissions to an on-going Post HOPE exhibition by Horsebridge Arts Centre which will also support the charity.
www.leavemehanging.co.uk
@leave.me.hanging
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