Artist Talk: Natalie Gale

Creative Lives - Natalie Gale: One of my favourite artist talks was Natalie Gale's. I felt engaged with what she was saying fully and it inspired me throughout my own project. She talked briefly about her own education and what media she has worked with in her own practice. She talked about keeping your costs low as an artist, because it is expensive to fund materials. Natalie finally spoke about making sure you're getting yourself out there and you're taking the opportunities that are given to you because it's important to get yourself out there and also have experience. Natalie's talk was at a perfect time for me, as we were just beginning our project. What she spoke about really made me push what I did for my work and that is something that I am pleased about.

Something she said that really stuck with me was 'make your art sustainable'. As a student who is living out and financially independent, funding what I do is really important to me. I have worked on all sorts of materials that have been relatively low cost or free so this has varied what the materials I have worked on. Cheap wooden boards, recycled wood, old t-shirts, free glass etc are all just examples of something that I have used. Finally something else that I have taken from Natalie's talk is to take any opportunity that comes. I have been more confident as a person and pushing myself to do things I wouldn't normally do. Dance City is an example of taking an opportunity, as I went to watch dancers perform and drew them for the Dance City Building. Unfortunately due to Covid-19, the exhibition has been postponed.