Please can you tell me about yourself.

I’m Ailsa Munro, an artist and textile designer based in South London. I’ve been painting and digitally constructing wild landscapes since 2020, prior to this I spent over a decade designing textile prints for the fashion industry. My work is focused on nature as a connected network of living organisms. I try to zoom in with almost microscopic accuracy on the details and curiosities of our natural world, and attempt to translate the beauty and importance of often-overlooked players in ecosystems such as; fungi, microorganisms and soil health.

Tell me about your journey as an artist. How did you get into printmaking?

I started creating personal work in lockdown, trapped in a block of flats, no access to a garden or private outdoor space. I began painting houseplants and hunted for inspiration on repetitive laps of local parks, drawn to the jarring urban pollutants (litter, planes overhead and construction cranes). I first exhibited this work with The Other Art Fair, and have returned twice since, sold online, through galleries and local art markets and worked on a handful of commissions. It’s been a challenging few years learning the ropes and building up my art practice, but I’m so chuffed to have worked on exciting projects that align with my values and also to have met so many incredible people along the way.

My print journey began on fabric during undergrad study at Brighton Uni, after my decade designing commercial textiles, I really wanted to expand my practice and explore more personal creative ideas, so started working with paper again. I’d worked with a combination of hand-drawing and digital design during that time in the fashion industry, it made sense to use the skills I’d honed there, whilst incorporating some new techniques to develop on what I had into something more meaningful.

Describe your creative process from start to finish of one of your pieces. Where do you find your inspiration?

When I have time to sit down and create, the first part of my process is digging out all of the references I’ve photographed or saved and organising them into categories: photos I’ve taken of nature which I’ll then draw from; and other visual inspiration which I’ll look to for colour, mood, technique etc… From there I begin sketching loosely with wax crayon to get expressive smooth forms. Then I paint into those sketches with gouache or paint made from natural pigments. Digitising the work is where I get to fly my perfectionist flag, cutting out, cleaning up and collaging the elements into dreamlike ecosystems.

I’m a magpie when it comes to sparks of inspiration, I photograph or collect anything that catches my eye in a physical or digital realm, it might be an interesting species or form in flora or fungi, a striking colour balance, or an interesting natural absurdity. I honestly find it hard not to photograph every mushroom I spot now. I’m fascinated with the unseen details and photograph plants with macro lenses to see their structures in microscopic detail.

Please tell me about your artwork ’Slugs at the Beech’. What is the story behind the work? How long did it take you to create?

It started with lots of individual sketches. Recently, my interest has been expanding beyond fungi to other under-appreciated diverse organisms like slimy slugs, ‘weeds’ and moss, that all signal a healthy ecosystem. I love to see a process of decay and renewal in action. In the ‘Slugs at the Beech’ artwork, the viewer is looking at this untouched close-up snapshot of nature, I was trying to capture what it might be like to get down close to the forest floor and study this decaying log and symbiotic organisms in all their absurd glory. It’s hard to keep track of exactly how long an artwork like this takes to create because I flit between multiple works-in-progress, but I can tell you it takes a while, one element from the piece takes at least an hour or two to paint!

What is your favourite print that you have designed and why?

Probably ‘Look at the Network and the Network Starts to Look Back at You’. Ask me on another day and I might have a different answer, but that one was really fun to create. It has lots of little characters in it like Jester, (spotted while I was running in a local park), an American falcon that escaped from London Zoo. I was allowing myself to be more childlike and illustrative, you can see a smiling sun, rainbow and eyes amongst the mushrooms for example. The colours are really vivid and otherworldly and I think for me that’s how it feels to be immersed in nature, noticing everything like you’re seeing it for the first time.

Who is your favourite artist and why? Do they have an influence on your work?

It would be impossible to choose one favourite. I love so many other artists, I think the world now and through history is absolutely bursting with incredible artistic talent. The artist who’s had the most influence on my work has been Rousseau, gazing at ‘The Dream’ in The Met, NY, was a pivotal moment for me connecting with art, I was absorbed in the painting and transported into another world. I’ve always had intense surreal dreams and to me that piece conveys beautifully how a dream state differs from reality.

How would you like people to feel when they see your work?

I’d like for people to feel connected with nature when viewing my work. A lot of people have described it to me as a wonderful world to get lost in and that makes me really happy. I know so many people feel the same way about nature as I do, it’s such an intrinsic bond we have with it because we’re a part of it, so yeah I hope they’re reminded of that connection in some way.

What has been your greatest achievement so far as an artist?

I’m incredibly proud of having built up my self esteem as an artist. Art has pushed me way out of my comfort zone and encouraged me to take on challenges I didn’t think possible. I have a real belief in myself now and I think that’s quite a big achievement.

Why do you think art is important in society?

Art is a medium for people to communicate, I don’t think there is culture or community without art. Everything we create today records in this moment who we are, how we feel and what’s around us. I can’t imagine living in a world where history books are stripped of literature, music, image etc! What would we have left??

https://www.ailsamunro.com

ARTIST INTERVIEW: Ailsa Munro