alison burchert.
Essex
Encouraged as a small child by an artistic mother, I always sketched family
members and pets, being able to capture a good likeness. From school through to
college, my ability to draw became apparent and was recognised throughout my
home town of Colchester in Essex. I had taken to pastels after years of painting
in watercolour. The transition happened when working on a portrait….. "With
watercolours I couldn't keep the smooth texture of the skin and the more I
worked at it, the rougher the 'skin' got. Frustrated, I picked up a box of
pastels that I'd had from college and almost closed my eyes as I chalked over
the face I'd been working on for hours, cringing with the fear of having to
throw the whole picture in the bin…. I smudged it over with my finger. The
result was amazingly smooth and definitely 'skin' like. I put away the
watercolours and invested in many shades of quality pastels". In 1997 and keen
to enter into the art world, I offered my services to organisations to produce
promotional portraits which came with good media coverage and helped my business
catapult within its first year. I was introduced to various artists and teachers
and was offered a place to work alongside Royal portrait artist Richard Stone
who had admired my work through the local press. In 2003 I took up teaching art
within local clubs and private classes, holding exhibitions and encouraging 11
to 16 year olds to develop their artistic talents with workshops using different
mediums. From 2008, I had the immense pleasure of working with Colchester Zoo in
Essex when I became their Artist in Residence. From holding art classes in the
Zoo and working with children during the school holidays to portray their
favourite animals, one of my greatest adventures was to work closely with the
Zoo's great managerial team on their 'Stand Tall' project for their 50th
anniversary. This saw many local artists give up their time to design and create
personal works of art on 2.5m giraffe sculptures. These were then displayed
around Colchester and even took a tour to London's South Bank before they came
back to the Zoo for auction. It was with much excitement to see one of my
giraffes (Big Catrina) sell to the highest bidder at £6800. Developing very
unique drawing skills, I have helped students from all over the world with many
varying art abilities to accomplish their artistic dreams. With a limited
palette of chalks, and a vast experience in pastel application, my teaching took
me to places I hadn't even dreamed of. Constantly moving forward and learning
new ways to pass on my skills, I would say that teaching students of all ages is
in my blood now. It has become a passion to show others the beauty of this
versatile medium.
