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Interview with Rachel Smith e: rachelsmith928@msn.com

1. When did you become interested in art and architecture?

I have always been interested in art and being creative.  Colour has always been around me in a big way, or it has always caught my eye as a tool to be monopolised.  Throughout school I always balanced a tame interest in sciences with a more wilder interest in the arts, using literature, philosophy and a range of artistic mediums to experiment with art.  Architecture came along as a natural culmination of these ideas.  I saw it as a way to add logic and challenge to the seemingly limited dimension of painting.  Although don’t get me wrong, a work of art can move you in more ways than the laws of physics ever could.  I have branched out in many different mediums of art and design at some stage, yet some are far more enticing and reverberate much more widely among a community, that is what I love about architecture.

 2. Where were you originally based?

I am originally from the UK, with roots from all over, born in Newcastle, growing up in Brighton, Uni in Nottingham, and a temporary base in Bath, I’m nearly a nomad!!

3. When and why did you decide to come to Australia?

I decided to come to Australia for the beaches, I’m not going to lie!  Had I known that sharks attacks really were common, and out of all the world’s most deadliest spiders, the top ten live here, I perhaps wouldn’t have made it.  However the Ashes victory was enough to keep me firmly rooted here.  But really I came here and to Sydney for the challenge.  How do you really know what you are made of if you stay within your comfort zone all your life?

4. How does Australia compare to the UK and other places you've visited?

I have experienced a few different cultures along my travels, namely through South America and North America, but Australians are something else.  This strange concoction of optimism, humour and an amazing ability for Australians to forget what they were fighting for because the cricket is on, is incredibly refreshing.  Australia truly is a multi-cultural society and this reflects in the diversity of the arts it has on show.  Admittedly the European precedent has a heavy influence on the arts and architecture to some extent, although it seems to me, that they all got together at one point and decided that it was not worth their while trying to imitate and developed a style that was “Australian” and that works for me.  Look at Glenn Murcutt and Harry Seidler’s work; they made architecture, Australian architecture beautiful.

 5. What are the artistic and cultural influences in your artwork and architecture?

I guess the influences in my work are those which I have surrounded myself with.  Literature and most recently philosophy have had strong influences on the work I do.  I see beauty in a lot of things but in literature the beauty is more honest and direct but equally as hard to translate into something visual.  Culturally I have been exposed to many different experiences of living and working in foreign places, which gives you new ways of looking at things.  When I studied art at college, I was very interested in combining graphics into sculpture and not approaching each media as a separate entity but exploring how each would interact.  It started off quite controlled but as certain tutors probed me and annoyingly (but constructively) answered my questions with more questions I was able to develop different ways of working.

 6. Do certain themes come through in your work?

I don’t really know.  What I like to capture is a moment in most of things I represent.  Life is not still, but most of what you relay is static so by using colour and texture (in art, architecture and photography) you are able to invoke something that has meaning and depth.  That is what I love about Lucian Freud’s work.  It’s brutally honest and captures more about a person in a portrait than if it were a video, I guess the impact is more powerful.

7. How did you get into watercolours and why do you like using watercolours?

I suppose I got into watercolours because they weren’t messy.  When I was little I was always spilling things and dropping the top of my ice-cream off the cone, so watercolours for me (and in my mum’s eyes) were relatively safe.  Apart from that I love the fluidity immediacy they bring and their striking colours.

 8. What are you doing now?

Currently I am working in architecture here in Sydney, aiming to gain as much experience as I can and learn more about a discipline that seems you will never have all the answers.

9. What type of architectural work do you like doing? ie type of building and area of architecture?

Architecture is relatively new to me in the grand scheme of things but I love design that has rooting in something personal to the designer.  A concept that responds to the site and something creatively engaging that has evolved throughout the design process.  In my opinion, great architects are those that conceive and understand space and change it in their mind a thousand times before anything becomes finalized.  I love architecture that challenges you, and if it challenges you then how are the users going to feel…?

10. Where do want to take your art and architecture in the future? Eg start a practice? travel overseas and do varied projects? Etc…

I don’t know, help me…every single project I get involved in I love doing and I apply myself fully.  I love the arts but I need something fulfilling and challenging.  I’m fairly ambitious and driven (hopefully in a positive way) and I always aspire to do the best for myself and who I’m working for.  More travel is on the cards and I definitely aspire to do a multitude of creative projects in the future, but doesn’t everyone…

 11. You're also a tennis coach? How did you get into that?

Yes I am…I couldn’t live without tennis.  It’s a completely different way of doing exactly the same thing.  Tennis is creative and exciting and mentally challenging but in achieving your goal there are other more physical and mental barriers that you have to overcome.  Ultimately I love working with children as well because they have so much energy and make you laugh all the time at their anecdotes.  I got asked recently “but how do I know that the universe is endless”… I’m sure that is the beginning of another project…