Liz Mundle
Describe your background
I was always encouraged to “make” when I was younger – my Indian grandma taught me to crochet, my cousin taught me to knit, my mum taught me to sew and my uncle encouraged me to paint and draw by giving me wonderful boxes of materials for Christmas and birthday presents.
Having had to abandon my dreams of becoming a dancer because of injuries, I found myself in the art department of a Polytechnic in the mid 1960s. I went on to complete a BA Hons degree in Painting and Drawing at Stourbridge College of Art and a Master of Arts at the Royal College of Art in the early 1970s – by then I was experimenting with environmental sculpture.
At the time there were few opportunities to explore my ideas outside college so I started teaching part time in a comprehensive school and began working with embroidery, felt making and silk painting. I was invited to teach a variety of workshops at different craft centres and was fortunate to be able to sell my work in the British Craft Department in Liberty & Co and at different craft fairs up and down the country.
My work also appeared in many craft magazines and I worked with a colleague to publish The Cross Stitch and Sampler Book in 1985 with Quill Publishing Limited.
As my daughter was growing up my teaching commitments became all encompassing and I started to work on American Study Abroad Programs based in London. This resulted in achieving a Professorship in Modern Painting and Sculpture – the History of Art taking over from practical studies. For many years I was teaching both here and in the US and acquiring all this historical knowledge has greatly informed my own practice which I eventually returned in the 1990s.
When did you become a printmaker and why?
For many years my work has focused on collage and printmaking working with lino, silkscreen and photopolymer prints at the London Print Studio and Putney School of Art and Design.
I started to apply for open calls and became very lucky to exhibit in among others Discerning Eye, The London Group Open, Pastel Society, The National Open Print exhibition and annoyingly shortlisted for the Royal Academy Summer Show three times!!
Since moving to Teddington two years ago, I have embarked on a new project. I wanted to make work more sustainably and focus my attention on the fragile, ever changing landscape that I walk through every day. The River Thames symbolises a journey and presents me with ever changing memories rooted in a time and a place.
I have been experimenting with the cyanotype process which is as unpredictable as nature itself and I am drawn into the beauty of impermanence. So many exciting results are happening at the moment with bleaching, toning and colouring – working in the studio and outside is one big adventure!
How do you sum up your approach to art?
To quote Andy Goldsworthy – “Art is not simply beautiful objects; it is a means of exploring life.”
