Viva Lewes Issue #147 December 2018

THIS MONTH’S COVER ARTIST
This month’s glorious cover
is the work of artist Olivia
Bullock. It was a lovely surprise
– when I went along
to visit, and Olivia unveiled
her plan – that she too had
arrived at thoughts of The
Nutcracker (seeing as we’ve
also interviewed dancer
Gary Avis, this issue, who’s
performing in the ballet –
see pg 43).
So, “Why The Nutcracker?”
“I’ve got an old Nutcracker”,
Olivia says. “Every year
out he comes. I’ve always
been fascinated by him –
and have been to the ballet
quite a few times with my
mum. I love the way this
thing can be transformed
into a human and fall in
love. There’s something
sinister as well as magical
about him.”
Olivia agrees she’s drawn to
that sinister edge that’s vital
to fairytale. “I’ve always
loved stories, myths, tales.
Strange things. These are
recurrent themes in my
work. I like the idiosyncratic,
and the traditional
– masks, costumes, animal
personas and so on. There’s
a reason for everything,
every detail: though we
may no longer know those
reasons. Still, they communicate.”
Olivia divides
her time, working
from her
Star Brewery
studio. Mostly,
she spends it
on commercial
commissions – with
clients like Random
House and Burberry.
“I recently did a huge
collage for Bombay
Sapphire”,
she says. “The
gin producer
was relaunching
its brand
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