Features

Miss Led - The Art of Led

Emma Jackson 01/09/2008

Everyone views art differently as we are all unique but looking at the work of artist Miss Led's, you could say she is one of a kind. Her artwork ranging from Wall art, to dolls, shoes, bags and canvasses. Recently she covered an entire car with her artwork for charity. Miss Led took time out of her busy day to have a chat with me.

What age where you when you first learned you had a gift of drawing?

There isn't one particular time that I thought or realised, it was just something I was always doing. I can't remember not scribbling.

What did you do at school, college or university to pursue this further?

I followed all the usual routes, GCSE Art, A-Level Art, Art College and then a Fine Art degree course. I did a Public Art post-graduate course a few years after graduation. This is where the mural painting started happening.

Why call yourself Miss Led?

It just fit in a lot of ways. I like things that have a double meaning. In one way I saw myself as misled, due to my go- with-the-flow care free attitude, sometimes in a destructive and detrimental way, when I wasn't making art. Miss Led also highlighted my fiercely determined and focused way of pursuing an artistic identity again. Led, being a trajectory for me. It's short, sweet and snappy and just sticks in people's minds.


In addition, did it take a long time to come up with it?

I don't actually remember, honestly, how long I'd been thinking about it. I ran with it though, it just seemed right.


Where do you get your inspiration?

Everywhere. People I know, personal feelings and experiences, film, art, dreams, comics, fashion…


What is your favourite cartoon of all time?

Cartoon? If that includes comic or character then I think it would have to be Jamie Hewlett's Tank Girl. Hewlett pretty much pioneered the whole 'girl-power' attitude way before the late nineties and the whole Spice Girl rubbish. Shaped by the punk culture and visuals of the mid to late '80s it combined influences of pyscadelic art of the '60s and '70s to create something completely unique. Tank Girl was a kick ass tank pilot and hired bounty hunter who had the craziest and ludicrous of adventures. She unfortunately took a serious fall in the nineties due to being a star of her own self-titled movie. But the comic books and graphic novels need to be checked out! Totally awesome!

Before then I was pretty obsessed with Wonder Woman from about the age of 7 I guess. And Rogue was a pretty close favourite, as the mutant in the X-Men comics through art college times. I don't get so excited about comics or graphic novels as much as I did. I spend a lot of time and money on illustration books nowadays.

What has been your favourite job you have done so far?

I think the Art Car Boot Fair was the best job so far. I've really enjoyed painting live, and it was very much a performance that day, which does stand out from the other live art I'd done previously. I created the Miss Led character, which helped in climbing on and off a car in next to nothing, in front of thousands of people! I had 7 hours to paint the car, which was wrapped in white vinyl especially for the event. It took a lot of concentration as a lot of people wanted me to stop for photos, interviews and grill me about talk my work.

It was a scorching hot Sunday, I think 29 degrees at one point in the afternoon. You could see the paint steaming on the surface of the roof. I used paint pens and small brushes, so it was intensive, non-stop work. The adrenaline kept me going and I enjoyed every minute of it.


Favourite thing you have designed.

Erm, I think one of my favourite pieces I've designed is my, 'miss led, naughty flock', which was designed for the Nuts TV studio walls. It's designed to be cut into a stencil and sprayed in series to create a wallpaper piece. It's pretty naughty, though only after it was transferred to the wall at the studios did someone point out the extent of its naughtiness. I photographed an old bathroom tile from an old East end boozer on my phone and looked at how the design was created from lots of smaller images. So my smaller images created a large singular piece… I won't spell it out, you'll have to check it out yourself.


Who is your favourite artist?

Jamie Hewlett, I'm totally gutted I missed his Monkey Opera the other week. Monkey and Hewlett = nostalgic heaven.

What is your opinion on Pixar and DreamWorks?

All good. I'm more of a fan of Manga and old Disney films I think.

What bands are you listening to at the moment?

The last couple of days… I've been listening to Fu Manchu, Le Tigre, Alice Donut, Aliens. I'm feeling the Last.fm love.


What does your daily routine consist of?

Coffee, emailing, drawing, chasing jobs, working on jobs, digital rendering of drawings, more emailing, more coffee, sending out finished pieces, coffee and marketing.

What do you do to relax?

Hanging out with my friends, reading a book, going for a cycle, coffee shop visits. I have to admit I don't relax enough, I'm mostly found in my studio most of my waking, (and sometimes sleeping) hours.

Where do you hope to be in five years time?

In Successville! Ha ha. Hopefully somewhere with a better weather climate than the UK, who knows? I'd like to be travelling more with my work and taking on bigger spaces.

What can we expect from you in the future?

A lot more work, a considerable amount of evolution, larger and more permanent pieces, I'm keeping recent developments under my hat for the moment. Though all will be revealed in the next week or so. So watch this space!!

Any final words??

Erm… thanks for your time and support!

www.missled.co.uk - new website coming soooon x