Meet artist, coach and podcaster Katie Fishlock
I grew up on the outskirts of Bristol; it’s been in my life since I was kid.
As an adult I moved back closer to the city and it reinvigorated my creativity; it has enabled me to become part of a community of artists, which I thought I would never have. Bristol is special because it’s so raw. It is a mixed bag of different cultures and energy, it’s a great place for me as a creative because a lot of my work is to do with mental wellbeing, societies, communities and human interaction. Bristol is special for this because it’s a melting pot of all these things. It’s always simmering away on the stove.
I tend to make a beeline for Dareshack on Wine St.
The venue serves great coffee, it’s perfect for people-watching and it’s got great walls for artists to hang their work on. The team there has been so kind to me. It hosted my Live Laugh Love Burnout exhibition, and it’s an inspirational place where I’ve hosted workshops and formed many connections too.
There’s one book I keep going back to.
I’ve just re-read The Promise That Changes Everything: I Won’t Interrupt You by Nancy Kline. I feel most people need to read this book because it honours and explains the influence of interruption and how it affects our lives. It focuses on the powerful notion of listening. If we radically improved the way we listen, just think how potent our connections would be. I actually trained with Kline, and her work is responsible for the creation of my thinking circle workshops The Cult.
I think street art is so popular in Bristol because the city has a lot to say.
Street art was used by the Ancient Romans, who wrote graffiti on the walls like they were gossip magazines. Bristol is a boiling pot for street art simply because we have a lot to say in this city, and we’re not afraid to say it. That’s what makes it so fertile for creativity. I can’t live right in the very centre for this reason – I think my nervous system would explode with all the energy there. We have to remember that Bristol has a very intense history – like many cities – with its links to the slave trade and scarring from WW2 bombs. This history is still in the bones of Bristol. It’s in the cement work, and it seeps through to the people, making a creative environment. There aren’t many cities that would have received the work in my exhibitions – the aforementioned Burnout (that was, funnily enough, about burnout) and Treat Yourself at Glitch Studios in Old Market (which explored why we find it so difficult to treat ourselves to guilt-free pleasure) – with such an open mind.
Some themes I’ve addressed in my murals include burnout, autism and dyslexia.
When I have the privilege as an artist to take up space and paint a wall, billboard or exhibition area, it’s important for me to really say something. Not only is the art located in Bristol, but I work with the community here to interview people and gain information – I think of it as field research that feeds back into my artwork. For example, I’ve got a piece up at the Tobacco Factory at the moment called No Small Talk – it’s about how people with autism can often find small talk really hard, and the artwork lives in the beer garden, which is where so much small talk happens. Bristol Mural Collective has been instrumental to my growth as a muralist. The members of the female- and non-binary-led group – which is rare for a street art community – have been very supportive.
katiefishlock.com; @katiefishlock; Fragments of the Soul podcast on Spotify; @bristolmuralcollective
