Emily Tobin profiles three artists who are using the simple yet flexible medium of charcoal in new ways.
Emily Crookshank's studio is littered with the remnants of dead birds. To be more specific, she currently has a fully skinned cock pheasant resting on her windowsill and a particularly beautiful Asian kingfisher hanging from a nail in the wall. This is because much of her current work is concerned with the traditional art of fly tying; the feathered slamon flies are rendered in incredibly detailed charcoal drawings. As the flies are so small, she tends to work from photographs in order to capture every detail but, she says, 'I couldn't work without the fly in my hand; it acts as a sort of totem. I find that physically holding it reminds me how small it is, and I feel the texture of the different materials impacts the type of marks I make.' Initially her decision to work in charcoal was dictated by its affordability. 'I decided to set myself a project that would restract me to simple, cheap materials, but even so, the scope was endless.' Recently she has taken this project further by making her own oil drum, using wood native to the area of Scotland in which her father has a house. Prices start at £350.
