Meet Fiona Fouhy, ITF's Artist of the Year
ITF exists not just to plant trees and restore forests, but also to promote and celebrate the incredible power of trees for people and planet.
We’re really excited to welcome Fiona Fouhy as our Artist of the Year to do just that. Fiona is an experienced artist with a profound love and appreciation of trees and nature.
In this interview, Fiona describes how a love of trees led her to discover her medium of choice and find her artistic voice.
What was your journey to becoming an artist?
I’ve been into art since I was about 9 years old and have wanted to be an artist since then. I was very lucky to have had an inspiring art teacher at school.
It has been a circuitous route to where I’m at now, but it did involve doing Art A-level, Art Foundation and a degree in Fine Art along the way.
I only discovered monoprinting in 2011 and basically found it was a medium that suited the expression of my ideas - my ‘voice’. I absolutely love it, and continue to enjoy exploring the processes.
For those who haven't seen your work, how would you describe it?
At the moment, the imagery that I produce is predominantly misty forests and fungi.
I make monoprints (ink on paper), so all of my work is on paper and is usually framed. I love making work about what it feels like to be in a place - the emotional and physical intensity.
What inspires you?
Lots of things inspire me - particularly walking in the forest, sitting in nature, foraging on the seashore, reading science and nature books, listening to radio/podcasts and going to junk shops.
I’m interested in geology, soil, archaeology as well as trees and fungi. Recently I’ve been exploring how we are drawn towards parts of the forest as if being gently pulled by a magnet. I am interested in unseen forces around us - gravity, magnetic forces, ultraviolet, sounds that human ears cannot hear and colours that human eyes cannot see.
Can you tell us a bit about your process?
I mainly make monotype prints, which are one-off, original prints. The technique is a bit of a combination of drawing/painting with inks, fabrics and rollers on a flat surface (plate), then placing paper over the plate and putting it through a large press, which transfers the ink from the plate to the paper.
‘Magnetise' monotype, Fiona Fouhy
There is only one image made, which is what makes it a monotype print (mono = one). I particularly like the immediacy of this technique - I respond to the materials and chance encounters with the textures and the way the inks move around.
Why do you capture trees and nature?
Initially I started printing trees because my son had asked me to make him an image of a white wolf. I set the wolf in a dark forest. The effect of the darkness between the trees in my print intrigued me and I ended up experimenting with dark forest images.
At the same time as this, I moved house near to Epping Forest, which I think also must have made a strong impression on me. Printing images of dark forests also helped me to process a lot of difficult life circumstances at the time.
I was interested in how one feels when you’re near trees or in a forest. I was intrigued by how you can feel peaceful, over-awed at their size, or fearful, depending on what your mindset is. I was exploring the emotional response to being surrounded by trees.
I also find that your imagination is somehow set loose in a forest. Although being in a forest can be a positive, healing experience, it has the potential to make you feel disorientated and lost.
Where did your love of trees come from?
Many close relatives of mine are environmentalists and keen gardeners; one is a landscape architect. This must have had some impact on me! I also grew up living close to Ham Common woods, where I’d go regularly, and loved the familiar large oaks of Richmond Park, with their straight lower canopies trimmed by deer.
Is your art influenced by the seasonal shift of trees?
Yes and no.
‘Lingering’ monoprint - Fiona Fouhy
My favourite tree is an evergreen, so visually it isn’t impacted so much by the seasons. As I visit the forest regularly I enjoy feeling the change of the seasons through the trees. I do make some work about summer trees because I love the deep shade they throw on the ground beneath, but I’m mainly drawn to the leafless shapes of a winter tree and the autumn/winter mists. So I often make wintery tree scenes, even if it is mid summer!
My favourite season to work in is the winter. I also like working in the rain. However, I enjoy the autumn because of the changes of colour (even though I don’t use more than greys and blacks in my work) and I love looking for fungi as they spring up.
What inspired you to join us at ITF?
As you can guess from my artwork, I’m a big fan of trees and I love the focus of ITF, promoting the many ways that trees and forests are one of the important keys to our survival and protection of the planet. It is inspiring to hear of land being brought back to life again, by the planting of trees. I felt very honoured to be asked to be involved with ITF.
I am excited to see how many different projects ITF is involved in, partnering with local communities and other charities globally. They seem to inspire others to see the importance of planting trees as well as working together with peoples’ visions from the ground upwards and help enabling them to come to fruition.
I said ‘yes’ to being artist of the year with ITF because it felt like it added another angle for my own perspective on trees - to see how planting trees can change people’s lives and futures - but also it seemed like ITF wants to spread the ‘love’ of trees by looking at them from all different angles and artists sometimes bring new angles! I’m excited to be part of this.
I hope that involving artists’ perspectives on trees will help open more eyes to the wonder of trees and to deepen our love and value of forest and woodland environments (as well as individual trees) not just for their practical use but for their beauty and potentially healing presence in our world.
'Hard-pressed but not crushed' monotype - Fiona Fouhy
Why do you feel that it’s vital that we promote trees?
On a practical level, trees and mychorizal partners bring structure back to soils; they help soils to retain water and provide shade. They can also provide fruit! Together with meadows and kelp forests they are the lungs of our planet!
‘Re-finding’ monotype - Fiona Fouhy, 2019
On a personal level I have found that they are good for our mental health - it’s proven that our heart rate lowers when we physically touch a tree. Being surrounded by ‘green’ (ie green within our periphery vision) is also meant to reduce stress levels and make you more creative (!).
Their size and physical presence can help you feel awe, which is also meant to be good for mental health. I could go on at length but I’ll stop there!
Do you have a favourite tree?
My favourite species is Scot’s Pine. I basically want to stop and look at every Scots Pine that I go past. It’s a nightmare driving anywhere.
Do you have a favourite piece of your work?
Possibly ‘Re-finding’ which I made in 2019. It’s on my website under ‘Forests’. Most of the successful pieces of mine have happy accidents in them. That is the case with this one! There is something happening in it that surprised me and it is also perhaps a more light-filled image.
Any top tips for those who want to start out capturing trees through art?
It can be really frustrating trying to pin down trees using visual art and I would probably recommend copying an artist you admire and looking at how they did it, technically. Trying the medium that they have used - oil paint or charcoal or whatever has been used, to see if the medium itself helps you to capture the essence of the tree.
I also feel like it's good to just look at trees and draw them even if you hate what you’ve drawn - the time you have spent looking intently at that tree has never been wasted. You are always gathering knowledge about them as you draw them and spend time really looking. It is like doing a meditation focussed on a tree!
Fiona studied at Central St Martins, London, is a recently elected a member of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers and a keyholder and tutor at East London Printmakers. She is represented by Eames Fine Art Gallery, London, Rachel Bebb Contemporary, Salisbury and Bankside Gallery, London. She has her work in public and private collections in the UK and internationally.
You can find Fiona's beautiful artwork on her website fionafouhy.com and follow her on Instagram @fiona.fouhy.
Fiona is running an outdoor print and mindfulness workshop on Sunday 2nd July in a large mature garden in Hertford. Head over to her website to book a place on Eventbrite.