Sleep Sparrow’s (Sophie Chadwick) psychedelic creations reference brutalist architecture, colour therapy and the experience of listening to music. Utilising a traditional cut and paste technique that requires a delicate hand and a scalpel, she weaves textured collages which play with perspective. An archive of vintage photographs – women in beehives, kitsch pottery and dreary city scenes – are transformed by meandering lines and contrasting blocks of colour.
As a sufferer of chronic anxiety, Chadwick uses her image making as a tool to manage her mental health. “It’s kind of a curse and blessing,” she says. “I have to create something, at least one thing a day. Creating helps with the anxiety that I experience day to day, so I guess you could say, the more anxious I feel, the more I create!” The @SleepSparrow Instagram account – an online repository for her ever expanding body of work – showcases her formulaic approach to drawing: “I find the process super therapeutic. I create the initial sketch using pencil and ruler, then select which parts need to be block colour or detail, colour these in and then add then I add my colours. I don’t know where I would be without Posca pens and Sakura Pigma Microns – they are the key ingredients of any Sleep Sparrow piece!”
Since graduating from Falmouth University with a BA in Illustration, Sleep Sparrow’s work has been featured by the likes of VICE and Crack Magazine. She has been short-listed for the People of Print Graduate Competition (2015), and the Top 10 The London Coffee Art Project (2014). Currently residing in her hometown of Birmingham, Chadwick works in Cass Art supplies shop where she was awarded the Staff Bursary (2018). Endeavoring to support the small but thriving community of creatives in the West Midlands, her prints have been exhibited in bohemian hotspot The Night Owl as well as by a local brewery on a limited edition “Pink Champagne” ale. Although upcoming projects reach further afield: “One of my collages is scheduled to pop up in a popular Netflix series, due to air in 2019! Keep your eye balls peeled!”
www.instagram.com/sleepsparrow
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