SOPHIE GIBSON
TAKING ON THE EMPIRE Sophie Gibson is a Burnley-born artist who graduated with an honours degree in fine art at Liverpool John Moores University, in 2009. She has worked within the arts and culture scene throughout the Northwest and exhibited her work both nationally and internationally.
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hen Sophie’s not working as a lecturer, the Burnley Empire takes up most of her time, along with many other exciting projects she’s involved with, in the town. Kelly Smith put on her hard hat and had a chat with Sophie at the theatre she loves so much. Can you tell us more about the recent art exhibitions you have been involved in? SOPHIE: Recently I have had an exhibition at Towneley Hall called Hidden Reveals, the brief was to respond to Towneley Hall’s art collections, something I have really enjoyed having a look at what they had, exploring, and reimagining it. I wanted to do something slightly different, so I looked at the chemist labels, because I love the text, I love the colours, and I recreate those out of paper making collages.
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I also had an exhibition called I Think About You, which was based on some postcards that my Grandma June gave to me a few years ago. I didn’t know what to do with them, but I knew they were special to me. In these postcards there was correspondence between people across the world. There was one line in a card, that said it all, wrapped in this one postcard “to let you know that I think about you”. I thought that was quite sweet, especially after, the pandemic, all the lockdowns and correspondence with people keeping in touch. These works are a combination of gold leaf as well as collage and was exhibited in Burnley Mechanics.