Georgie - volunteering with Artbox

Georgie is a full time artist who has been working with us since January 2018. We had a chat with her while she was helping artist Hisba with one of her latest pieces.

Artbox London: Tell us a bit about you

Georgie: So I am an artist, I’ve been a full time artist now for about three years, I live in Dalston and work in Hackney Wick. I found it quite lonely being in the studio everyday, and quite hard to get motivated so I just thought I’m going to come and volunteer somewhere, saw Artbox online and thought it was perfect. So I came for an interview with Madeline and just thought it was absolutely brilliant. So I’ve been doing it since then every week when I can.

Artbox London: What do you feel you’ve gained from working with Artbox?

Georgie: Meeting all the amazing people who come here, definitely getting some structure in my week as well. And I find it really inspiring actually, seeing what you guys get up to and what you make. It just feels really organic the stuff these guys create. Hisba was just saying that its very spontaneous isn’t it?

Hisba: Yeah spontaneous and adventurous

Georgie: It helps me in my own work to free up and get outside the box of what I usually do which is landscapes and cityscapes. Its just really nice to work with other people.

Artbox London: Have you and Hisba been working together quite a bit?

Georgie: Yeah in the mornings on Wednesday I usually come when Hisba is here and there’s not too many people around.

Hisba: Yeah true, and you know I’m an artist as well and I do a lot of artwork, selling artwork and doing exhibitions. Also I’m working on the volunteering as well!

Artbox London: And after 2 is that your own time to work

Hisba: Yeah, do a bit of creating

Artbox London: Nice! So what are the exhibitions with Artbox like?

Georgie: So I went to my fist exhibition here about a month ago and I was absolutely amazed. I brought my mum along, and the artwork was just unbelievable, because I hadn’t volunteered that many times. I'd seen some of the artwork but I hadn’t seen it all up on the wall in frames. I was just such a nice atmosphere! There were loads of people here everyone was really happy and buzzing. My mum bought me one of Hisba’s pieces for my birthday!

Hisba: Yep!

Georgie: It was a really nice evening wasn’t it? Met some really nice people and it was such a high standard of artwork. It could have been a professional gallery anywhere.

Artbox London: What’s the best thing about volunteering here?

Georgie: I think the atmosphere, its just kind of a zen zone. Almost like meditation but actually just less contrived! I look forward to it every week. It’s a really relaxed zone where everyone is free to be them self and create at their own pace. It's quite an unusual atmosphere really. I can’t really think of any other situation where you get that. It just feels nice to be helping out and getting involved in the whole setup. Its really cool.