In conversation with Harriet Edmondson: Bristol’s coolest up-and-coming student artist

With every street corner shrouded in various vibrant masterpieces and eye-catching fashionistas everywhere you look, it is no wonder that Bristol is deemed the UK’s most artistic city.

Home to Banksy and Aardman Studios, Bristol’s art scene is overwhelming and inescapable. We sat down with the upcoming artist and student, Harriet Edmondson, to discuss her experience of being a fine art student in such a reputable creative city.

Studying at the University of West England, Harriet is a 20-year-old creative from Manchester, who specialises in digital illustrations and mixed media sculptural and painted works.

Inspired by people, sex, and social politics, Harriet hopes to influence others to create artwork in a judgement free environment.

Life in Bristol

Coming from a small, conservative town, Harriet shared how living in Bristol for the past three years has inspired her work and has allowed her to explore her creativity to the fullest extent.

She told The Bristol Tab: “I can be so authentically myself in Bristol. Everyone around me has similar values and expresses themselves, and it makes me feel not afraid to be myself. If some people don’t support it, I know that so many people will and it gets rid of that kind of fear.”

Harriet revealed that moving to a city where the art scene is so established wasn’t as intimidating as expected: “The art scene is so major in Bristol and there are so many young artists getting started who are so excited to create.

“I didn’t feel too intimidated moving to a city where there’s so many students and people are creating because they genuinely want to. Nobody is trying to social climb or do anything more than what they love to do.”

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Harriet, who lives on Gloucester Road, says she feels inspired by what is right outside her front door: “Walking up and down Gloucester Road I see so many people who are constantly creating and one day I can see some street art and the next day it has completely changed. Its really cool to see that and be part of the community.

“You meet new people every day who give you new ideas and just walking around the city inspires me.”

Current project

For the past few months, Harriet has been working on a series of oil paintings and sculptures as part of her “Disjointed” collection.

Inspired by her childhood passion for ballet, Harriet’s project centres around the body dysmorphia associated with the dance.

“Over the summer, I found my old dance bag. Ballet was a huge part of my past and I wanted to intertwine my forgotten passions with my new found love, painting.

“I wanted to turn the beauty of ballet into something grotesque and jarring. I stuffed my old ballet tights and initially I wanted them to look nice, but I loved how the skin oozed out of the material. My tutor said they looked gross, but couldn’t stop looking at them!”

Harriet, who practiced ballet for 11 years, found it particularly therapeutic tapping into the passions from her past.

“This is the first project that I’ve really immersed myself in. It’s been so interesting to tap into the parts of my mind that I’ve completely forgotten about. It’s very much budding at the moment but I’m so excited to see where it goes,” she said.

Juggling student life and art

For Harriet, studying fine art is time consuming and intensive, particularly as she is in her final year: “I feel like I spend most of my life just sat thinking about everything, coming up with ideas on what to work on next is constantly ringing in my mind.

“It’s hard to snap out of that mindset and to remember that I’m a student. It’s taken me three years but I feel like I’ve finally found the balance of enjoying myself but committing to my work.”

Harriet credits her friends for helping her find the perfect balance: “It comes from making solid friendships and finding your tribe of people that you feel comfortable enough to tell that you’ve got too much work to go out.”

Music is a huge passion for Harriet that motivates her in times where her work feels particularly overwhelming, with her saying: “If my playlist isn’t right, I’m not inspired and I can’t do anything.

“Some of my favourites are Adrianne Lenker, LCD Soundsystem and Pulp are the soundtrack to my family. And shoutout to Phoebe Bridgers. Up the gays!”

Commission work

Alongside her studies, Harriet takes on commissions for her digital illustrations. As she describes, her personalised drawings can be for “your ladies, your maybes, your man or your nan.”

In her go to cartoon illustration style paired with the striking signature eyebrows, Harriet’s commissions are made to order.

“It’s so fulfilling to be part of something that means so much to someone. Drawing people and their partners or friends is such a nice thing to be involved with.

“My illustrations are always very catered to the person. I’ll draw the records they listen to, the posters they have on their wall or the teddies that live on their bed. It’s such a happy, intimate gift to receive and it makes me realise how much people love each other, and I love being the middleman in that.”

Harriet hopes that her commissions and brand will expand, saying: “I want things to grow and I’m thinking about making clothing.”

Bunno, Harriet’s signature tag, is spray painted around the city and its cartoon style heavily inspires her personalised illustrations.

“I kept sketching Bunno and it slowly formed into people and other animals. From there, it just turned into a world of its own and I discovered my illustration style.”

Harriet’s commissions are available to request over on her Instagram @hazriart.