with Sue Dray

• Spanish
• English
• Italian

Artist | Fashion Illustrator | Art Tutor

For more than forty years, Sue Dray has been communicating with her art in many capacities and on many levels – starting as an illustrator for pioneering feminist publications such as Spare Rib and The Women’s Press, both now considered cult magazines and historical treasures, archived and faithfully preserved as study material by The British Library.

Throughout the 1980s, Sue illustrated book covers for renowned authors such as Fay Weldon and Margaret Atwood, put her talents to use illustrating cookbooks and magazines such as Gay News and Gai Pied, completed a master’s degree in art that led to her teaching at universities in the United States and produced some of her most personal work, inspired by her two young daughters. She has since drawn live alongside the catwalk during shows by designers such as Pam Hogg, Vivienne Westwood and Zandra Rhodes, illustrated behind the scenes for Andrew Logan‘s Alternative Miss World and appeared drawing backstage during the 2018 film Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist. Her style is a combination of strong lines, painterly textures and intense, contrasting colours. Yet, despite her constant search for evolution and change, these characteristics of her artistic language have remained intact since the beginnings of her prolific career, during the golden eighties.

Today Sue is regularly commissioned by magazines and designers for the drawings and sketches she creates during the unveiling of collections in all the major fashion capitals, throughout fashion season. In 2018 she was Fashion Scout‘s first resident artist for the Spring/Summer collection of London Fashion Week, during which we could see her standing in a sea of surrealism at her elegant easel, a mouth full of paintbrushes, surrounded by throngs of press photographers, all competing with her for the best images from each collection. Following an approach by Apple in 2015, she has also found time to experiment with digital drawing – a medium she has come to appreciate when working under the hectic conditions of fashion shows. In 2019 she was an Artist in Residence and Creative Collaborator at The Villa Lena Arts Foundation in Tuscany – a fabulous opportunity that allowed her to immerse herself in the history of classical Italian painting, in order to influence and inspire the more pictorial side of her work.

Last but not least, it is impossible to ignore the extent of her teaching experience: Sue has taught in the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States and was, for eight years, course leader of the Fashion Illustration Course at The London College of Fashion. She continues to contribute to this renowned institution as a guest lecturer, nurturing future generations of fashion artists with her vibrant teaching style and a faith in the arts that exudes life, spontaneity, authenticity and innovation.

And now, enjoy the interview!

Watch Interview | Listen to Podcast
This interview was recorded on the 7th of May 2021 and released on the 15th of June 2021

Further Information:

Related Links
Sue Dray: Website | Instagram | YouTube

References during the interview
Fashion Illustration 00:39 | London Fashion Week 00:49 | Vivienne Westwood 00:55 | Pam Hogg 00:57 | London College of Fashion 01:02 | Artist-in-Residence 01:14 | Fashion Scout 01:16 | Mental Health Awareness Month 01:53 | Master of Arts (MA) 03:07 | Communication Design 03:36 | Thesis 03:37 | Art (Mark) Therapy 03:39 | Inner Child Therapy 03:49 | The Women’s Press 10:16 | Spare Rib 10:19 | Illustrator 10:42 | The British Library 11:34 | Fay Weldon 12:43 | Margaret Atwood 12:45 | John Mortimer 12:47 | Yuppie 14:46 | Lagos 17:54 | Civil Rights Movement 19:15 | Martin Luther King Jr. 19:19 | John F. Kennedy 19:23 | Segregation 19:42 | The Beatles 20:13 | Cadillac 21:04 | Ladbroke Grove 23:16 | Punk Scene 23:38 | Nihilism 23:48 | Jo Brocklehurst 24:15 | Covent Garden 25:33 | Central St. Martins College of Art and Design 25:35 | Semiotics 27:05 | Psychology 27:07 | Ergonomics 27:08 | The Lanesborough Hotel 28:33 | David Hockney 40:10 | Apple 43:03 | iPad Pro 43:41 | Vogue 46:54 | Neil Gilks 51:50 | Howard Tangye 52:55 | Helen Bullock 55:30 | Foundation Course 59:06 | Rochester 59:08 | Silkscreen 01:08:46 | Embroidery 01:08:48 | Villa Lena 01:09:13 | Brexit 01:09:55 | Tal Walker 01:13:10 | Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) 01:13:13 | Royal College of Music 01:13:14

Personal Images

Early Work

Artwork

Videos

All images and videos used during the interview by kind permission of Sue Dray.

Interview Credits:

Production by Carla Tofano & Toby Deveson | Subtitles & translations by Valentina Sarno & Alessandra Greco | Onset artwork: Photography by Toby Deveson & drawing of Carla by Alexandra Veres | Title music written and performed by Maya Petrovna | Additional cameras & Sound kindly supplied by Jim Shannon & Murray Stewart

If you would like to make a donation to Metralla Rosa, please use this PayPal link. Your generosity will help us to continue producing free content and will primarily be used for the creation of English, Spanish & Italian subtitles. Thank you so much.

www.paypal.me/metrallarosa