In Conversation With Coralie Turpin

In May 2020, we interviewed Coralie Turpin as part of our series ‘In Conversation With…’. Below is an overview of Coralie’s interview. You can find the recording of the interview on our IGTV. Find us on Instagram at @junctionartsUK

Coralie Turpin is a full-time artist and has been since leaving university. Coralie makes public art pieces, works with communities and makes sculptures and mosaics for exhibition as well. She enjoys using colour and texture and making large scale work. Coralie likes to help people make things and feel good about doing so.

In lockdown Coralie has been busy leading online workshops helping people create things with what they have at home, usually she runs classes in her studio.

Growing up, Coralie did lots of drawing and painting and she used to make her own clothes. After a foundation course in art and design, she did a sculpture degree where she met her husband who is also an artist. When she left university she began doing workshops in schools and started working with communities. This built a portfolio she could show to more clients. Now she is doing commissions for city centres and more.

Recently, Coralie completed a mosaic piece for a 13-story accommodation building in Sheffield. Ann Knight who worked in the equality movement to abolish slavery, which started the women’s movement in the UK, inspired the piece. The building is also named after her; Coralie didn’t want to make a typical suffragette piece and wanted to make something with impact and power behind it, inspiring the students who will live there to do something great.

Coralie spoke about the power of public art and the messages that are woven into a piece, the importance of the arts in communities and encouraged anyone who wants to be an artist to go for it.

Junction Arts worked with Coralie, to develop and create a new piece of public art for the new Aldi store at Eckington. The piece was inspired by stories from local people. You can view the project here https://junctionarts.org/community-projects/remembering-eckington-drill-hall-public-art-project/