Leo in conversation with...

Lizzie Hingley

LP: What was your immediate reaction to the theme? Was it a spontaneous idea that fit Fossil collecting into the bracket of the ‘other’ category, or ‘non art practice’ work?

LH: Well, there are drawings that I do which I don't consider to be art, but at the same time there are these fossils which I consider to be a bit more exiting. In my spare time I go to Dorset and do fossil hunting so...

LP: … so it’s not just about fossil collecting, its about actually going out and picking up fossils from a whole load of rocks and shells?

LH: From my perspective, finding them is more important than necessarily having them- the exhibition is an opportunity to display them.

LP: Which is perhaps why no one would see them? Because they’re at home in boxes?

LH: Yep, they’re in a load of boxes and when they are like that you dont even know what you have, you collect them over years.

LP: Do you think that in a way this act of fossil collecting fits more into the realm of something like a hobby?

LH: Perhaps. I think that I got slightly confused with the idea of the theme, particularly whether something like the fossil collecting would fit into it or not?

LP: I think that there are a variety of different angles on this- like Susan [tutor] suggested that one element of this could be considering such activities as a hobby, but a hobby is quite different from maybe some of the things that other people are doing here.

In a way, I wonder where collecting fossils sits in regards to a hobby and a creative act. A hobby can be a creative act, but the reasons why someone collects fossils might not be to create an object per se... Whereas with your drawings, that may well be a very different thing.

But you said you don’t really consider your drawings to be art - what are they? Could you describe them?

LH: They are spiky doodle things...it’s something that I do when I’m listening to something or someone.

LP: That’s funny because I do doodle things too, I still have a few in my book here, but they aren’t as regimented as yours. These seem to have built up their own scheme or rules or structure- it’s all quite interesting.

LH: Yeah, but I do get a bit bored of doing the same thing every time! I have no idea why I do them or what they are for really?

I have tried to make art out of it before [laughs] it doesn’t work very well - it sort of ends up being shells decorated, which doesn’t really look very great.

LP: Is there a way in which it would ever be art, just as it was?

LH: I find the forms very sculptural. They are quite pleasing to look at, with crevasses and shell bits being very smooth, plus they are moulded on what was before them, like they are little sculptures.

There is an art to fossil hunting - you really have to train yourself to find things [laughs]! I suppose it could be a performance piece, when you’re trying to find them in the winter and the rain is coming at you sideways.

LP: I read last night, on Wikipedia that for some people collecting can be a profession. It also mentioned that someone might be a chef and play computer games in their spare time, whilst another person might test games for a living and cook for fun. It’s funny that whilst some people collect fossils as their job and others might 'do' art for their profession, fossil hunting fits somewhere in between both for you – it is not a job, but it is not art either...