News / 11 Nov 2022
BA (Hons) Illustration alumni illustrates the Hepworth Wakefield's Festive Market campaign
BA (Hons) Illustration
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Hepworth Wakfield event poster with Cait McEniff.'s illustrations. Image courtesy of the artist
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Cáit McEniff, BA (Hons) Illustration. Image courtesy of artist
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Cáit McEniff, BA (Hons) Illustration. Image courtesy of artist
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Cait McEniff (BA Hons) Illustration. Image courtesy of the artist
BA (Hons) Illustration alumni Cáit McEniff has illustrated The Hepworth Wakefield's Festive Market campaign for 2022.
Cáit is an illustrator and textile artist from Warrington, now based in Leeds. She likes to make work that’s rooted in ideas, imagination, curiosity and research. In Cáit's own words, her work is: "pretty wonky and usually analogue; (...) influenced by storytelling, folklore and being outside."
Cáit graduated from her BA (Hons) Illustration degree in 2020 in the middle of the pandemic. She recounts:
"I really struggled, the world was a hard place and I was pretty burnt out. I think it was about three months before I started making work again. At the time this was really hard and I felt really guilty, but looking back it was an important break."
Cáit McEniff, BA (Hons) Illustration
Her way back to creating happened when her neighbour was giving away some Victorian coloured patio tiles. She spent the day making pictures from them with no exterior motive, no client, and loved it. She now tries to find the joy in making things, trying new mediums to keep her practice "healthy and sustainable".
"I wanted to make the work for this project using analogue methods. This is where I find most joy in making work, engaging my hands and using real tactile materials. (...) It was important that I tried to make the imagery for this campaign joyful and playful to reflect the atmosphere of the Festive Market. Once I had all of the collaged assets it was almost a case of worldbuilding – putting different characters together and seeing how they interacted and told small narratives. It was like a big wonky festive jigsaw."
Cáit McEniff, BA (Hons) Illustration
When making the collages for the project, Cáit didn’t stick anything down. Instead she scanned each cutting of paper and jigsawed the collages back together again on Photoshop. This was so the animation team at Hungry Sandwich Club would be able to animate the collages.
Her best creative advice came from her Illustration tutor Matthew Hodson, who told her: “dance then stance”.
"I like that. Do the play and make the mess – then decide. When I was doing a project about folklore in my final year and worrying about how to approach my illustrations for it (Matthew) said, “embody the tradition of folk and just make”. She says: "Going into commissions I can be guilty of letting the pressure get to me and being swallowed by imposter syndrome. Remembering how lucky I am to get to make pictures for a living and that I chose this path because I enjoy making, reminds me to find the joy in it even when it’s hard. Stay hungry, try new things, keep looking, stay engaged. I think I’m constantly trying to tap into that childlike curiosity when it comes to making images, pure play and expression, no need for external validation."
Cáit McEniff, BA (Hons) Illustration
"We are so pleased with how the illustrations have come out and we are using them everywhere we possibly can."
Grace, Marketing Manager,The Hepworth Wakefield
The Hepworth Wakefield have done a Q&A with Cáit that you can read here.
You can see more of Cáit's work on her social media here.