We chat to Pookie Blezard about Barnes Artists Open Studios
We chat to Pookie Blezard about Barnes Artists Open Studios
Image credit: Kayvan Michael Bazergan
This June, Barnes artists will open up their homes and studios as part of an open weekend. Among them is Pookie Blezard, a painter and fashion designer, who was born in Barnes and still lives in the house she was born and raised in. “I was born in my bedroom,” she laughs. Her garden is her muse, and her paintings often become prints for her fashion label Pazuki.
She says: “I’d describe what I do as immersive garden painting. I wait until the garden is at optimum wildness, then I sit in the middle and paint, it’s almost like meditation.”
Visitors to her home for Barnes Artists Open Studios will be able to see her large-scale paintings as well as her Pazuki fashion line, and she will also host two other artists for the event. It’s an atmospheric place to take in her work. The house reveals itself in layers, still offering glimpses into her childhood home. She recalls a carefree childhood, running around what was then an arty bohemian neighbourhood.
When her parents died, Pookie stayed on. “There used to be four pianos here, but sadly they’ve all gone now.” She came from a musical family. Her father was the pianist and composer William Blezard, who worked with performers including Joyce Grenfell and Marlene Dietrich, while her mother Joan Kemp-Potter was a conductor and professor at the Guildhall. Music flowed through the house, and pursuing your passions was never questioned.
While there may be no more pianos, there are still many aspects of her family history still dotted around – a Chinese screen, trunks with old embroideries and mementos from India. “It took me about 10 years before I felt the house was mine, really,” she says.
(Scroll to keep reading)
Pookie attended the Royal College of Music at age five. But it was visual arts rather than music that she was drawn to. She attended Camberwell School of Art, first studying drawing and painting before specialising in printed textiles. A conversation with the Barnes painter Francis Hoyland, who taught at Camberwell, helped shape that direction. “He said, ‘You look like a textile person to me,’” she recalls. “And it made sense. I’ve always loved fabrics – I used to sew little bits together when I was really small.”
After leaving art school she worked with Japanese companies and later with Paul Smith, whose use of prints and encouragement helped turn her ideas into a commercial fashion business. Pazuki garments and accessories were stocked by top department stores and boutiques internationally, including the now-closed New York department store Barneys.
But she wanted to return to painting. “I got bored with the digital image and being on a computer all the time, I wanted a more human touch.” It’s hard to step away completely from the magic of printing on fabric so now her paintings merge into prints for garments, but in a much less pressurised way than the merry-go-round of travelling to trade fairs and doing massive shipments to big stores. “I still feel under pressure as I get up in the morning with a burning desire to create, but it’s not quite the same.”
The influence of those trips to Japan still runs through her paintings. She admires the Japanese appreciation for irregularity and imperfection, something she feels is often missing from digital design. “Imperfect is more perfect,” she says. “The happy accident is often more exciting than the original idea.”
That commercial background though has shaped her attitude to her artwork. She says it’s there to sell. “I want my work to go out into the world for people to enjoy, not to pile up here.” Her paintings have sold well through local exhibitions organised by Barnes Artists and to private clients.
Her fashion line is sold through stores and online. Her customers, she says, tend to be women who are, “confident about their style who don’t necessarily follow recognised brands. I get lovely emails from people saying how many compliments they get when they are wearing my designs. Also, they keep them for a long time – in these days of sustainability, it matters.” Sheila Hancock was spotted looking stunning recently on Have I Got News for You wearing a Pazuki silk shirt that was bought at least 10 years ago. “I love that she chose to wear my shirt instead of rushing out to buy something new.” But sustainability is not new to Pookie. “My mother would never throw anything away. She was brought up in frugal times, every little piece of everything was always kept.”
Barnes Open Studios will give visitors the chance to see over 36 local artists, many of which have been influenced and supported by the local artistic community. For Pookie, Barnes is not just where she lives, but a place that has shaped her life and career. “I have a lovely friendship group here, it feels like a village yet so close to central London. I love the common, and the trees… I think I will always be hefted to Barnes…”
- Barnes Artists Open Studios, 6 – 7 June.
- pazuki.co.uk
- barnesartists.org
