Page 14 - ALG Issue 1 2025

CREATIVE PLOTTER
CREATIVE
PLOTTERS
EMILY
CHAPPELL
I’m an illustrator, artist and silkscreen printer based in Glasgow. I’ve had an allotment at Kennyhill Community Allotments for around 15 years. Over time, the influence of the place has crept into my art practice and become a part
of my identity and my view on the world. My first major crossover was to produce an illustrated book about allotment architecture, which was published in 2017 -‘A Hut of One’s Own - How to Make the Most of Your Allotment Shed’.
It is a celebration of the creativity and ingenuity present on allotment sites - particularly within working class cities.This progressed into the creation of fun graphic t-shirts that championed allotmenting,
and I even designed a girl-guide style ‘Allotmenteer’ and ‘Plotter’ embroidered patches that can be sewn onto jackets and overalls.When I invested in the installation of printmaking facilities at my art studio nearby, one of the first prints I worked on was a 6-colour silkscreen print entitled ‘Grow!’ It depicts the life-size tools of the growing trade - the trowel, the plant labels, the lighter to start a fire...This print is a sister piece to ‘Draw!’, which depicts the other side of my interests - paints, brushes, inks and pencils.
At present, I am developing my drawing practice by focusing on observations of found botanical forms on the plot. My
allotment has become pretty much a 50/50 balance of vegetable growing and perennial plants. It’s now a diverse and visually inspiring place to frequent in all seasons. I have been drawing on-site at the plot (in
all weathers) - sampling different media to illustrate such things as rotting sunflowers, seed-laden petrified poppies,the potency of a seemingly dull looking valerian root... In the summer I even experimented making large cyanotypes on site with great success. Having access to both a growing space
and a local studio is such a joy to me. Both work in tandem and influence the other - I
even made a giant pencil for the plot out of an old fence post and have brought colour combinations into the planting scheme with a refined eye. I need my hands busy at the plot to balance out my mind running away with itself at the studio - to feel grounded and part of my community.The land is
also my playground.A place to explore and make things at will. A verdant outdoor studio.
hello@emilychappell.com www.emilychappell.com
Instagram: @emilychappellillustration
14 | Issue 1 2025 | Allotment and Leisure Gardener