Public and Community Artist, Speed-Painter, Illustrator, Tutor, Demonstrator
Commissions welcome :-)
Loïs Cordelia is a versatile community artist, speed-painter and tutor, based at her studio in Ipswich, UK. From intricate scalpel paper-cuts to speed-painting, her artwork balances precision with free-flowing energy. Until the Covid pandemic, she created most of her art live in public, regularly taught workshops and performed live art demonstrations along with commentary and talks. Since March 2020, she has shifted her focus to offering free tutorials and demonstrations via her YouTube Channel.
Loïs's art has featured in public art trails across the UK, including many designs for Wild in Art and similar schemes. Since 2016, the combined sales of Loïs's public art pieces, handmade miniature replicas and silent auctions have raised more than £110,000 for numerous charities.
She welcomes commissions: "Unusual requests a speciality!" She is by far the most commissioned artist on the MyArtBrief platform, creating a vast range of bespoke artworks. Loïs also works part-time as a Lead Artist and Programme Leader with local Ipswich and Suffolk-based Inside Out Community, offering creative group workshops and one-to-one mentoring with a focus on arts for mental health and wellbeing.
Pre-lockdown, Loïs ran a popular untutored Ipswich life-drawing class. She was group facilitator for the monthly Art and Spirituality Forum for more than five years and a member of the Home of Suffolk Arts and Crafts. She is a member of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).
Interviews with Loïs Cordelia
Loïs and other artists speak about their murals for Stowmarket Library Garden (September 2021)
Magdalena (Madil Hardis) interviews Loïs Cordelia for Deep Art Talk, May 2021
Abby Pollock of 20Twenty Productions interviews Loïs for Creative Careers Week (February 2021).
Edmund Ngai interviews Loïs for The Creator's Journey Podcast (July 2020).
Alistair Syme (Ceidiog) on GoPro Art, live demos at Sailmakers Shopping Centre, and Home of Suffolk Arts and Crafts (January 2020)
Sarah Bartram talks to Loïs about her involvement in Wild in Art and Elmer's Big Parade Suffolk (2017)
Alex Assaly (University of Cambridge) interviews Loïs for his series of "5 Questions" interviews, September 2016
Peter de Kuster interviews Loïs for The Heroine's Journey Blog, August 2016
Kirsten Irving (Sidekick Books) speaks to Loïs about her paper-cut art and illustrations, December 2015
Sheena Grant (EADT) on Loïs's work with and ‘apprenticeship’ to Jan Pienkowski, July 2015
Collaborations with Stefan Freedman
Loïs often collaborates with Ipswich-based choreographer Stefan Freedman. In 2017, Loïs created a series of mixed-media visuals for Stefan's short film, Malka, dedicated to refugee children, which has been selected for screening in numerous international film festivals. In February 2020, Stefan released Land of No Today, with artwork by Loïs, a tribute music video to Bob Marley with a message of hope for the new generation. Stefan and Loïs have organised several successful fundraising events connected with Malka and Land of No Today, raising a few thousand pounds for local Suffolk and Norwich refugee support charities. Loïs has also created the cover and illustrations for Stefan's new book, Dance Wise.
Loïs took formal art training as far as A-level (Northgate High School, Ipswich, 2001), when her art teacher Dan Emery encouraged her to begin painting. From 1999 until 2019, she worked part-time as an artist's assistant in the west London studio of children's author-illustrator Jan Pienkowski (born 1936), best known for his Meg and Mog series (with co-authors Helen Nicoll and David Walser), pop-up books including Haunted House, and several volumes of fairytale silhouette illustrations, a number of which Loïs cut out the silhouettes for.
In 2006, Loïs graduated from the University of Edinburgh (Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies) with a first level Honours degree in Arabic. The effortless beauty of Arabic script remains a major influence in her drawing and painting techniques. Her studies of diverse languages, cultures and spiritual traditions have also given her a sensitivity that allows her to communicate freely with people of all backgrounds, ethnicities, ages and walks of life.
Public Art, Solo Exhibitions and Publications (includes forthcoming and provisionally scheduled shows)
2022 We Are All Connected, River for All, Museum of East Anglian Life, Stowmarket
2022 Four Seasons of Dog-Walking, A Dog's Trail, Cardiff
2021-22 Pallet, with Jasön Curtis, Stowmarket
2021 Riverland, Stitching Stowe, Stowmarket Library Garden
2021 A Transport of Delight for The Big Trunk Trail, Luton
2021 Wonderland for Hares About Town, Southend
2021 Time to Sit and Reflect for Explore a Book-Bench, King's Lynn, Norfolk
2020 - postponed until 2021 due to Covid-19 Otterworldly, for Moor Otters, Dartmoor
2020 - postponed until 2021 due to Covid-19 Ink and Wash and Autograph for Octopus Ahoy!, Harwich, Essex
2020 - postponed until 2021 due to Covid-19 Heart of the Garden and Seasons of Life for Elmer's Heart of Kent Parade, Maidstone, Kent
2019 Living Art, 142 Hamilton Rd Arts, Felixstowe
2019 Leo-nardo for Lions of Windsor, Windsor UK
2019 Through Artists' Eyes for Elmer at the Elephant, Elephant and Castle, London
2019 We Are All Connected for Go Wild Gorillas, Jersey, Channel Islands
2019 Dance in the Rain and Wullie Gone Wild for Oor Wullie's Big Bucket Trail, Edinburgh
2019 Hope, E=MC2 and Imagination Can Take You Anywhere, for Elmer's Big Art Parades 2019, Ipswich
2018 11 Pipers Piping, as part of Walking With the Snowman, Salford City/BBC
2018 Lest We Forget The War Dogs and Goldie, as part of Snowdogs Discover Ashford, Ashford, Kent
2018 Imagination Can Take You Anywhere, as part of Bangers and Cash art car rally, Sheffield to Monte Carlo
2018 Bee-You-ti-ful, as part of Bee in the City, Manchester
2018 Night Owls of Bath - The Herschels, as part of Minerva's Owls of Bath, Bath
2018 Green Man of Sherwood Forest, as part of Hoodwinked, Nottingham
2018 Once Upon A Fairytale, as part of Let's Go Quackers, Ironbridge and Telford
2017 Poor Powder Monkeys, as part of the Victorian Festival of Christmas, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard
2017 Green Man, on permanent display at The Akeman Pub, Tring
2017 Taj Mahal by Sun and Moon, as part of "The Big Sleuth" Wild in Art trail, Birmingham
2017 Look Upon Verdure, as part of the "Sitting With Jane" Wild in Art trail, Basingstoke
2017 Album artwork for Druids
2017 Artwork for Malka music video, collaboration with Stefan Freedman
2016 (October-November) Metamorphoses, Level Best, Colchester
2016 Pig-geswyk, as part of the "Pigs Gone Wild" Wild in Art trail, Ipswich
2016 - 2020 Sugar & Spice, Llandrindod Wells, Powys, Mid Wales
2016 Illustrations for German fairytale Zauber der Zwirnknoepfe (Krump, Gutenberg, Austria)
2016 Album artwork for Habu – Infinite (March 2016)
2015 Gaze of the Green Man, published in A Beautiful Resistance (Gods&Radicals)
2015 Dreamcatcher, Level Best, Colchester, Essex
2015 Art in the Orangery, Holywells, Ipswich
2015 Front cover and vignette illustrations for Birdbook III (Sidekick Books, London)
2015 Illustrations for German fairytale anthology SternenBlick
2015 Paintings and essay published in Rastafari and the Arts, Darren Middleton (Routledge, NY)
2015 Album artwork for Happy Graveyard Orchestra - Welcome
2014 Album artwork for Habu - To the Stars
2014 Open Studios 2014, CO3, Colchester, Essex
2014 LionHeart, Level Best, Colchester, Essex
2011 Winged Flames, Dove Cottage, Debenham, Suffolk
2011 Filigrees of Flame, The Edmund Gallery, Bury St Edmunds
2011 Black Gold, Open the Gate, London
2011 Reggae Unity, London
2011 Front cover and vignette illustrations for Birdbook and Birdbook II (Sidekick Books, London)
2011 Deep Roots, London
2010 Artwork featured in film, Habibti (Panacea Productions, London)
2010 Love Letters, University of Edinburgh Chaplaincy, Edinburgh
2009 Metamorphoses, Kulturforum Schwimmhalle Schloss Plön, Germany
2008 The Moon Tree, View From The Top Gallery, Nottingham
2008 The Burning Bush, The Ancient House Gallery, Ipswich
2006 Chiaroscuro, Fine Art Library, Edinburgh
2006 Roots, University of Edinburgh Chaplaincy, Edinburgh
2002 Mythology and Religion, Ancient House Gallery, Ipswich
Group Exhibitions and Publications (includes forthcoming shows)
2021 Winter Art Trail, Fox Yard Studio, Stowmarket
2021 Spotlight, Suffolk Libraries
2020 Socially Distanced, Creatively Closer, Inside Out Community, Ipswich
2020 Live Portrait Painting Week, 142 Hamilton Road Arts, Felixstowe
2019 Live Portrait Painting Week, 142 Hamilton Road Arts, Felixstowe
2018 Repton Revealed, Sheringham Park, National Trust
2018 Sea Scouts Art Echibition, Ipswich
2018 Sermo, Ipswich
2018 Shamanic Lands, Llandrindod Wells, Powys
2017 Free-Fall - Art From Poetry: Poetry From Art, comp. Karen Denison
2017 Nasty Women, London
2016 (October) Sea Scouts Art Echibition, Ipswich
2016 (August) SuffolkArt, Ipswich
2016 (July) Sudbury Summer Art Show, Sudbury, Suffolk
2016 (June-July) Tymperleys Tea Rooms, Colchester, Essex (with the CO3 Art Gallery)
2016 (April-May) Dorking Group of Artists, Betchworth, Surrey
2015 DRAW 15, Society of Graphic Fine Art, Menier, London
2015 Dorking Group of Artists, Denbies Wine Estate, Dorking, Surrey
2015 Blue, Townhouse, Ipswich
2015 Lines, Freudian Sheep, Ipswich
2015 SuffolkArt, Ipswich
2015 Faces, Townhouse, Ipswich
2015 CO3, Layer Marney, Essex
2015 Spring, Townhouse, Ipswich
2015 Dorking Group of Artists, Betchworth, Surrey
2014 CO3 Autumn Exhibition, Slice, Colchester
2014 Christmas at CO3, CO3 Art Gallery, Colchester
2014 Dorking Group of Artists, Denbies Wine Estate, Dorking, Surrey
2014 Creative Cartography inspired by Jan Pienkowski, Gabriel Fine Art, Waterloo
2014 Unity in Variety, Gabriel Fine Art, Waterloo
2014 SuffolkArt, Ipswich
2014 Dorking Group of Artists, Betchworth, Surrey
2014 Once Upon A Time - Children's Book Illustrators of East Anglia, Ipswich Art School
2013 Dorking Group of Artists, Denbies Wine Estate, Dorking, Surrey
2013 Heritage Day, Holywells Park, Ipswich
2013 SuffolkArt, Ipswich
2013 Midsummer Weekend, Great Horkesley, Essex
2013 Dorking Group of Artists, Betchworth, Surrey
2012 Dorking Group of Artists, Denbies Wine Estate, Dorking, Surrey
2012 SuffolkArt, Ipswich
2012 Open Studio Weekends, Surrey Artist Open Studios, Dorking
2012 Royal Russell School, Croydon
2012 Dorking Group of Artists, Betchworth, Surrey
2012 The Body Sublime, London
2011 The Vine Church, Eye, Suffolk
2011 Mixed Media, Kesgrave Arts, Suffolk
2011 SuffolkArt, Ipswich
2011 Jubilee Exhibition, Scherenschnitt Schweiz, Switzerland
2011 Master of Art, The Forum, Norwich
2011 Silent Art Auction, The Forum, Norwich
2011 Dazed and Refused, London
2011 Open Studio Weekends, Suffolk Open Studios, Ipswich
2011 St Mary's Church Higham, Essex
2011 Blackthorpe Barn, Rougham, Suffolk
2011 St Mary's Church, Hadleigh, Suffolk
2011 Reg Driver Visitor Centre, Christchurch Park, Ipswich
2010 Art-Music-Photography, Ipswich
2010 Fields of Joy, Kesgrave Arts, Suffolk
2010 SuffolkArt, Ipswich
2010 Anglia Art, Brandeston Hall, Suffolk
2010 Open Studio Weekends, Suffolk Open Studios, Ipswich
2010 Blackthorpe Barn, Rougham, Suffolk
2010 The Upstairs Gallery, Beccles, Suffolk
2009 Sanctuary 4 Art, Bacchus Barn, Lawshall, Suffolk
2009 SuffolkArt, Ipswich
2009 Open Studio Weekends, Suffolk Open Studios, Ipswich
2009 Choice, Artworks-MK, Milton Keynes
2008 SuffolkArt, Ipswich
2008 Cover Versions, View From The Top Gallery, Nottingham
2007 SuffolkArt, Ipswich
