For the latest in our series of Featured Business from our CQFinder community, we spoke to Beth Choo, a Nottingham based artist.
Give us your elevator pitch – what does your business do?
My name is Beth and Beth’s Creative Arts is my place for doing the arty stuff that I love. I am primarily a painter, although I have lots of other strings to my bow, and I specialise in using Acrylic and Oil paints. I enjoy experimenting with mixed media and a variety of processes to create bespoke pieces of art work. I like to produce self- directed pieces, but my commissions help me to venture out of my comfort zone, and prompt me try new things. I don’t have one particular style or subject as I like to keep things fresh and exciting.
I have recently diversified my product range by creating greetings cards and prints of my paintings. Markets and craft fairs are all new to me, but I did have great fun at the few I managed to do before lock down.
As for the other strings to my bow, in addition to creating and selling paintings, prints and cards, I am also a qualified post 16 Art and Photography teacher. I have taught in Further Education Colleges, and have delivered workshops as part of the Creative Quarter Big House Project. I have a Diploma in Person Centred Art Therapy skills, and have used these skills 1:1 with teenagers and adults in a therapeutic setting.
Tell us about a piece of work you’ve completed that you’re currently proudest of?
I think the piece I am most proud of at the moment is a recent oil painting of a boy standing on Whitby beach. My pride comes from the fact that this was created during lock down!! Like many other part-time creatives, I have been thrust in to home schooling my small person, and subsequently any time spent on my business and painting is very limited. Ordinarily I can get completely absorbed in a painting, spending hours and hours on it and often forgetting to eat lunch. This time was very different, as it had to be completed in very small pockets of time, in between maths games, arguments over English tasks and demands for snacks. This is certainly an achievement I am proud of, and I managed to sell the painting too, which was even better.
What do you love about working in Nottingham?
I love working and living in Nottingham because there’s so much going on. There’s always something creative and artistic to see or get involved in. I’m so looking forward to theatres, markets, cinemas, galleries and exhibitions opening up again. I’m going to embrace every opportunity to support the arts that I can.
Share your love for another Nottingham creative or digital business you work with or admire.
There are so many creative people in Nottingham that I admire. It is impossible to choose just one so I’ve decided to list a few here. They’re all quite different, but all wonderfully talented in their own field, and it was very difficult to narrow it down to just these: Mike Choo Motion, Adam Willis Art, Faye Baines, Rachel Mahon Print, Anna Treliving Design, Helen Lamont Illustration, Kelly Ann Holmes, Three Little Pickles, Becki Rose Creative and Clare Morgan Printmaker.
Let us know what you’d do on your perfect Nottingham day (global pandemic notwithstanding!) – where do you go/eat/drink/shop?
On my perfect day in Nottingham I would probably start mid-morning (Why start first thing on your perfect day hahaha?) by having some delicious vegan cake made by Betty Rose Bakes and served at Cobden Place Café. Yummy. I would then enjoy a clothes shopping spree with my sister. All of the shops, both large and small, in the city centre and Hockley would be covered. A rare and special treat with lots of laughter. We would head to The Broadway for lunch and a glass of wine, and to rest our weary feet. After lunch we would go back to buy all those items we managed to resist before the wine (hahaha). To finish the day, we could go to see some stand-up comedy at the Playhouse, or we might take in the current exhibition at the Contemporary and have a drink and eat more food there.
You can find out more about Beth's Creative Arts and get in contact with them via their CQFinder profile here. If you'd like to create your own CQFinder profile, click here.
