I recently had the chance to interview Ella Crawford, a student of Fine Arts and History of Art in her fifth year at Edinburgh Collage of Art (ECA). This discussion was an opportunity to discuss her creative process, inspirations, and ambitions.
Ella grew up in a small town in the south of England with parents who are creative; she stated that she has fond memories of her dad teaching her how to draw and encouraging her and her siblings to pursue their passions. For Ella, this encouragement led her towards studying art.
Through her work, she seeks to explore written language as a communicative, shifting signifier looking at how this can be translated into a three-dimensional aesthetic art object and how words and letter forms physically take up space. Ella states that she views art as a platform for interaction — creating space for conversation and physical, active response:
“Researching through material, method, dimensions and display, my work takes these words off the walls to be interacted with.”
Ella emphasises the importance of community, conversation, and communication in the creation of her art, with these themes being central to her written work and (current) sculptural practice. This connects to the importance she places on the community she has from all areas of her life— from coursemates, to family, to flatmates, to uni society friends and her Church community.
When I asked Ella how her art style and approach to creating has changed over the past five years of her degree, and the answer: “Oh drastically!”
She states that during her degree her creative approach has expanded, shifting from a focus on painting and drawing to a multimedia approach, now working with plaster, metal, fabric, and more. She cited the positive effect that the technical staff and facilities have had on this development.
With the upcoming 2026-degree show, Ella states that she is currently deep in preparation, working on what she describes as her most ambitious project yet. She has been working on three interactive sculptures made up of 25mm steel pipe, alongside other installation material and written work. Ella explains:
“The project started from the idea of a Conversational Playground. I have dedicated the last 3 months to the word ‘tend; thinking about and musing on what it means to tend, to be tender and to continuously, habitually be tending to things —physical, emotional, relational and in every area of our lives. The language around tenderness is a bridge and tenderness is softness with a steel spine.”
Looking forward to life outside of university, Ella says that she is inspired and enthused by the art scene across the UK. She will be developing her latest projects as well as developing new ones, applying for residencies and other opportunities. Leaning into her fine arts side, she is also looking at jobs in art and cultural conservation, merging what she has learnt on both sides of her degree over the past five years.
Photo provided by Ella Crawford for The Student