10 Questions with Daniel Stott

Daniel Steven Lee Stott, formally Daniel Steven Lee Winfield, was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, on the 9th of May 2002. Daniel was raised for the first 10 years of his life primarily by his mother and grandparents, living between both of their houses. Struggling with Asberges, Daniel's early life wasn't exactly easy. It almost seemed like everyone around him, aside from his father and grandparents, were all working together to put him on every medication under the sun and transfer him from a proper school to a special needs school. His father opposed all of this, and Daniel would turn out for the better because of it. Home life with his mums didn't exactly help him either; with his mother's then boyfriend would make life at home extraordinarily difficult, not just for him, but for his older brother also. Eventually, Daniel would escape from this lifestyle and move in with his father permanently when he finished Wilthorpe primary school at the age of 11. He would begin to study at Darton College (now known as Darton Academy). While Dan had difficulties adjusting to the new life he was given, occasionally and unfairly lashing out in anger at those around him, Daniel's issues with his past began to settle, and he had a handful of friends he could rely on and trust. By 16, Daniel would pass his GCSEs and begin to study Art and Design Level 3 at Barnsley College for two years, where he got the opportunity of a lifetime to travel to New York, USA, on a college trip, which would cement Daniel's enthusiasm for travel. Eventually, Daniel would begin studying architecture at Sheffield Hallam University in 2020, but due to Covid, he struggled with the restrictions put in place and would, unfortunately, have to repeat the year, which he passed with flying colours the following year. Daniel decided to take a break year between 2022-2023, a year which he used to travel around the world to places such as Spain, Iceland, Qatar, Scotland, and many places around England, both North and South. That same year, Daniel began his attempts to send his work to galleries, where he found his first successful exhibition with APS Gallery in Leeds and his second with his own University in Sheffield. Daniel will soon be taking up his second year at Sheffield Hallam University this September, whilst continuing his ambition to spread his art wherever he can.

danielstottsadapt.com | @daniel_stotts_a.d.a.p.t

ARTIST STATEMENT

As a student architect, Daniel's drawing abilities are essential for both the course he studies and his future career. Architecture has been a passion of his since Daniel was a young teen, as evidenced by his youthful hobbies. These would include designing and building structures with Lego or in one of his favourite games, Minecraft. Daniel would also make models from things he liked, especially from TV, games, or movies. His favourite model is a covenant spirit dropship from his favourite game series, Halo, which can be found on his Instagram. Despite this, it was his father who suggested to Dan to become an architect whilst Dan was choosing his college options because he had no idea what he wanted to be someday, so his father pushed him ever since to pursue the career of his dreams.

However, as much as he enjoys drawing and designing buildings, it can get exhausting. Thus, in Daniel's spare time, he chooses to draw his secondary passion: animals, specifically birds. While he does draw animals on commission or just for fun, birds have always been Daniel's muse. To him, it's the shape, the feathers, and their many distinguishing characteristics, such as their wings and beaks.

The pen is almost always Daniel's tool of choice when completing his sketches as it psychologically prevents him from making significantly more mistakes than he normally would with a pencil, which often can easily be erased. As frustrating as it can be sometimes, the pen is always his number 1 choice over the pencil. Daniel has become so exceptionally competent at using it that he now produces drawings far faster than he would with a pencil.

INTERVIEW

First of all, introduce yourself to our readers. You come from an architecture background; how did you start experimenting with images?

I began my path with architecture well back at the age of 11, when my cousin Ellise introduced me to Minecraft. More specifically, she pushed me towards building towns and cities. From there, I began to take the buildings I would design from screen to paper and even come up with ideas on paper to go on my Minecraft worlds. Around the age of 16, my interest in architecture had significantly increased, and I began my Art and Design level 3 course at Barnsley College, which was the course I needed to complete in order to become an architect someday. Many of my projects would be greatly architecture-focused, though not always, of course. Eventually, in 2020, I would complete my diploma and begin my journey to becoming an architect at Sheffield Hallam University, where I remain to this very day.

Do you have any role model or mentor that particularly inspired you to follow this path? 

If there is one person I could particularly mention that has been a constant inspiration throughout my whole career as an artist, designer, and architect student, it would certainly be my father, Lee Stott. He was the one who would consistently and continuously push me to create new things, all the way from perhaps the age of 5. My father's talents stretch in all different professions; from a designer to mechanic and electrician, there is pretty much nothing he cannot do on a basic standard level. Whenever I came to him with an idea on what I wanted to make, he would always help me and push me in the direction I needed to go in order to create something of great quality, whether it was my models that I'd make, or the art that I'd draw, or even the buildings I'd create out of lego. Even at the age of 16, when I was unsure what I wanted to be when I grew up, he was the one who suggested I should use my talents to become an architect. I have a lot to credit my father for, and I certainly couldn't cover it all.

You are still very young, and you are just at the beginning of your career. What do you wish you knew about contemporary art before you got started? 

I suppose I wish how to implement colour into my work long before I even began doing so. When I compare my black and white studies to my colourful ones, there is certainly a breath of life given to the colourful over the colourless. If I had the chance to redo and go over many of my older drawings in brighter and beautiful tones and pigments, I would have begun doing so years ago.

Can you tell us about the process of creating your work? 

To create a piece of work, I need to be inspired, really inspired. If I see something in particular that I like and makes me think, "That's kinda cool, I might do something like that," then I'm not inspired enough. If it's something I see that makes me go, "WOW! That's absolutely brilliant, I have to do this", then I am not only greatly inspired, but I am greatly motivated to see it through until the very end.

In your work, you mix natural elements, such as flowers and animals, and humans or man-made structures. Where do you find inspiration for your work? 

While I often am inspired by things that interest me, such as the birds and the bees (no pun intended), I often find inspiration from things that I see whilst on my travels, or I'm influenced by the place that I travel to.

You also predominantly use pens. Why did you choose this technique? And how does it help you achieve your goals?

When I studied at Barnsley College, one of the first projects we ever did was a media experimentation project, and every student would have to try a multitude of media, even if it was well out of their comfort zone. This included mono-printing, acrylic/oil painting, traditional pencil sketching, and even biro study drawings. At the time, I was so terrified of messing up because my drawing skills with pencil were so noticeably wonky or just flat out wrong, so attempting the same thing on pen felt like a nightmare come true. However, once I completed the piece, which was merely just objects placed on the table, such as a water jug and a deer skull, I noticed how great the piece turned out. Thinking it was just a one-off, I didn't try it again until a few months later, when I drew my sister's pet parrot Billy. Despite some small noticeable flaws, the drawing came out brilliantly. Eventually, I would constantly put my drawing skills to the test more and more in my Sketchbook, attempting different animals, primarily pets from friends or family, and by 2022, I tried pushing my artistic talents to their limits and attempted to draw one of my favorite little creatures: the bumblebee. It, too, came out as a great success. Today, thanks to my bold use of drawing in pen, my artistic talents have progressed so much, and it is primarily due to the fact of how terrified I was about using it. If it wasn't for my fear of making too many noticeable mistakes, with a media that is permanent and cannot be erased, and my persistence in perfecting my abilities, many of my works would certainly look nowhere near as good as they do today. The pen not only pushed me to achieve my goals of creating beautiful realism in my art, but it somewhat surpassed what I thought was possible with my skills.

What's one essential element in your art?

While most elements of art are crucial in my drawings, especially the ones in which color is included, the crucial element for most of my works is most often line thickness. Whether I am sketching the feathers of a Kestrel or the relatively smooth texture of a person's skin, line thickness truly affects my work in a lot of ways. If the thickness is too thin, usually it's okay, and I can make it thicker, and therefore, the area of my sketch I am completing is darker. If the lines are too, however, then I have to work around them as much as possible in order to cover up my grave mistake, otherwise it can ultimately ruin the piece I am creating depending how much damage was done, so I often have to carefully focus on certain areas of my sketches to insure few mistakes are made.

Is there anything else you would like to experiment with?

I certainly would wish I could be a better painter. I always admired painting, and painters alike. Whether it's watercolor, acrylic, emulsion, or oil, I have known many painters to create some of the most beautiful artworks I have ever seen, especially landscapes of cities and countryside. While I can do some basic paintings, I find it extremely difficult to pull off and make my work look convincing, so I rarely ever take it on.

You are currently in school. In your opinion, what should schools improve to help emerging artists showcase their work? 

While I do not have many complaints about how British Colleges and Universities operate, especially when it comes to the projects that are up to the artist's own interpretation, it seems many colleges, especially British high schools, have very few to no opportunities to display their work in galleries, and often very few competitions of any sort that could encourage artists to challenge their own ideas. While I am lucky to have experienced one or 2 of these at my College, I never once felt inspired nor challenged during my art studies in high school, and often found it so academic to the point it was so unbelievably boring. Additionally, it should be important to note that if you are one of the unlucky people to choose art as a GCSE at a British high school, then you are in for a 7-hour exam, which if you don't pass, you therefore fail art in the eyes of academics. It never made any sense to me, so I'm thankful to have escaped such a terrible fate.

Finally, are there any projects you are looking forward to for this year?

Well, this year at university, I know frighteningly little as to what new things we will be studying in my architecture course as of now. However, if there was one thing I look forward to the most, it would certainly be the more thought-provoking and hands-on design project, "Architecture Design Studio 2". I always love to take ideas from my head onto the 2D and, most preferably, the 3D. I love the experimenting, the trials, the challenges, and most importantly, to brilliant turnout of the final product in the form of colourful sketches and well-put-together final model.

Artist’s Talk

Al-Tiba9 Interviews is a promotional platform for artists to articulate their vision and engage them with our diverse readership through a published art dialogue. The artists are interviewed by Mohamed Benhadj, the founder & curator of Al-Tiba9, to highlight their artistic careers and introduce them to the international contemporary art scene across our vast network of museums, galleries, art professionals, art dealers, collectors, and art lovers across the globe.