Clare Curtis

From her Suffolk workshop, the illustratorturned-printmaker tells REBECCA BRADBURY about the conflicting demands of modern-day creativity and the artistic appeal of allotments

- REBECCA BRADBURY

According to local legend, a ghostly dog going by the name of Black Shuck is said to stalk the Fens, fields and graveyards of East Anglia. With his dark, shaggy fur and red, fiery eyes, the dog makes not a sound as he walks yet his howl causes the blood to run cold of anyone unfortunate enough to be within earshot on a dark, stormy night.

One particularly sinister account from 1577 reports that the giant hellhound forced his way into the Holy Trinity Church in Blythburgh, Suffolk, fatally clamping his jaws around the necks of two unsuspecting members of the congregation and leaving scorch marks on the doors– evidence of his existence that remains to this day.

Rumours of this havoc-wreaking creature continue to surface, inspiring creatives over the centuries to immortalise the tale. One such artist is Felixstowe native Clare Curtis.

“It’s a personal one,” she says of her print, Black Shuck. “It has a lot to do with where I live. The legend is quite prevalent in East Anglia. I read a lot of different accounts of people who had supposedly seen it.”

The result is a perfect example of the printmaker’s remarkable aptitude for storytelling. Despite the simpler, graphic forms demanded by the medium, her works are a constant revelation of detail, bringing to life the gripping narrative within. Dashing across the marshy wetland, past feather-tipped reeds and umbrellalike blooms, are two 1950s-style figures, flashlight in hand. Both subjects point to two of the artist’s key influences: plants and British mid-century art and design.

The print is also telling of Clare’s practice, being half made using her main medium, linocut. The rest of the print is a rare example of the collagraph technique.