THE PATTERNED QUEEN
Chippy Aiton [the Queen], Stephen Staunton [Pattern] & Matt Chappel [Leopard Print]
Quotes from Billy Mann - Submit to Love Studios Artist
“It started with a blink. That’s how Chippy says yes or no. A volunteer in the art studio was
showing him pictures from a magazine, and the lady with the crown caught his eye.”
The Patterned Queen is a collaboration between three artists working in Submit to Love
Studios in Haggerston. The studio is part of Headway East London, a local charity
supporting survivors of brain injury.
“These artists seem at first to be from different planets. Chippy’s drawings scratch a fragile path
that wanders drunkenly this way and that. He is normally working with an image or object in sight.
Stephen’s method is more orderly. He sits or stands very close to the work, painting those
complex colours with great attention and deliberation. He is rarely depicting a found image: he is
following a path only he knows about. Whilst Matt, though severely limited physically, pours such
intensity of thought into all of his work. His paintings push you mentally from a comfortable position
to one of high alert. This can be quite nerve-wracking.”
Most of the artists working in our studio are either accessing art for the first time ever, or
for the first time since their brain injury. Some use these experiences to inform their work,
whilst others take inspiration from the world around them.
“As distinct as these artists may be, what brought them together for this project are two primal
elements of art - shape and pattern - which many of the studio’s artists use by instinct, no
professional prompting required. Combining these individual approaches felt natural.”
The studio supports artists with a range of long-term disabilities to explore creativity in
whatever form is most appropriate. For Chippy, Stephen and Matt their work is not only a
form of expression, it’s a means of communicating with the wider world.
“It’s hard not to attach the word KITSCH because that is exactly what it is, and shamelessly so. It’s
a classic case of the result being more than the sum of the individual parts...Leave it at that and
just give thanks.”
To find out more about our work at Submit to Love Studios and Headway East London
please visit our websites or follow us on Instagram:
www.submittolovestudios.org www.headwayeastlondon.org
@submittolovestudios @headwayeastlondon