When you think of the local village artist you conjure up an image of a dedicated and creative yet somewhat eccentric older lady, in a home spun sweater exhibiting her water colours at craft fairs and local fetes. Keziah Wilkes is a far cry from this image; her artworks range from bold and daring sculptures in limestone and bronze to comissioned portraits in oils and stylised portraits of popular icons.

words Lucy Evans

Keziah is indeed a local artist. Having spent most of her life in Harpenden she has recently returned home to set up her own studio in the centre of town. In the interim she studied at Winchester art school and went on to gain a first class degree in Fine Art Sculpture, followed by a Masters at Loughborough University School of Art and Design, clearly a very determined and talented young woman.

It was here in Harpenden however that her talent was first nurtured; initially by her family, but perhaps more importantly by her mentors and teachers at Sir John Lawes School; Mr Miles, Mr Higgins and Ms Richardson who encouraged her to believe in herself and pursue not just her education but also her future career.

I caught up with Keziah recently at the launch night of her exhibition currently on show in Harpenden's Slug and Lettuce. The paintings are certainly striking and unlike many creative people who struggle to promote themselves Keziah's drive and instinctive choices of subject matter mean her collection is topical, trendy and selling like hot cakes.

"We've never had any art work sell out so quickly", commented one of the Slugs busy waitresses Lucy, "it's really improved the atmosphere, everybody's talking about it."

As a local artist it must be difficult to be suddenly exposed and open to public scrutiny? Keziah's response to my question was philosophical.

"Its always nerve racking setting up the show because i'm my harshest critic. The launch night's the fun bit though and the response has been so positive. I sold six paintings in the first few hours, so I must be doing something right !" Keziah has already had previous success as part of the annual Hertfordshire Open Studio's Show, and intends to exhibit next summer from her Harpenden studio at Rivers Lodge. According to her parents who were also in attendance Keziah had artistic inclinations from an early age, drawing on walls, table cloths and very occasionally her little sister."What can I say? With a name like Keziah I was bound to do something arty"

The art world is notoriously closed off to young talent, so I asked Keziah how she plans to find her way in. Her answer was surprisingly astute for such a recent graduate.

"You must be aware that if you want to earn a living from your artistic skills you have to learn to be commercially savvy, and quickly. I'm lucky my parents instilled in me a strong work ethic, luckier still that I love my work. My advice to young artists is that occasionally you will have to sacrifice your artistic instincts to pay the rent but don't lose sight of why you started out, keep hold of your passion.