About Hazel Restall


As described by her daughter Joanna Oates:

Hazel "worked at Buchanan potteries as a painter in the late 50s. In the 60s and 70s she ran art classes in Marton, a village where we lived in Warwickshire and other local venues. In the 80s she ran Paddock studios in Lewes, Sussex and taught drawing on the art foundation course at Brighton polytechnic. She moved back to Scotland in 1991 and spent lots of time at the Edinburgh Printmaker's Workshop and learnt to etch. This was a very happy and productive phase of her life. When she was about 70 she completed the Edinburgh parliament project, drawings, photos and etchings. Shortly after she became ill with Alzheimer's, though this was not diagnosed till a few years later. Mum always had a sketchbook in her hand. She drew all the time, when she was on buses, trains, in bars etc. She was quite a dreamy person and would forget to cook lunch for us when we were kids. She was always thinking about art.

She was born 10 minutes before my dad and they share the same birthday. They met at Edinburgh college of art in their 20s and were together for over 60 years. She passed away aged 88 on 13th of January 2019.

Both me and my brother went to art college but we hated it! It skipped a generation and my daughter Lucy is now a successful artist (instagram: overnight_oates).

A funny story about mum. She got stopped by police one night driving home from her art class because her back lights weren't working. They were trying to help her fix them and she opened the boot forgetting there was a skeleton in it which gave the police quite a shock! It was of course for her students to draw!"

Hazel Restall was a printmaker and artist. She made work at the Edinburgh printmakers in the 1990s, and also printed from her home in West Linton. The family of Hazell Restall supplied the etching press to Stampalofi, and entrusted her remaining works to Stampalofi for exhibition and sale, on the proviso that her legacy should live on in the form of a residency funded by these sales.

Information for the residency program can be found here