COS26 An Interview with Polly Meynell Studio 56

Posted by Jazmine Saunders on 4th March, 2026

• Chichester Art Trail

  Did anyone encourage you creatively when you were young?

  COS26 An Interview with Polly Meynell Studio 56

  I was very lucky to have creative parents. My Dad is an architect, and I grew
  up sharing his interest in buildings, structure and texture and enjoyed the
  benefit of his knowledge and conversation about them. My mum, a medic by
  profession, was very able with a sewing machine and taught me how to make
  clothes, knit and embroider from a young age. My grandparents also
  appreciated art very much and the house we shared with them when I was
  growing up was filled with all sorts of interesting objects and artworks and
  books.

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  Chichester Art Trail

  If you couldn’t make art, what would you miss most?

  COS26 An Interview with Polly Meynell Studio 56

  I think I would miss the ability to express myself most if I wasn’t able to make
  art. But I am also a singer so perhaps I might do more of that instead?!

• Chichester Art Trail

  Do you have any unusual tools, habits or rituals in your workplace?

  COS26 An Interview with Polly Meynell Studio 56

  I do love an unusual tool. I have a series of sewing needles in many different
  sizes and shapes, curved, flattened, angled, sharp and blunted. I also have a
  couple of very old bodkins, which are needles in themselves for threads such
  as cord and rush. I also have a handful of silver thimbles that my
  Grandmothers and Godmother gave to me. One is from George and Mary’s
  coronation in 1911. I love to think of the fingers that used these tools, of the
  things they created, and the stories those objects could tell.

• 

  Chichester Art Trail

  How long have you been making art seriously?

  COS26 An Interview with Polly Meynell Studio 56

  Since I left university in my early twenties. I became self-employed at this time
  and have been lucky enough to support myself for 25+ years.

• Chichester Art Trail

  What theme or subject keeps pulling you back?

  COS26 An Interview with Polly Meynell Studio 56

  Lines. Stripes, natural forms that have a linear expression. And colours that
  pop and change with association.

• 

  Chichester Art Trail

  What would your dream creative project be?

  COS26 An Interview with Polly Meynell Studio 56

  I have been lucky enough to have already had a number of dream projects. I
  was commissioned to make a commemorative piece for our late Queen’s
  Platinum Jubilee for the Mercers Company, I have made ecclesiastical robes
  for some of the highest-ranking Bishops in the country, and red-carpet outfits
  for film stars. My dream would be to continue working in this field with the
  unpredictable variety I have enjoyed for nearly three decades. One can never
  take a creative career for granted, and I am grateful for every project I engage
  with.

• Chichester Art Trail

  What might visitors be surprised to learn about you?

  COS26 An Interview with Polly Meynell Studio 56

  I am also a jazz singer and recorded an album in 2016. I have sung at Middle
  Temple Hall, was the winner of the Chichester Jazz festival soloists
  competition, and have performed to the public for 20 years.

  I am also the Chair of Sussex Wing Air Cadets and look after 22 Squadrons
  from Chichester to Hastings, with just under 1000 cadets from aged 12-20.

• Chichester Art Trail

  What do you hope the future holds for your art?

  COS26 An Interview with Polly Meynell Studio 56

  I am currently working on a national community project with women who have
  had experience of the criminal justice system. The artwork is a collaborative
  piece with each women expressing their loved relationships through a piece of
  embroidery. I devised this project after being commissioned by the charity Not
  Beyond Redemption to make an artwork that represented hope for women
  waiting to be reunited with their children. I wanted to highlight the experience
  of maternal separation caused by the justice system in this country and give
  women an opportunity to raise their voices and stories through the artwork.
  The exhibition of this project will be touring cathedrals in the UK at the end of
  2027.