 Biography Neil Hague is a UK artist, authorial illustrator and lecturer. Originally trained in graphics and book publishing, he was one of the founders of Bridge of Love Publications in the UK. Over the past fifteen years he has developed a 'unique' vision through his art and creativity. One that has been described as both spiritual and 'neo-shamanic' by people who have heard him talk or who have seen his work. Neil was born and brought up in Rotherham, South Yorkshire in the UK, to working class parents; and from an early age his imagination and passion for book illustration was to lead him into a career in illustration, publishing and lecturing. Having spent the best part of the 1990’s working as a book designer and later as a book illustrator, Neil went on to complete a postgraduate diploma in Narrative Illustration at the University of Brighton. During this period his work was selected for Images the Best of British Illustration and for the Macmillan Book Illustration Award at the Royal College of Art. Neil has had numerous exhibitions in the UK and his paintings have appeared on book covers all over the world. Inspired by native Earth peoples, 'universal' symbols, archetypes and a love of nature, he often links and expresses these sources within his work In his books Through Ancient Eyes and Journeys in the Dreamtime, he illustrates a personal and fascinating approach to art and image making. In his first Graphic Novel called Kokoro, he encapsulates the story of creation with the 'themes and signs' unfolding in our reality, as we go through a major shift in consciousness at this time.
Awakening to Myself
“The world of imagination is the world of eternity. It is the divine bosom into which we shall all go after the death of the vegetated [i.e. mortal] body. This world of imagination is infinite and eternal, whereas the world of generation is finite and temporal. There exist in that eternal world the eternal realities of everything which we see reflected in this vegetable glass of nature.”
William Blake
Despite having a very nurturing and imaginative childhood, it all begin in my early 20's in 1990 when I was late for work in central London. Transport wasn't functioning as it should and therefore I decided to walk from Waterloo to Poland Street near Oxford Circus, being late and with an air of dreaminess to the morning I set off to my studio in the location where William Blake had spent much of his childhood. By the time I'd reached Covent Garden (Neal Street), I knew it wasn't going to be an ordinary day. Passing a book shop I stopped to look in the window, and in an instant one book stood out amongst all the others and at the same time pulled me in. It was a book on Native American Indian Mythology.
I bought the book and sat on a nearby bench reading in the winter Sun. Time stood still, going to work was no longer important. I read several stories and legends and my imagination sparked ancient memories that told of the gods, the earth, the Sun and the Moon. As if 'work 'was ever that important in relation to who we truly are? Anyway, that day I got to the studio several hours late and when I arrived I knew something in me was changing. I didn't stay in that job for very much longer. Within a 6 months I had moved on. My creative imagination had been ignited once more, as it had in childhood and this time I knew I had to go on to produce art and illustrations that would have an impact on how we see the world.
I hope what you see here on this website and amongst the pages of my books (and other books I have illustrated), something that touches your creative imagination? It has been my aim all these years to show all those that 'see' the eternal world of the Imagination.
Neil Hague (2009)
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