As a child I lived a lot in my imagination. It was a world of make-believe and fairy tale, populated by animals and decorated with flowers. But fairy tale often confronts dark and unpleasant subjects and this often led to nightmare-interrupted sleep!
I still have a yearning for the romantic beauty of fairy tale but I let the darker side escape on a regular basis. However, such imaginings are now strengthened by experience and knowledge. Science, history, social history, literature and folklore all become entangled with and inform the imaginary. I often make or use personal possessions or clothing as a vehicle for the resulting imagery, decorating them using paint, drawing or stitch. Certain things, corsetry, shoes, baby clothes in particular seem to have a mysterious fetish quality, just by their very existence. Others acquire this quality through their association with their maker, owner or wearer. My work investigates the strange powers with which such things so often become imbued and the idea of such paraphernalia becoming metaphor for the absent. The work is conceptual but it draws heavily on traditional skills, drawing, dressmaking and needlework in particular.Although construction methods are traditional, the materials used are very often not. They usually provide a considerable challenge to the process of manufacture. However a work is only truly successful if this struggle is not apparent in the finished piece.
Nothing is wearable. Nothing is usable. Removing the physical function from the article leaves only the aesthetic one. It is purely decorative, yet so often that quality of fetish remains. |
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Education2004 – BA Hons (First Class) Fine Art (Printmaking), University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham.
1976 – BSc Hons (2.1) Botany & Zoology, University of London. |
Prizes and awards
Feb 2011 – Selected to take part in the first series of ‘Show Me the Monet’ TV show aired on BBC 2
July 2005 – Prize Winner, Re:Invent, OVADA Gallery Oxford |
Residencies
March – October 2015 – Artist in Residence at Sudeley Castle, Winchcombe
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Collections
Oxford Castle Art Collection, Oxford
Solo ExhibitionsMarch – Oct 2016 – Artist’s Residency Exhibition, Sudley Castle, Winchcombe
Jan – March 2008 – ‘China Now’ Foyer display, Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum July – August 2006 – ‘Snared’ O3 Gallery, Oxford Castle, Oxford |
Selected Group ExhibitionsAutumn Exhibition Royal West of England Academy, Bristol 2005-2011, 2013, 2016
Autumn Exhibition, Stour Gallery, Shipston on Stour 2016 Winter Exhibition, Stour Gallery, Shipston on Stour, 2015 Drawing on Experience, Lansdown gallery Stroud 2015 Drawn, Royal West of England Academy Bristol 2013 & 2015 Museum of Useless Artyfacts, Fringe Arts Bath. 2013 Paper Works, Winds of Change Gallery, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire 2012 Show me the Monet, Royal College of Art, London 2011 Show me the Artists: work by artists featured in ‘Show me the Monet’. 3 Bedfordbury Gallery, Covent Garden, London WC2N 4BP 2011 Counterpoint, Counterpoint II, Lansdown Gallery, Stroud 2008 & 2011 Effets Dentelle, Cité Internationale de la Dentelle et de la Mode de Calais, Calais, France 2010-2012 Esprit Lingerie, Cité Internationale de la Dentelle et de la Mode de Calais, Calais, France 2010 Site Festival 2010 Drawing Show, Subscription Rooms, Stroud 2010 The Festival of Nature, The Bristol Gallery, Harbourside, Bristol 2010 The London Group Open, Menier Gallery, London 2009 Open Print, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol 2009 Originals 07 & 08, Contemporary Printmaking Show, Mall Galleries London 2007 & 2008 Open Sculpture, Royal West of England Academy Bristol 2007 6th British International Miniature Print Exhibition (travelling) beginning at Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries 2006 Royal Birmingham Society of Artists Open, RBSA Birmingham 2006 Re:Invent, OVADA Gallery, Oxford. (Prize winner) 2005 |