About
My practice involves the use of drawing, printmaking, and textiles to explore the negotiations and connections involved in living with a Dissociate Disorder. Using the languages of patterns and the application of rules, forms grow from small elements into complex systems. Having multiple identities often creates a world of chaos; a need to find order to be able to navigate life.
Working by repetition with patterns helps to calm, soothe, and sustain a sense of order even if it might be fleeting. Repetitive working through marks and stitching allows the unconscious to influence the output. The nature of the method and material is more important than the final image. The works are experiments of thought, through the action of making, and subsequent analysis of what emerges. Each iteration influences the next steps on a journey. Examination of processes and materials and continually asking ‘What happens if...’ at each stage results in either incremental changes or great leaps of faith into the next evolution of a work.
Taking small units that grow together into complex systems is a metaphor for the way communities and societies interact for those that may feel hidden, unheard, or lost, as well as my individual story. The works provide places for a sustained gaze to linger and consider the developments unfolding.
Collectively the works express the challenges of negotiating with my various Identities to generate my work; their conflicting needs require the ability to discover their stories and allow them to feel seen and heard. The focus required to work repetitively enables Us to become more connected.
I am currently studying an MA in Fine Art at The University of Reading. I am a member of The Printmakers Council and Ochre Print Studio where I was Artist in Residence in 2011-2012 shortly after graduating in Fine Art BA (Hons) from University for the Creative Arts (Farnham). With other graduates from this course I am a member of TEN:artists.
I have been shortlisted for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2024.
Public Collections
V&A Museum
Scarborough Art Gallery and Museum
Publications
Making an Impression: Printmakers Council at 50 2015, Imprinta, Surrey, UK
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize Trinity Buoy Wharf, London (October 3 - 16)
MixTape: MA Degree Show Reading School of Art, University of Reading
Absent Tales Museum of English Rural Life, Reading
2023 Thinking for Printing
Bankside Gallery,
London
Orbiting Flux Reading School of Art, University of Reading
2022 ConneXtions Denbies Wine Estate, Dorking, Surrey
2021 How We Persevered Ochre Print Studio, online exhibition
Othona Artists Othona, Burton Bradstock, Dorset
Context Guildford Cathedral
2019 Ten Artists Surrey Open Studios
2018 Ochre Prints The Menuhin Hall, Surrey
Unlocked Art Fund Gallery, The Lightbox, Woking
Othona Artists Othona, Burton Bradstock, Dorset
2017 Mini-Prints Morley Gallery, London
Lasting Impressions Scarborough Art Gallery
Selected Artists Oxmarket Centre of Arts, Chichester
Infused Harvey Gallery, Guildford
2016 Small Print International Leicester Print Workshop, touring exhibition
Seeing it Differently Othona, Burton Bradstock, Dorset
Pushing Boundaries Farmleigh Gallery, Dublin
2015 50 years of Artist Prints Bankside Gallery, London
Quinquennial Guildford Cathedral
2014 Ochre Originals New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham, Surrey
Glimpsing Wholeness Othona, Burton Bradstock, Dorset
Artists’ Bloc Oxmarket Centre of Arts, Chichester
Nine Tenths Cranleigh Arts Centre, Surrey
Open Print Sailsbury Arts Centre