My art work is based on reflections and responses to the environment that surrounds me.
Living in rural Northamptonshire I have immediate access to forests and fields.
I use a wide range of different media including ceramics, drawing , textiles and printmaking. In all of these areas I test the technical limits, breaking boundaries, opening up new viewpoints which show the relationship I have with the place, plants and changing seasons. I use natural materials where possible printing and drawing with soil, plant forms, berries, charcoal and lichen. My aim is to share this focused approach, a detailed introspection, a long and abiding knowledge of an area place and time. Chance intervention is my methodology allowing nature to guide my thinking, enjoying mistakes and flaws, this is what interests me most. These errors go on to form the substance of my thinking around personal symbolic references to the place and land.
It is important that my finished work conveys the texture and tone of the season and echo’s the range of seasons I have encountered. I am not interested in reproducing an exact image or making 'editions' of prints, it is the unique quality of the process and the possibility of making subtle changes that excites me. In print I want the work to convey changes in sight lines, movement, light and weather by making the pieces unique, a one off.
I also research old maps which give an alternative view of the land, for me they are imbued with meaning and metaphor literally mapping a life's journey. A body of work ' Pocket Maps' and 'Mapping Mothers Day' were in direct response to this.I produced a series of printed and embroidered handkerchiefs based on old maps of Leicester with embroidered 'keys/legends' which make oblique reference to personal symbols from geography.
The Hedge Project in 2017- 2019 was funded by Arts Council England and the John Downs Oppenheimer Memorial Trust this enabled the production of a large body of work reflecting my changing relationship with the hedge over two years. Carefully watched this deeply symbolic Hedge was regularly walked, catalogued, filmed, drawn and inspected. This project looked at our rural and urban relationships with hedges as borders, edges and lines in our lives as well as the biodiversity held within these busy ecosystems in towns and fields. An essential part of my practice has always been community engagement so alongside the three large exhibitions I coordinated workshops & projects alongside adults with mental health issues.
In October 2020 I was invited to participate in the symposium ' Lets Talk Dirty' Loughborough University, the politicisation of what is deemed dirty, where I presented a paper on my 'Path Project' research and art work.
I received coaching from Anna Hart, which was funded through AIR, beneficially informing the direction of the Path Project.
The Path Project was funded by Arts Council England to develop my creative practice. In 2023 I traveled to Denmark, Bornholm Island for an artists residency at TryK2 print studio, where I worked alongside Lene Degit a land based artist. The art work made over a three year period was shown in a barn space near the pathway. I led walks along the path handing out my artists Zine which illustrated the research and art work with QR code links to seasonal films giving context and insight into the depth of the relationship I had built up over this period. In 2024 the Path Project artist Zine was placed in the British Library's permanent collection.
