Artist Statement
“I work in order not to sleepwalk through my life” Zadie Smith (Radio4)
My work helps me to stop, pay attention to my life and the world, to reinforce my sense of enquiry, anger, wonder and determination to do something – to leave a mark.
Recently it has felt important to comment on some of the powerful issues facing our world; finding a language to communicate and explore, provoke and subtly draw attention. Working with a theme of sea level rise due to global warming recent work was literally drowned in dye with the idea that it would change unpredictably; the acceptance of risk being fundamental physical and conceptual elements of the piece.
Fragility and resilience are recurring elements; subjects which appear delicate or damaged but endure against the odds; plant tendrils, safety pins and first aid kits, ceramic shards washed out of an old refuse tip, aspects of stroke and dementia with loss of language and old gloves have all been important themes. Text also appears, both readable and unreadable.
I frequently use mono-print drawing on paper, fabric and transparent materials – layering and collaging I then use stitch to define, draw with a different quality of line, emphasise, bind and build dense thickets of marks. I try to prompt the viewer’s imagination so that each person reads my work differently according to their own experiences.
I find man-made detritus particularly powerful and moving – something about loss…the traces we leave … evidence of time and place…
Recent experience as organiser and co-curator of the Textile Study Group’s DIS/rupt project and touring exhibition emphasised the creative stimulus of partnerships and the fun and excitement of developing ideas with a committed team.
On finishing my college teaching, where I taught students in Further and Higher Education, I completed an MA at Manchester School of Art. I enjoy living in rural Derbyshire, amongst woods and water, where I am actively engaged in woodland management and industrial archaeology with the Lumsdale Project of the Arkwright Society.
Mentoring and teaching are a hugely powerful stimulus to my own creativity. It is a privilege to be given an insight into the work, thinking and practice of other creative people and I find our conversations and exchange of ideas fascinating and rewarding.
