I grew up on a farm and before I could talk I was using marks to try to capture my world.
I return to particular landscapes time and time again. Through this persisitant re-visiting of the subject I eventually understand the essential nature of the place. Into this is added aspects of the history of my life amongst the rural communities I inhabit.
My paintings have looked at the edgelands of my environment as well as the relationships with family and friends through the themes of identity, intimacy and implicit memory.
One of the effects of the last two years is a new focus on family and of those we have lost. For me it was the realisation that when I look at photographs from my early childhood and have no memory of what I felt or experienced. Through the act of painting I try to invoke a feeling of longing which is often tinged with melancholy.
The most recent paintings, ‘Lost Family’, revolves around the themes of the myth of the ideal childhood, the temporary dreamlike quality of reality and an unconscious search for something lost.
These paintings are sourced from photographs, I often alter the composition, colour palette or the focus of the photograph and I play with both figurative and abstract language. This process explores how far an image can be altered and still hold enough information to be recognisable.
The finished work aims to capture a particular though ambiguous feeling, an attempt to disturb our conventional perceptions of that transitional time called childhood. I create nostalgic images that have an underlying strangeness, sadness or an uneasy atmosphere.
By employing the power of suggestion I hope to engage the viewer to connect to their own narrative experience through viewing the work.
OBJECTIVE
To continue my creative career in a place where I can both contribute and be challenged.
BIOGRAPHY
1957 Born in rural Yorkshire, England.
2002 Full time professional artist and printmaker.
2003 Established the Flintshire Forum for Artists.
2006. First public art residency at Grizedale Forest, Cumbria.
2009. Shortlisted for the 158 memorial sculpture,
Yorkshire.
2010. Shortlisted for the Watershed Landscape Project.
2017 Shortlisted for the Fine Art Textile Award, exhibited
Birmingham.
Contributed to The Dark Self Exhibitions, lead artist
Susan Aldworth.
2017. Contributed to the UDHR project organised by Talia
Fitzgerald, now owned by Melbourne Museum.
2020. Contibuted to A Prompt For Drawing, led by Nina
Chua.
2021 Accepted onto the Turps Bannana mentorship
Programme.
SELECTED WORK
2021 Longlisted for the Jackson's Art Prize
2020 Uig Open @ Hulabhaeg Gallery
The Resilient Self, The Artist's Pool, London
2018 Collaborative project based on the universal declaration of human rights. Toured worldwide.
Two tapestries accepted in the Wrexham Open Art Exhibition.
2017 Collaborative project with Susan Aldworth, as part of The Dark Self, York, UK. Textile piece touring the UK until Spring 2019.
One of 20 international textile artists selected for exhibition at the Festival of Quilts, Birmingham, UK.
2014 Sketchbook Project, two touring exhibitions. The Print Exchange, , work now held in Brooklyn Art Library, New York.
2012 Crossing Borders, Llangollen Pavillion, Denbighshire, Wales.
2010 Crossing Borders, Moray Arts Centre, Scotland. Collaborative Project with Catherine Bertola, Oriel Davies, Newtown, Wales.
2009 Outdoor art trail for Down To A Fine Art gallery, Cheshire, UK.
2008 Commission for the Brindley Arts Centre, Runcorn, UK.
Art in the Gardens, multiple exhibitions celebrating Cheshire gardens. UK.
2007 HSBC Premier Black and White exhibition at Down To A Fine Art gallery, Cheshire, UK.
2006 Solo exhibitions in the Chester Gateway, Cheshire, UK.
Grizedale Residency. Cumbria, UK. Publication of my experiences during the Grizedale residency in the, Landscape and Arts, Journal, 39, Nov. 2006.
Two prints selected for print biennale in Prague.
2004 Commissioned by BBC Wales and Wrexham Council to produce a series of digital arts workshops 'Where I Live', and final exhibition of community art work.
Process, group show from the Regional Print Centre, Wrexham. It toured throughout Wales and the North West of England.
