ABOUT

I design and make unique items that will bring delight and pleasure. I work with the best materials I can find; materials that are not only of excellent quality, but that are kind to the environment and are ethically produced.  It is also important to me that what I produce can biodegrade at the end of its useful life or can be reformed. Being a practical person, I have the need to build in usefulness to most of my productions.

I enjoy sharing with others what I see and I find it compelling to reproduce these images, starting often with drawings which then become designs.  There is a sense of ‘raison d’être’ when I can share this with people who are inspired themselves by these same images and designs.

Most of my work revolves around design and expressing it through various decorative art forms.  I work as a screen printer, painter and more recently as a fine-wire sculptor, bringing my designs into 3D for the first time. The designs grow mostly from observing, and sometimes being completely absorbed by the amazing structures and beauty in the plants and trees in our gardens and countryside. The designs often transfer easily between printing and wire work.

I have been printing on linen and handmade paper, painting in oils and watercolours, and creating in my studio in Timsbury, near Bath, for over a decade. Every day my creative journey changes, sometimes full and overwhelmed with ideas and energy; other days a bit flat and exhausted. Since learning about screen-printing at school, I am mainly self-taught. My studio contains not only my own work, but artwork from my mother and grandmother, who were also creative makers and artists. As I work, I see their drawings, stained glass and handmade rugs and I feel fortified by having these around me; I like to think that I carry something of them forward too.

I work collaboratively with other artists forming exhibitions and being involved in art trails. The Little Christmas Pop-up Shop, in late November, is now in its sixth year. Over thirty artists' work is exhibited each year....

An aside… in the latter part of the 1800’s a group of artists came together to form the Arts & Crafts movement (of which I would have loved to have belonged to!). This was in response to the negative effects of the machine dominated production of objects. As a country today, we too face the negative effects of mass production, bringing inexpensive, often imported imitations to many of our shops. And whilst we don’t have a named movement today, we do, thank goodness, have a very resilient foundation of artists and makers throughout the country who maintain the integrity of handmade work and I appreciate being part of this creative league.