I work with a range of materials and experimental techniques in my practice to produce drawings, paintings and textiles. One of the prominent themes in my work focuses on an interest in knowing how things are constructed, who they were made by, which tools were used, whether these were hand or machine made and where they are situated within the domestic and the industrial.
I am fascinated by the
Education
1992 - BA Hons (1st class) Textiles, Goldsmiths, University of London
Selected Exhibitions
2013 - ‘Tools of the Trade’ Group show, with Year 9 pupils from Portsmouth, Grammar School Portsmouth, Historic Dockyard Portsmouth
2012 - ‘A Body of Work’ Group show of life drawing, GASP, Art Space Portsmouth
2012 - ‘Denys Shorts’s Tools’ selected for Love Pastels 2012, Pastel Society UK Annual Exhibition, Mall Galleries. London
2011 - ‘Pilchards and Custard’ GASP, Art Space Portsmouth. A foundling project delving into the tentative space between polar points.
2010 – Short listed for the John Moores Contemporary Painting Prize 2010
2010-12 - ‘Material Actions’ selected group touring show, Plymouth College of Art, the Centre for Contemporary Art, Exeter and Bath Spa University.
2010 - ‘Overground-Underground’, solo show, GASP, Art Space Portsmouth
2008 - Self-portrait selected for the Open Portrait Exhibition, Royal Birmingham Society of Artists
2007 - Two paintings selected for the Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander / Sunday Times watercolour competition
2006 - Bathing Beauties Competition for a Beach House. Part of Linear Gallery, new seaside architecture for the Lincolnshire coast
2003 - Touring exhibition as part of the Knitting and Stitching Show, London and Harrogate
2002 - ‘Stitched Up: The Politics of Fashion’, Royal Pump Rooms Leamington Spa.
2001 - ‘Messages & Meanings: The Narrative of Print’, Bradford
2000 - ‘Waves: 50 Years of Textiles’, Goldsmiths University of London, touring exhibition as part of the Knitting and Stitching show, London, Dublin and Harrogate.
2000-01 - ‘Craftscape’, Yorkshire Craft Centre, Bradford, touring exhibition to Sweden, Finland and Portugal
1998 - ‘Gallery of the Future’, Loughborough, Leicestershire.
1996 - ‘Art Textiles’, Bury St Edmunds, touring exhibition.
1995 - ‘8th International Triennial of Tapestry’, Lodz, Poland.
1995 - ‘New Tech Styles’, Bonnington Gallery, Nottingham.
1994 - ‘New Technology’, The Coventry Gallery, London.
1991 - ‘Liberating Lifedrawing’, Brixton Art Gallery, London
Employment
2009-13 - Freelance Artist
2002-09 - Research Assistant and Digital Archivist, Constance Howard Resource and Research Centre Goldsmiths, University of London
1992-02 - Textiles Technology Technician, Textile Department (part-time), Goldsmiths, University of London
Residencies
2013 - Artist in Residence, Portsmouth Grammar School
2010 – Art Space Portsmouth Sponsored Studio Residency
Community Projects
2012 - ‘Somerstown Stories’
Local heritage funded project supported by Somers Park Primary School in Portsmouth. Working in collaboration with artist Jane Kilford to devise and lead a series of creative workshops around the theme of ‘The Changing face of Somerstown’.
2012 - Dickens Community Archive Project ‘Tale of One City’
Community based project working with Southsea Friends to produce work for the museum exhibition ‘Tale of One City’
Major Public Commissions
1996 - Corn Exchange Arts Centre, King’s Lynn
As part of a major refurbishment of the King's Lynn Corn Exchange, I was commissioned to produce a series of woven and printed textile works for the foyer area of the building. I worked alongside textile artists Sharon Ting and Jon Mills. The work was custom-made for Commissions East.
1995 - Werneth Infant School, Oldham.
Working collaboratively with a group of school children, I produced a series of woven and printed screen dividers for one of their classrooms, and a large- scale textile hanging for their assembly hall. Images included portraits of past and present students from the school and the languages they spoke, reflecting the diversity of the area.
Grants and Awards
2010 - Sponsored Studio Award 2010, Art Space, Portsmouth
1994 - London Arts Board Grant for materials and equipment
Publications
2013 – ‘Tools of the Trade: Deconstruct – Reconstruct’ Julie Graves: artist-in-residence, The Portsmouth Grammar School
2009 – Self: self portraits from around the world – compiled by Craig Kerrecoe ISBN: 978-1907437-00-7
2005 – Techno Textiles 2, Sarah E. Braddock Clarke and Marie O’Mahony ISBN-13: 978-0-500-51245-6
