Artist statement
The primary concern in my work is the tension between the natural and industrial environment, which I have explored in a variety of mediums, but with a particular interested in drawing. My layered drawings explore the boundaries between realism and abstraction through experimental, deconstructive techniques for generating images such as cutting up work and piecing it together again, running old drawings through the photocopier or drawing, half erasing and redrawing fragments of objects over eachother. These experiments then become the starting point for further drawings in black and white. The resultant drawings create images which fluctuate between mechanical and expressive mark making and suggest biomorphic forms or the sprawling detritus of a barren landscape.
More recently I have begun to make large format drawings on location which begin and end in the exhibition space but never fully reach a point of resolution, instead acting as open ended performances. These drawings grow and evolve without planned outcome but explore the open, empty space and floating graphic language of traditional Chinese ink and wash paintings.
This interest in a graphic, black and white language has also been explored in a series of outdoor interventions in which alternative road or street signs respond to specific rural locations. This includes projects in Aberdeen, Cupar and Dunbar. In the Modern Beasts project with North East Open Studios in Aberdeen in 2010 I found illustrations of animals in Aberdeen University's medieval encylopedic bestiary; warning signs based on these creatures were spread across the city’s series of public parks. For the Cupar Arts Festival 2011 I responded to speculations of black panthers in the Fife area with a series of black and white warning signs entitled The Outsiders. Along with these interventions I worked with the U3A creative writing group in Cupar to create a related publication.
Qualifications and training
- 2004 MA Contemporary Art Theory, Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh
- 2002 2:1 BA (hons) Drawing and Painting, Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh
- 1999 Certificate of Foundation Studies, Leith School of Art, Edinburgh
Employment
- 2009 Lecturer, Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh
Solo exhibitions
- 2011 Black Matter, Totalkunst, Edinburgh
- 2004 Voyages, Patriothall Gallery, Edinburgh
Group exhibitions
- 2012 River Crossings, Peter Potter Gallery, Haddington, East Lothian
- 2012 Sky Bound, North Light Festival, Dunbar, East Lothian
- 2012 Zones, Annuale Festival for Independent Practice, Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh
- 2012 Evaluation of Space, Rochester Art Gallery, Kent
- 2012 Outside In, The Society of Scottish Artists, The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
- 2011 The Outsiders, Cupar Arts Festival, Cupar
- 2011 Our Place, Streetland Festival, Glasgow
- 2011 Salon Vert, The Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh
- 2010 Green View, Limousine Bull Artists' Collective, Aberdeen
- 2010 Aspects of a City: The Streetwalker, Annuale Festival for Independent Practice, Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh
- 2010 Society of Scottish Artists Annual Exhibition, The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
- 2010 Anonymous Drawings No 10, Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Berlin
- 2009 Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
- 2009 Visual Arts Scotland Members Exhibition, Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries
- 2009 The Aspect Painting Prize Exhibition, Paisley Museums and Galleries, Glasgow
- 2009 Society of Scottish Artists Annual Exhibition, The Vision Building, Dundee
- 2009 Juteopolis, The Vision Building, Dundee
- 2008 The Scottish National Art Competition, Kinblethmont Gallery, Arbroath
- 2008 The Coma Lounge, Artprojx Space, London
- 2008 A Hunger for the Alternative Draws on the Past, Lloyd Gill Gallery, Weston-Super-Mare
- 2008 Postcards, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh
- 2008 Society of Scottish Artists Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
- 2008 Thinking Space, Bridge View Gallery, Aberdeen
- 2007 Paisley Drawing Prize Exhibition, Paisley Museums and Galleries, Glasgow
- 2007 Piracy, Limousine Bull Artists' Collective, Aberdeen
- 2007 Visual Arts Scotland Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
- 2007 Textual Healing, Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh
Workshops
- 2010 Signs that say what you think, Grays School of Art, Aberdeen
- 2010 Matter Painting, Edinburgh International Festival, The Hub, Edinburgh
- 2009 Drawing Sound, The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
- 2008 Cube Factory, The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
Competitions, prizes and awards
- 2008 Shortlisted for the Scottish National Art Competition, Angus College, Scotland
- 2007 Paisley Drawing Prize, Paisley Museums and Galleries, Glasgow
- 2005 New Writing Scotland Award, The Collective Gallery, Edinburgh
Educational experience - secondary
- 2007 Lecturer and workshop leader, The National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh
