Artist statement
My work draws on the experience of the audience, exploring how language, codes and the written word is perceived, broken down and deciphered by the viewer. I am interested in the notion of memories, the cultural psychologies of looking and the differences between socially conditioned learning patterns and biological ones.
Within my practice I explore the book as object and work on a large scale using multiples to create environments which transform spaces that explore suggestion and secrecy. I am drawn to working with paper as a sculptural medium and using traditional craft techniques, such as folding, cutting, printing, stitching and weaving to explore the environments of both art and craft.
My work is concerned with the physical acts of looking, reading and listening encouraging viewers to consciously be aware of their surroundings, controlling and manipulating the way things can be seen, read and heard. I follow a socially engaging practice which involves members of the public, to physically interact with the artwork, at various stages of the making and presenting of work.
Qualifications and training
- 2007 Fine Art, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne
Employment
- 2010 Development Manager, The Shed, Gateshead
- 2009 Development Worker, VODA, North Tyneside
- 2008 Volunteer Co-ordinator, Northumbria Students Union, Northumbria University
- 2007 Administrator, Arts Council North East, North East
Solo exhibitions
- 2012 Forty Three Houses and a Ford Escort, Globe Gallery, Newcastle Upon Tyne
- 2012 Places Our Paths Might Cross, Dovetail, Newcastle Upon Tyne
- 2010 No Land in Particular, Globe Gallery, North Shields
- 2010 All The Books I Have Never Finished, The Gallery of Wonder, Newcastle University
- 2010 Nothing To Read Here, Keel Row Shopping Centre, Blyth, Northumberland
- 2009 Their Silence, A Language, Globe Gallery, Newcastle Upon Tyne
Group exhibitions
- 2012 Mouseion, School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester, Leicester
- 2012 Traces, Book Apothecary, Tynemouth Station
- 2012 Epilogue, Book Apothecary, North East
- 2011 Globe Live Auction, Globe Gallery, Newcastle Upon Tyne
- 2011 Category: An Exhibition of Artist Books, Book Apothecary, County Durham Libraries
- 2008 The Art of Books, The Oriental Museum, Durham
- 2007 Publish, Glue Gallery, Newcastle Upon Tyne
Curated projects
- 2011 Curator and Founder, Book Apothecary, North East
- 2008 Curator, The Cluny Gallery, Ouseburn, Newcastle Upon Tyne
Personal website
