Artist statement
Concepts
My current practice is performed through drawing and the moving image, photography and Installation. I liken these to transitional states through which my concerns with time and form, being and relations with the natural world are enacted, within which I manoeuvre.
Drawing has been consistent throughout my practice. I see it as a type of behaviour, a form intrinsic to life and which inhabits me. Sensing from within, I feel acted upon as I am drawn to, drawn by. In the space of making lies a source for invoking forces beyond human agency. Gravitational attractions, the vestigial, biological time, such indeterminate energies chart a kinetics through the forms I employ, a descent from the incorporeal and made tangible, in a drawing, a (moving) still.
Mediums are chosen to inform and articulate my ideas. For an ongoing body of drawings entitled Totipotenti, silverpoint is used to transcribe personal experiences of conception and loss. A medium that pre-dates pencil, it speaks to me about origins, of vision and form, a precursory vehicle for thought. Whilst in a related development entitled Lune, digital animation is utilised in order to 'give life' to hundreds of individual drawings which, in their static state, I see as 'still-forms'.
There is a 'living time' located in the act of making that the photograph does not intrude. Such documents continue to be staged yet serve as markers for knowing, about how the work evolved, and no more. My photographs are points of departure.
I am conscious of my own form and participation within the work. Methods are devised in how to draw, as they are in how to stand, extend the arm, draw breath. Drawing for me is an expansive act.
Qualifications and training
- 1994 MA Fine Art Printmaking, Royal College of Art (Henry Moore Scholarship), London
- 1992 BA Hons Fine Art (1st Class), West Surrey College of Art & Design, Farnham
Employment
- 2013 2007-2013, Associate Lecturer in Fine Art, Foundation Course & Printmaking & Site-Specific/Commissioned Art, HND Fine Art Course, Birmingham Metropolitan College, Birmingham
- 2005 2001-2005, Part time Lecturer in Fine Art, B.A Hons Fine Art Dept, Nottingham Trent University
- 2004 Sessional Lecturer, BA Hons Fine Art, University of Derby
- 2002 1999-2003, Part time Lecturer in Fine Art & Printmaking, B.A Hons Fine Art & Foundation Course in Art & Design, University College Northampton
Solo exhibitions
- 2010 Ellipsis (ACE funded), G1 Gallery, Solihull Arts Complex, Solihull, West Midlands, UK
- 2007 Morphologies (gallery commission, ACE funded), Fermynwoods Contemporary Art, Nr Kettering, Northamptonshire (more info)
- 2001 New Works, (gallery commission, ACE funded), Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham
- 1998 New Works, Queen's Gallery, British Council, New Delhi, India
- 1995 Spring Blows, University of Glamorgan, Wales
Group exhibitions
- 2012 Out-Line, Minerva Works, Birmingham
- 2008 Anonyme Zeichner No:9, Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany
- 2005 Wunderkammer:The Artificial Kingdom, The Collection, Lincoln
- 2004 'Marks in Space', Contemporary Drawing Exhibition (gallery commission), Usher Gallery, Lincoln
- 2003 Pizza Express Prospects Drawing Prize, Loading Bay Gallery, Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London
- 2002 O²xygen, White Box, Manhattan, New York, USA. (British Council funded)
- 2000 Raid, site specific installations, venues across Derby
- 2000 Journey, a live transmission via mobile phone of a 6 week walk from Northampton to Fabrica, Fabrica, Brighton. (gallery commissioned show) (more info)
- 1999 Pompa Collection, site specific installations, Nottingham
- 1998 Six, The Bemis Centre for Contemporary Art, Omaha, USA
- 1997 The Robert Horne Printmaking Exhibition, Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle
- 1997 +M2, The Large Print Show, The Wolsey Art Gallery, Ipswich
- 1996 Another Province, New Art from the Chinese Diaspora, Watermans Art Centre, London
Artist talks
- 2010 On the ideas inherent to my solo show Ellipsis, G1 Gallery, Solihull Arts Complex, West Midlands
- 2009 Fine Art Business Practice, Design Centre, Sutton Coldfield College, Birmingham
- 2009 Talk on my practice, B.A Hons Fine Art Dept, Birmingham City University, Birmingham
- 2008 Talk on my practice, B.A Hons Fine Art Dept, University of Derby, Derby
- 2008 Talk on my practice, B.A Hons Fine Art Dept, University of Lincoln, Lincoln
Workshops
- 2010 Bodies into Worlds, a sculpture and movement workshop (working with students on the National Diploma Fine Art course, Solihull College), Solihull Arts Complex, West Midlands
- 2008 Chinese Relief Printmaking, Chadsgrove School, Bromsgrove, West Midlands
- 2006 Drawing the Void (working with blind & visually impaired adults), The Herbert Gallery, Coventry, UK (more info)
Residencies
- 2012 Artist Development Residency, The New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall, West Midlands
- 2004 Artist in Residence, Usher Gallery, Lincoln
- 1998 Artist in Residence (ACE funding), Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, Nebraska, USA
- 1997 The Commonwealth Foundation Fellowship Award in the Arts & Crafts, University of Baroda, Gujarat, India
- 1997 Artist in Residence, The Lowick House Print Workshop, Cumbria
- 1995 Artist in Residence, University of Glamorgan, South Wales
Private commissions
- 2012 Commissioned to produce drawings of planetary bodies in the solar system for a childrens colouring-in book, Immersive Theatres, Birmingham
- 2008 Chinese Constellation Drawings, Planetarium, Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum, Birmingham, UK
Public commissions
- 2004 'Routes & Journeys', Commissioned artworks in response to the site of Grange Park village in the south of Northamptonshire, Funded by Regional Arts Lottery. Managed by South Northamptonshire Council
- 2001 Hart 2001, temporary audio-visual installation at Grosvener Mill, Commissioned by Quay Arts, Kingston-Upon-Hull
Competitions, prizes and awards
- 2010 Grants for the Arts, Arts Council England, For my solo show Ellipsis, Solihull Arts Complex
- 2007 Grants for the Arts, Arts Council England, For my solo show Morphologies, Fermynwoods Contemporary Art
- 2001 Works & Commissions Scheme, Arts Council East Midlands, East Midlands
- 1996 East Midlands Arts Start-up Award, East Midlands Arts, East Midlands
- 1994 The Henry Moore Foundation Scholarship, Royal College of Art, London
Publications
- 2004 Marks in Space:drawing & sculptural form. isbn: 0-9539238-2-7
- 2001 Pak Keung Wan isbn: 0 905634 50 0 (more info)
Web links - article/press
