My practice is a personal response to objects and places using the medium of painting and print-making. I start with a formal approach using drawing and photography to investigate form, structure, texture and space. Inspired by travel and encounters with new places, most recently I have been working with a theme of the urban landscape. I am interested in the subconscious connections and relationships
My practice is a personal response to objects and places using the medium of painting and print-making. I start with a formal approach using drawing and photography to investigate form, structure, texture and space. Inspired by travel and encounters with new places, most recently I have been working with a theme of the urban landscape. I am interested in the subconscious connections and relationships we make with things and places, and how visuals have the ability to trigger and recall hidden memories and tap into our emotions. Taking inspiration from my surroundings, I have a curiosity for architectural spaces, drawn towards unusual forms, patterns and hidden layers. In particular I like to draw attention to subtleties of the apparently insignificant, things that are taken for granted, overlooked, mundane and banal. By deconstructing the landscape through a drawing process I am finding new ways of 'seeing' and responding to the built environment. This practical research then translates through experimental painting techniques, using a controlled approach, but with unpredictable outcomes. My current abstract approach explores the painting process, investigating the manipulation of paint, surfaces, marks and colour, as I have become intrigued by the notion of the paint taking its own form. I have found that this is the point in my work where a transformation occurs, a combination of the known and unknown, opening up areas of creativity and thought that cannot be foreseen. My intention is never to produce a realistic, photographic image. Instead I want to make something that has an element of familiarity to intrigue and engage the viewer without fully revealing itself. Therefore there is an importance attached to the ambiguity that my work contains so that it can impact on people in different ways connecting with the viewers own experiences, thoughts and memories.
Qualifications and training
2011 - BA (Hons) Fine Art: First Class, University of Derby, Derby
Competitions, prizes and awards
2014 - Jonathan Vickers Fine Art Award
2013 - Midlands Open, Main prize winner, Tarpey Gallery, Castle Donington
2012 - Derby Open, Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Derby
2012 - Nottingham Open, Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery, Nottingham
2012 - Show Me the Monet, BBC2 , Mall Galleries, London
2011 - Nottingham Open, Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery, Nottingham
2011 - Vice Chancellors Purchase Award, University of Derby
Solo exhibitions
2015 - Of a Place, Derby Museum & Art Gallery
2015 - From Where I Was Standing, Deda, Derby
2014 - Point Place Time, Tarpey Gallery, Castle Donington, Derbyshire
2014 - Significant insignificancies, Harrington Mills Studios, Long Eaton
2013 - Urban Trace, New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham, Surrey
Group exhibitions
2015 - Inbox: Platform Project - Art Athina, Athens, Greece
2014 - Open Studios, Banks Mill Studios, Derby
2014 - Open Studios, Harrington Mills Studios, Long Eaton
2014 - Carnival of Monsters
2014 - Art & Architecture Trail, Melbourne Festival, Derbyshire
2014 - Art & Architecture Trail, Wirksworth Festival, Derbyshire
2014 - Southwell Artists Open Studios
2014 - Strata: Platform Project - Art Athina, Athens, Greece
2014 - Same but different, Art Fair, Leeds
2013 - Midlands Open, Tarpey Gallery, Long Eaton, Derbyshire
2013 - Open Studios, Banks Mill Studios, Derby
2013 - Open Studios, Harrington Mills Studios, Long Eaton
2013 - Art & Architecture Trail, Wirksworth Festival, Derbyshire
2013 - After the Monet, Coningsby Gallery, London
2013 - Banks Mill Artists, Bean Cafe, Friar Gate Studios, Derby
2013 - Evolve, Royal Derby Hospital, Derby
2012 - Midlands Open, Tarpey Gallery, Long Eaton, Derbyshire
2012 - Banks Mill Group, Friar Gate Studios, Bean Cafe, Derby
2012 - Derbyshire Open Arts, Banks Mill Studios, Derby
2012 - Open Studios, Harrington Mills Studios, Long Eaton, Nottingham
2011 - Graduates Show, Wirksworth Festival, Wirksworth, Derbyshire
2011 - Open Studios, Banks Mill Studios, Derby
2011 - Picaresque, University of Derby, Derby
