I make books 3D forms and wall based artworks. I work freely with both techniques and with materials, experimenting with print, cutting and layering of paper and other materials.
I make books 3D forms and wall based artworks. I work freely with both techniques and with materials, experimenting with print, cutting and layering of paper and other materials.
I explore ideas around the tactile and the illusory, through the tensions between hand drawn marks with the suggested computer drawn marks, and how hand applied colour - pigment, yarn, crayon or dye - and whether inlaid or overlaid, interacts with the inkjet printed colour. Further marks might be added after printing, by laser cutting, or by piercing and punching – marks which erupt through the paper.
Why books? Since the early 1990's I have recorded my explorations of materials and of colour within the book form. These began with dye on cloth, and paper, later digital image, printed on to experimental substrates, whether inkjet on paper collage or thermal transfer on synthetic, heat fused collage.
A book might simply record my experience of place or time, or it might be somewhere I can 'draw out' a visual idea into a sequence, where each page becomes a fragment of the whole.
Within the covers, the coloured dyes and pigments are protected from inevitable change.
I have been exhibiting since the 1970’s, and internationally from 1992. I was awarded travel Burseries from the Arts council for several of these; China in 1997, Japan in 2002, Finland in 2005 and U.S. in 2007.
Solo exhibitions
2011 - The illusory and the Real, Phillip Goulden Gallery, Walford Mill, Wimborne, Dorset
2007 - The Illusory and the Real : Dye colour and Digital Colour, Leedy Voulkous Art Centre, Kansas City USA
2003 - Work with Silk, collage and digital imaging, Zijdmuseum, Meliskerke, Zeeland, The Netherlands
1995 - Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, Sheffield
1988 - Leeds Playhouse Gallery
1980 - Mid-Pennine Arts Association
Group Exhibitions
2018 : FORTHCOMING : Responsive Paper (IAPMA exhibition), Sophia, Bulgaria
2018 : Forthcoming : Amateras International Paperart Exhibition, Sophia, Bulgaria
2018 : Forthcoming : Papier Global 4, Degendorf, Germany
2016/2017 : The Box Project: Works from the Lloyd Cotsen Collection, Book publication date: June 2016.
The exhibition will open at the Fowler Museum at UCLA in the fall of 2016 travelling to Racine Art Museum (spring 2017) and the Textile Museum at George Washington University (fall 2017).Group exhibitions
2016/17 : Exhibitions with IAPMA (international Paper artists and makers)
Inspired by Paper : European tour
Luminous Within : Australia tour
Luminous Within : America’s tour
A Feast of Paper : China tour
2016 : UK : Telling in Full (Group exhibition as part of the Lancaster Words Festival)
2016 : Shakespeare Now!: Exhibition of artists Books Hornby library, Liverpool
2015 : UK : Sheffield International Artists Book Prize Exhibition
2015 - US : Concealed, Confined, Collected, Minnesota Centre for Bookarts, US
2014 Artists Book exhibition, Hornby Library, Liverpool
2014 Printing, Sheffield, Millenium Gallery, Sheffield, UK
2013 The Art and Soul of Paper, Mandells Gallery, Norwich
2012 - Papier Global 2, Deggendorf Museum, Deggendorf, Germany
2012 - 'Watermarks' Morgan Conservatory, Cleveland Ohio
2011 - Faszination Papier, Touring to various venues in Europe, Europe
2011 - Leaf and Bound, International Book and Paper Art Exhibition, Eureka College, , Illinois, USA
2011 - Paper and Type - Print, Korean Craft Museum, Cheongju, Korea
2011 - Silver, Smith Street Gallery, Fitzroy, Victoria
2010 - Place and Identity, Drumcroon Education Art Centre, Wigan UK
2009 - Icelandic Notebooks, Access Media Lab, Sheffield, Sheffield
2009 - Looking Forward : Contemporary European batik, Textures Gallery, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
2009 - Papier Global 1, Deggendorf Museum, Deggendorf, Germany
2008 - Holland Paper Biennale, Rijswick `Museum, , Netherlands
2007 - Fiberart International, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsbugh, USA and Touring
2005 "Transient Surface" - European Abstraction. a special exhibition of five European Batik Artists. Part of the World Batik Conference, Massachusetts College of Art: Boston, USA
2005 - Northern Fibre 6 (Wo)man and Technology. international exhibition Arts Council grant towards costs, Kerava Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland
2003 Batik Art in Motion, Museum of Industrial Archaology and Textiles, Ghent, Belgium
2003 - Encounters with New Technology, Drumcroon Gallery & Art Centre, Wigan, Greater Manchester
2003 - 'Tradition and Technology' Invited to Exhibit, lead workshops and make presentation at conference, Exhibition: Aarhus Kunstbygning. Workshops at Aarhus Husset, Aarhus, Denmark 2002 - Hanover, Handswerksform, Batik of Change
2002 - International exhibition, batik, Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, Urawa City, Japan
2001 - Kunst Fordert Kunst, Berlin, various venues 2001 - 'Taktha' exhibition and symposium, Gallery im parc, Berlin, touring to Koln (Galerie Smend), Lodz, Poland, (Central Museum of Textiles)
1999 - Artful Boxes, , touring UK 1999 - Gwent international Batik exhibition, symposium
1998 - Sheffield Threads, Ruskin Craft Gallery, Sheffield
1998 - Small Pieces, with NFibre Art, touring: France; Barcelona, Spain; Germany
1997 - International Exhibition and Conference, Guiyang Museum, Guizhou Province, China 1997 - Wexford Book Exhibition (annual)
1996 - Bishops House Museum, Sheffield
1996 - Fibre on the Outside, ETN Conference, Norton Priory, Runcorn, Manchester
1995 - With Batik Guild, Malone House, Belfast 1994 - Batik Guild, Birkenhead Museum 1994 - Batik Guild, National Theatre
1994 - Fibre Art, Mid-Pennine Arts Association 1994 - Fibre Art, Plymouth University 1994 - Fibre in the Open, Fibre Art, Norton Priory
1993 - International Batik Exhibition, Jakarta, Indonesia
1993 - Piece Hall, Halifax 1
1991 - With Sheffield Contemporary Arts Trust, Midland Station and Sheffield Cathedral
1990 - Anglo-Chinese Batik Exhibition, University of Guizou, China
1989 - Ruskin Craft Gallery, Sheffield
Corporate commissions 2007 - Crystalinex4 (Unique Collage Bookwork), Lloyd T Cotsen collection "The Box project", Cotsen Foundation for Academic Research, USA
Projects 2009 - A collaborative project involving visuals, sound and poetry – residency in Iceland in 2009 followed by an ‘Off the Shelf’ event at Access Media Lab, Sheffield and Stage@Leeds, NES, SKAGASTROND, Iceland/UK 2004 -
Competitions, prizes and awards 2011 - Purchase Award : Best in show, (Leaf and Bound, International Paper and Bookart Exhibition), Eureka College, Illinois 2010 -
Award from Regional Arts Council, UK, towards costs of exhibition and travel to US , Leedy Voulkos Art Center, Kansas City USA 2002 -
Award from Regional Arts Council, UK, towards costs of travel to Japan, 'SIBE in Saitama' : group exhibition, Museum of Modern Art , Saitama, Japan 1997 -
Awards from Regional Arts Council, UK, towards costs of travel to China, Group Batik Exhibition : Guiyang Museum, China
Publications 2012 - Mixing Media : Digital Inkjet print on Experimental surfaces; Article for Design-It on line Magazine for the Computer Textile Design Group
2011 - Iceland Stories and other Books : Catalogue
2008 - Artworks/info included : Pure Paper : catalogue, Holland Paper Biennale
2006 - Surface Design Magazine : article by Patricia Malarcher
2003 - Visual included in ‘Batik – Modern Concepts and Techniques; (Noel Dyrenforth)
2000 - 'Textiel Plus' (Netherlands) Article on my work - (Written by Else Van Baale).
1997 - Visuals included in “The craft of handmade paper” by Jon Plowman 1995 - Visual included in “International Textiles” (Published by Calman and King)
1995 - Work featured in “ The Art and Craft of Fabric Decoration” by Juliet Bawden
1993 - Visual included in “Textiles: Multi-cultural Traditions” by Spyrou/Singer Other 2010 -
Work represented in public and private Collections, includes
Eureka College, Eureka, Illinois,
Lloyd T. Cotsen collection “The Box Project”
Carmelite Chapel of St Teresa of Avila, Beacon, New York
Filac : International collection of Contemporary Artists Books (Marseilles)
(Book of Shadows, Seepage 2, Imperfect Rose, Iceland Notes)
Neukoln Public Library - Art Office Collection;
Textile collection, Kiev Art Gallery, Ukraine;
Guiyang Museum, Guizhou, China.
Rikhardinkatu Library, Helsinki, Finland
Manchester MMU (Phillip Green Library, special collections)
British Art Library, V&A
Bath Spa University Library
Brotherton Library special collections, Leeds university
