The natural world has always fascinated me. I combine drawings and stitches which record and respond to the essence of my chosen environment. The work I produce is quiet but with an inner energy that aims to engage and draw the viewer in, to notice things they may have overlooked. My drawings are usually monochrome using pencil and charcoal. I stitch on papers which are thin and transparent, and recent paper textiles are ambiguous in their media. I do get excited when using papers, stitches, paint and gold leaf.
As a young child, I loved making beautiful clothes for my dolls under the watchful and encouraging eye of my mum, her scrap bag contained wonderful fabrics which felt so good to my young fingers. All my wild ideas were possible with her needle skills.
This passion with quality and attention to detail have remained with me. I have an overriding need to provide a well crafted and yet peaceful meditative art work.
Whilst on my Foundation Course at Cheltenham College of Art, I began to realize that drawings are a vehicle to seeing, understanding and exploring subjects and concepts. During my degree course in Fine Art Embroidery at Manchester Polytechnic, my mind and eyes were opened, not only to a media that satisfied me, but one that also engaged the viewer.
On moving to London in 1981, I was quickly involved with the 62 Group of Textile Artists, this was a supportive membership that I enjoyed for several years, even when I lived abroad. I was invited by the British Crafts Centre to be part of a Paper Exhibition in 1983, which sealed my long lasting passion with paper. The material that I still choose to work with.
In 1985 I was recognized with my first one woman show at the Anatol Orient Gallery, London, opening on the eve of moving to Papua New Guinea.
Living within the National Arts School in Port Moresby awoke in me an interest in geology, fossils, maps and anthropology, themes soon to be linked to my drawings and textiles. Over the years these fossil and rock themes have become more intense with an inner energy and meditative quality. A series of paintings and paper textiles illustrating corals and underwater worlds was executed and exhibited in Oceania and Australia. My first daughter was born in Papua New Guinea, and the place and its people will always hold a piece of my heart and influence my way of thinking.
My young daughters, sewing, drawing, and children’s workshops engaged me for ten years in Kent. I returned to live in Gloucestershire in 2002, working from my studio, high in a small village in the Cotswolds. The woodlands and landscapes that surround me are inspirational, making my drawings more expansive. The drawings contain inner dialogues, finding solutions that are easily transposed to the Paper Textiles.
I have strong links with Nature in Art in Gloucester, a museum totally dedicated to Nature and have worked as their Artist in Residence many times. For two years I demonstrated for Nature in Art at ‘Art in Action’. I have had work regularly accepted to the Annual Open Exhibition at the RWA Bristol. Every two years I take part in Cheltenham Open Studios. This year will see my third year being actively involved with the Cheltenham Christian Arts Festival, both in exhibiting, curating, and delivering workshops.
The skilled theological writing of JP Williams and the inclusion of my full page black and white drawings, has been an exciting collaborative project, resulting in the publication of ‘Seeking the God Beyond’ in the summer of 2018. This Autumn, with great delight, ‘Golden Flight Feathers: Frescoes’, a paper textile, is to be exhibited within the ‘ING Discerning Eye Exhibition 2018’ at the Mall Galleries in London.