About Me

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, and possibly an obsession, 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 (1977-78), I began to realise that drawings are a vehicle to seeing, understanding and exploring subjects and concepts. During my degree course in Fine Art Embroidery at Manchester Polytechnic (1978 - 1981) 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 Fibre Art and the 62 Group of Textile Artists, this was a supportive membership that I enjoyed for several years. I was invited by the British Crafts Centre to be part of a Paper Exhibition, which sealed my long lasting passion with paper. In 1985 I was recognized with my first one woman show at the Anatol Orient Gallery, opening on the eve of leaving for Papua New Guinea for 3 years.

With my first husband, I lived and worked at the National Arts School in Port Moresby. It was at this time that an interest in geology, fossils, maps and anthropology began to be linked to the themes of my drawings and textile work. Time permitted me to work with the Textile Students at the Arts School, and provided me with an opportunity to further develop ideas, skills and techniques. A series of work on corals and underwater worlds was executed and exhibited in Oceania and Australia.

With the birth of my first daughter in Papua New Guinea, the place and its people will always hold a piece of my heart and influence my way of thinking.

Over the years these fossil and rock themes have become more intense with an inner energy and meditative quality.

I returned to Gloucestershire in 2002 to live with my husband, Ronnie, high up in the Cotswolds in a small Village where I have my Studio. The woodlands and landscapes that surround me, are inspirational, making my drawings more expansive. They 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. The Woodland work is regularly exhibited at Bedgebury Pinetum in Kent, where I lived for 10 years with my 2 young daughters.

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