I create unique and original art that is inspired by the beauty, fragility and vulnerability of the natural world; it is sometimes quirky, sometimes serious but always curious – the result of research and intrigue.
I spend much of my time immersed in nature as my studio in North Worcestershire looks out onto open countryside. I often get inspiration for ideas for my art whilst out walking my dogs, riding my horse, chasing my chickens and beekeeping.
I use the cyanotype process (a camera-less photographic printing process that uses ultraviolet light and results in blueprints) to make most of my work. I really enjoy its serendipity and versatility. I work with a combination of natural materials as well as collage to make my images and the monochrome colour gives the work a cohesiveness which I like. Using sunlight to create the artworks link them closely to nature.
I also paint and draw using acrylic paint, charcoal and pencil.
I have an MA in Fine Art. I exhibit regularly in both group and solo exhibitions. Solo exhibitions include Fulham Palace in London, Winterbourne gardens in Birmingham and Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery. I have been shortlisted for several prize exhibitions including the Jerwood Drawing Prize and the Ruskin Drawing Prize. My work is held in both private and public collections.
CV
Education
2006 M.A. (Distinction) Fine Art, Birmingham City University
2005 B.A. (First Class Hons.) Fine Art, Birmingham City University
Awards and Residencies
2023 Collaboration with Anthropologie (International Clothes and Lifestyle Retailer)
2021 Prize Winner Oxford Open Arts
2017-18 Arts Council Funded Project ‘Portrait of an Alternative Anatomy’
2016 Shortlisted for Ruskin Drawing Prize
2015 Shortlisted for Shoosmith Art Prize
2014 Shortlisted for Shoosmith Art Prize
2014 Residency at Croome Court, Worcester
2010 Residency at mac-lab, Midland Arts Centre, Birmingham
2009 Arts Council Funded Residency at The Rea Garden, Birmingham
2008-9 Artist at Birmingham City University with AA2A (Artist Access to Art Colleges)
2008 Shortlisted for Jerwood Drawing Prize
2006 NOMADS Travel Bursary Award, Vivid, Birmingham
2006 Rhubarb Festival Bursary Award (Photography), Rhubarb-Rhubarb, Birmingham
2005 Louisa Anne Ryland Scholarship Travel Bursary, Birmingham City University
2003 The Whitworth Wallace Marine Painting Prize Gold Medal, Birmingham City University
Exhibitions
(edited highlights)
2024 ‘Cusp’, Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery (Solo)
2023 ‘Wall Stories’, Artery Gallery, Worcester
2022 ‘Shadows in the Sun’, Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery (Solo)
2020/21 ‘Under the Sun’, Fulham Palace, London (Solo)
2020 ‘Shadows of the Sun’, Coach House Gallery, Winterbourne Gardens, Birmingham (Solo)
2020 ‘Fifty Bees 4’, Black Swan Arts, Frome
2018 ‘Awe and Wonder’, Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery, (Solo)
2018 ‘Fragile’, Number 8 Gallery, Pershore. (Solo)
2017 The Big Sleuth, Birmingham
2016 ‘Fore*shad*ow’, Wolverhampton Art Gallery
2016 ‘The John Ruskin Prize 2015 Recording Britain Now: Society’, Walsall and London
2015 Shoosmith’s Art Prize Exhibition, Milton Keynes
2015 ‘The Big Hoot’, Birmingham
2014 to present ‘A Sign of the Times’ Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham
2014 Shoosmith’s Art Prize Exhibition, Milton Keynes
2013 ‘A Sign of the Times’, Midland Art Centre, Birmingham
2013 ‘Sha*dow’, Wolverhampton Art Gallery
2013 ‘Cabinet of Curiosities, Room of Wonder’ Borough Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke on Trent
2012 ‘i have glimpsed the future’, Aedas Presents, Birmingham (Solo)
2011 ‘i am not myself’, VINYL, Birmingham (Solo)
2010 ‘A site of no special interest’, Solihull
2010 ‘RE:animate’, oriel davies, Wales and Wolverhampton Art Gallery
2010 The Big M (ISIS Arts and AND Festival), Preston, Newcastle Upon Tyne
2009 ‘Endless Descent’, Birmingham
2009 ‘CREAM’, Tokyo
2009 London Group Open, Menier Gallery, London
2009 Abandon Normal Devices, FACT, Liverpool
2009‘Unnatural Selection’, Birmingham
2009 ‘Tickle Attack’, Lodz, Poland and Dudelange, Luxembourg
2008 Jerwood Drawing Prize Exhibition, London
2008 ‘Backlight 08′, Florence, Vienna and Finland
2008 ‘MoveMe’, Rainbird Gallery and selected tube stations, London
2008 ‘Going Underground’, Berlin
2007 London Group Open, Menier Gallery, London
2007 ‘Akureyrar Vaka 2007′, galleriBOX, Akureyi, Iceland
2007 ‘The Perfect Real’, C.C.A., Glasgow and King St Arts Centre, Belfast
2006 ’60 Second Surreal’, Hayward Gallery, London
2006 ‘pushpull’, MA Show, U.C.E., Birmingham
2005 BA (Hons) Fine Art Show, U.C.E., Birmingham
2005 ‘Illusion’, City Space, Birmingham
2003 ‘Religion, Art and War’, Salon des Arts, London