Education and Professional

MA (distinction) Textiles: University for the Creative Arts Farnham

B.A. Fine Art, St Martins School of Art
Art Teachers Certificate, London University Institute of Education

 

Publications

Artists Statement

My recent work has been about landscape, the details that that make up the landscape, the changing seasons and the passage of time. It is a personal landscape grounded in the observed. In starting a new work colour is the first element that I thinks about. I am intrigued by its nuances, subtleties and contrasts. The colour which I use are associated with elements of the landscape: the fresh greens of Spring, the browns and greys of wood and stone, the rusty corrugated iron of disintegrating field shelters and decaying bracken, the gold of lichen and the acid lemon of oil seed rape. There are the earth pigments: yellow and red ochre, burnt umber and raw sienna and then there are the splashes of pure colour found in flowers, colours so vivid they are almost unreal. Above all it is the regenerative power of nature which nurtures and informs my practice.

I investigate my subject matter through photography and drawing and in the process of observation, contemplation and in time spent walking in the countryside. In my latest work I have been observing the shape, pattern and structure of garden flowers to create a series of quilts that reflect this interest in the details to be found in plants, this has resulted in my palette becoming more vibrant and upbeat.

I think I am quite formal in my approach to creating work, colour is probably the most significant aspect in my work, I am interested in its emotional effect on our senses and in how it can convey mood and atmosphere. I dye, paint and print all my own fabric.

I have been making art quilts since 1994 and have been a member of Quilt Art since 1995. My book Colour in Art Quilts was published by Batsford Books in 2011.

August 2011
Colour in Art Quilts published by Batsford.