My work involves a challenging exploration of what art can do. An awareness of the history of art informs and enriches the visual language I use. Years ago, in America, I stopped using rectangular stretched canvas and started building makeshift constructions to paint on, that better reflected my situation and my state of mind. I studied art from different cultures and times: exploring the nature of art in the light of cultural and societal conditioning opened my eyes to unlimited possibilities.
My work involves a challenging exploration of what art can do. An awareness of the history of art informs and enriches the visual language I use. Years ago, in America, I stopped using rectangular stretched canvas and started building makeshift constructions to paint on, that better reflected my situation and my state of mind. I studied art from different cultures and times: exploring the nature of art in the light of cultural and societal conditioning opened my eyes to unlimited possibilities.
I work completely openly, questioning everything and making connections. Inspiration comes from the totality of experience: things I think, feel, hear, remember, as well as what I see; and I interpret it using a broad art vocabulary in a variety of media. The process of creating is important: an engagement with the physical sensuality of materials; the challenge of combining real shapes and textures with painted ones: the alchemy of transformation. I like to work around the edges and in the gaps: between drawing, painting and sculpture, between figurative work and abstraction - exploring the nature of reality, both gentle and brutal: the fragility of the world and our engagement with it – and revelling in the language of art.
Qualifications and training
1983 - MFA, Southern Illinois University, USA
1981 - MA Fine Art, Eastern Illinois University, USA
1976 - BA (Hons) Fine Art, Portsmouth Polytechnic
Selected Solo exhibitions
2017 - Café@36, Art Week Exeter
2017 - Sept for September, Boatyard Café and Bakery, Exeter
2016 - Displace Meant Activity, Gallery 333, Exeter Phoenix, Exeter Devon
2015 - Pop-Up Gallery, Exeter, Devon
2013 - Exeter Open Studios, Exeter, Devon
2006 - High Steel Blues, IAIS, University of Exeter, Exeter, Devon
2005 - "Summer Collection", Phoenix Arts Centre, Exeter, Devon
2004 - "Constructions in Colour", Atelier Gallery, University of Exeter, Devon
2000 - "The Spider's Palace", Art Haven, Exeter, Devon
1995 - "Seeds Of Celebration", International Cultural Center for Youth, Jerusalem, Israel
Selected Group exhibitions
2018 - Listening towers, Small World Futures, Unsettled Gallery, London
2017 - Alternative Facts Factory, organicARTS, West Town Farm, Ide, Exeter
2017 - Bandwidth, Art Haven, PS45, Exeter
2017 - The Observatory, The Forum, University of Exeter
2017 - The Art Of Caring, St George’s Hospital and St Pancras Hospital, London
2017 - Refuge, FAB 2, Bath
2017 - Helluo Librorum, with Preston Street Union for Art Week Exeter, Exeter Library
2017 - Makers of the Multiverse, Juneau Projects, Spacex, Exeter
2017 - The Preston Street Union Random Art Machine, PS45, Art Week Exeter
2017 - Pay & Display, Centrespace Gallery, Bristol
2016 - The Art of Caring, St Pancras Hospital, London and Rose Theatre, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey
2016 - The Open Square, Royal United Hospital, Bath
2016 - A Letter In Mind, Gallery@Oxo, London
2015 - In And Out Of The Frame, The Glorious Art House, Exeter, Devon
2015 - Roper Gallery, BAS, Bath
2015 - Definitely Devon, RAMM Exeter, Devon
2015 - The Art of Caring, Rose Theatre, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey
2014 - The Bowie Gallery, Totnes, Devon (also 2009 - 13);
2014 - Hidden Treasure Tearoom, Exeter (also 2013)
2014 - Art@96, Topsham, Devon (also 2013)
2013 - Creekside Open, A.P.T. Gallery, London
2013 - Art Haven@ Redearth Gallery, Tiverton, Devon (also 2011, 2012)
2011 - The Bowie Gallery, Totnes, Devon (also 2009, 2010)
2011 - Magnet Art: Light Bite, Nottingham; Brighton Open, Brighton Pier; Rarities, Hastings,
2011 - MOAP, New Hampshire, USA
2009 - Art Haven: Same River Different Water, Piazza Terracina, Exeter
2009 - Drawn In , Sidcot Arts Centre, Winscombe, Somerset
2008 - Art Haven 2008, Gallery 86, Crediton, Devon
2008 - Cork Street Annual Open Exhibition for Charity, Cork Street Gallery, London
2007 - The Big Works, Gallery Terracina, Exeter, Devon
2005 - "Reasons to Love the Earth", Leeuwenbergh, Utrecht
2005 - "Small Originals", Gallery 22, Ashburton, Devon
2005 - Art Bar Live, Exeter, Devon 2004 - "On The Wall", Olympia, London
2002 - Hands On Touring Art, Burton Art Gallery, Torre Abbey & Torquay Museum, Bideford & Torquay, Devon
2001 - JAA, Candid Gallery, London
2000 - "The Interface Between Art, Science & Technology", New Greenham Arts, Newbury, Berkshire
2000 - Visual Arts Festival, Torre Abbey, Devon