Biography

I use the processes and substances of printmaking to excavate, reveal and explore traces; glimpses, whiffs, suggestions, beginnings and endings, metamorphosis and fossilisation, presence, sentience and absence, hopes and the unknown.

Through the alchemy of print I attempt to enact and evoke something of processes of the natural world, where flow and obstacle, resistance and corrosion, excavation and sedimentation in the creation of the plate and the interaction of ink and substrate become active forces within the work. I  set up both constraints and orchestrate allowing substances to generate the unpredictable. Rather than seeking metaphor or narrative, my prints aim to capture the dynamic forces nature, creating pieces that resonate with the viewer on a visceral level, telling of the evolving, fragile, vitality of everything, especially that often unnoticed, obscured, under valued, fading or emerging.

From my background in theatre design and crafts, I bring a tactile sensitivity and intuitive understanding  of materials to my printmaking. In years spent as a breakdown artist and prop maker I honed my attention to the textures of  weathering and erosion, sedimentation, accumulation and to the actions of forces, tearing, twisting, scraping, attracting and repelling , removal and revelation, compression, time and gravity—sensibilities that now underpin my collaborations with substances, often derived from the landscapes I visit.  I work rock, soil, plant matter and seawater and into pigments and inks, flowing mediums and resists. I bring back traces of touch, rubbings of rocks, trees and seaweeds and experiment with etching these into plates and using them as chine colle elements. 

My intention is to develop my receptivity, to open up a rich, respectful dialogue with all things, exploring how to collaborate to show their subtle vitality through the prints,  allowing them to evoke magical curiosity, wonder and caring offering larger place in our imaginations.

I gained a post graduate Diploma Theatre Design at Croydon College, an MA. Middlesex University (CASCAD) in Computing in Art and Design and have experimented with a range of print making processes in courses at Art Academy, Morley College, City Lit and East London Printmakers.

My work has been exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Linden Hall Gallery, Oxo Tower Gallery and the Horsebridge Whitstable. I am a member of the Printmakers Council and Associate Member of East London Printmakers.