Exploring ephemera and texture

I grew up in rural Wiltshire and have lived and worked in both England and France. I completed both my BA in Drawing and Applied Arts, and my Masters in Multi-Disciplinary Print at the University of the West of England and I now work from my studio at the Stroud Valleys Artspace in Gloucestershire.

I work mainly with ephemera and found objects, combining and layering these fragments to present a new narrative. A whisper of a trace, a pin-prick line and stitching often binds the stories of these objects and images together through collage, box-works, paint and print. The increasing use of scripts and found objects within my painting work, led me to explore my present love of, and fascination with, paper ephemera which has resulted in my current collage work. Using found papers, letters and books that are worn, torn and stained, I will reinvent and reinterpret these to form both geometric and figurative pieces often with a new narrative and sometimes with a hint of humour.

As a mixed media artist, surface is very important to me. I am constantly inspired by traces and marks left behind in found objects and ephemera. This passage of time and its acquired patina with all its imperfections directly influences the surface qualities that I seek to create in my work. Re-working these changes, I seek to maintain the intrigue often present when these imprints are revealed. This unconscious marking and scripting brings with it, a delicacy and an ethereal quality of line on a surface, that continues to influence me.

How I work

My process leads me to collecting and archiving marks, traces and ephemera, recording them, documenting them and de-constructing the shapes they form. I have no idea or pre-conceptions as to how a piece will look when finished. I enjoy and indulge in the process as work evolves and ideas emerge. I prefer to work across several pieces at the same time and always look to achieve that moment of serendipity.