My creative practice consists largely of sculptural installation relating to narratives of home, protection and the state of exception. Photography and drawing are also important to me and photographic documentation of sites I am responding to, or structures I build, sometimes become the work itself. I am a studio holder at Bath Artists’ Studios. Please scroll down for examples of photographic work and exhibitions and training information.
We, Earth Sky People, 2023. Mixed media - terracotta, air drying clay, trace amounts of mud or soil derived from several sacred sites, chalk, acrylic paint, ivory black pigment, pastel, 122 cm (w) x 91 cm (h) x 4 cm (d)
(Work in foreground) Grey Weathers (Ask the Ancestors), 2022. Installation maquette of 65cm (d) x 55cm (w) x 65cm (h) - Juniper branch, clay, stitched hand felting dyed with mordant, butterbur and dock leaves, string, ribbon
Photograph from photo essay “Niches”, 2020. In place: soapworks, practice-led publication by Space, Place, Practice for the exhibition Centre of Gravity, Old Soap Factory, Bristol, 2020
The Pangolin's Tale (front), 2021. Patinated bronze (lost wax process). For Abigail Burt's project, Lost Wax for Lost Species. Sold in auction (2022). All proceeds from the auction went to conservation charities.
The Pangolin's Tale (back), 2021. Patinated bronze (lost wax process). For Abigail Burt's project, Lost Wax for Lost Species. Sold in auction (2022). All proceeds of auction went to conservation charities.
Wunderkammer created following Artist Richard White's walk in Sydney Gardens, Bath, "A Sultan, the Grotto and Sugar: a walk under and out of the western edge of the park sensing legacies of slave ownership and the East India Company", Bathscape Walking Festival, 19/09/21 and the workshop later that day "Walkeology: Wunderkammers and the Culture of Place" led by Artist and Archaeologist Fay Stevens, 19/09/21.
Materials created during Groundings & Transits Workshop led by Artist Michelle Hall in response to the work of German 20th Century Artist Joseph Beuys. Part of Mythmaking and Meaning - an online Summer School for Adults, 27 - 29/08/2021, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, Dublin
The Revolting Earth, 2020-21. Sculpture - plastic nail gun strips, air drying clay, clear wax, acrylic paint, spray paint.
Consider Yourself (Part of the Furniture) (detail), 2017. Installation - Upholstery and curtain fabrics (various), polyester hollow fibre filling. 139cm x 53cm, 85cm x 77cm and 72 x 60cm
Groundswell (after Edward Hopper), 2016. Installation - plywood, wood glue, chalk paint, plaster, scrim, polystyrene, photo emulsion on paper, card. Dimensions variable.
Emergency Conference, 2016. Installation - Argyranthemum Frutescens, Dwarf Rhodedendron Arctic Tern, Dianthus Mojito, hand-thrown terracotta pots, calico, table, microphones, soil, plastic tubing. Dimensions variable.
Emergency Conference (detail), 2016. Installation - Argyranthemum Frutescens, Dwarf Rhodedendron Arctic Tern, Dianthus Mojito, hand-thrown terracotta pots, calico, table, microphones, soil, plastic tubing. Dimensions variable.
States of Emergency (Detail) 2015. Installation - willow cane, voile, copper poles, caution tape, masking tape, electric tape, strimmer wire, charcoal, cotton thread, foil from budget survival tent, wool, mdf, plastic. Dimensions variable.
Sweet Easy (Detail) 2014. Wooden venetian blind, wooden unit, straw (combed wheat reed), boiler suits, honey, resin with powdered Bath stone, wooden picket fence. Dimensions variable.
Reed Warbler Nest, 2012. Charcoal on paper, 21 x 29.7 cm
The Ties That Bind, 2012. Cotton twill, felted sheep’s hair, felted human hair, upholsterer’s thread, 120cm x 86cm
On Longing (Saudade), 2019. Willow charcoal on paper. 59.4cm x 84.1cm
Photography is important to me as part of my creative process. The photographs below were taken while on residency in Porthleven, Cornwall in 2015, while I was still a student at Bath Spa University. I am interested in exploring photography more deeply as a heuristic tool for learning about a place as well as a means of documenting my work.
Exhibitions
Group shows:
International Women’s Day Exhibition, Roper Gallery, Bath Artists’ Studios, Bath, 2024
Avebury Project, curated by Adjunct Professor Fay Stevens, Pound Arts, Corsham, 2022 and by Avebury Project artists, Roper Gallery, Bath, 2022
Lost Wax for Lost Species (collaborative project by Abigail Burt), Founders' Hall, Cloth Fair, London and Birmingham City University, 2021
Centre of Gravity, Old Soapworks, Bristol, 2020 (place: Soapworks, practice-led publication by Space, Place, Practice for the exhibition)
Loss and Lucidity (The Lost and Found), curated by Diana Ali, Fábrica Braço De Prata, Lisbon, 2019
Home and the Poetics of Space, Dark Matters group show, curated by Victoria Bone and Andrea V Wright, Fringe Arts Bath 2017
Edge of Collapse, AA2A Scheme show, co-curated by Clare Thornton, Jamie House and Victoria Walters, Roland Levinsky Building, University of Plymouth, 2016
Time Machine, curated by alldaybreakfast, 44AD Gallery, Fringe Arts Bath 2016 [see alldaybreakfast’s video documentation here]
States of Emergency. In Interim Show, Dartmouth Avenue Studios, Bath Spa University, 2015
Spring Open, Artist Teacher Scheme show, Corsham Court, Bath Spa University, 2012.
Artworks in Catalogues/ Conference Contributions
Methought (drawing and photography). In Modeen M., (ed), Invisible Scotland: Revealing a Process of Interdisciplinary Discovery, Moray School of Art Press in Association with Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, 2013, pp.64-65
There is Something that Death Brings to the Conversation (contribution to publication in response to a walk in Arnos Vale Cemetery with UWE practice-led MA and PhD students at PLaCE Research Centre). In Moving Between the Lines, Bristol: Wild Conversations Press, 2011, pp.86-87
Visual Arts Training
Postgraduate Diploma Fine Art, Bath Spa University, 2014-15 (Pass, graduation February 2016)
Week of workshop sessions in Bath Spa University residency space, Porthleven, Cornwall as one of Porthleven Prize shortlisted artists, 2015
NSEAD Artist Teacher Scheme, Bath Spa University (Pass, show April 2012)
Foundation Studies in Art & Design, Bristol School of Art (Pass with Distinction), 2005
MA Digital Media, UWE Bristol (Pass, graduated July 2003)
Placements and Residencies
Associate Artist of the Bricks Artist Reaching Resilience Programme, 2020 - 2021
AA2A Artist , Plymouth University, 2015-2016
Curation
PLaCE exhibition for PhD students, Foyer Gallery, UWE Bristol, 2011
Co-curated AA2A scheme exhibition, Edge of Collapse, Roland Levinsky Building, Plymouth University, 2016
Design
Designed logo for 9th SIEF Congress held at the University of Ulster in June 2008
Freelance research and design role for UWE Bristol: designed imagery for screens in high street bank’s new London headquarters (Grimshaw Architects). Researched bank’s history to create designs.