58 Alison Tidmarsh

Etcher, Sculptor, Wearable Art

Artform: Jewellery & Silversmithing, Mixed media, Multidisciplinary, Printmaking, Woodwork

Website:

An American living in Worcestershire for over 20 years, Alison Tidmarsh is enchanted and inspired by the process of caring for and restoring the British countryside and the British passion for nature and gardening. Alison is a mixed media artist, who highlights the beauty and wonder of nature through elegant form, color and composition.

Natural forms, farmland, garden design, and cultural ideals of land use, are thematic threads throughout her practice. She values the intersection of art and craft and believes that mixing materials and traditional methods creates the most exciting artistic outcomes.

“I draw deep inspiration from the rhythm of the seasons, the intersection of nature & land use; art & traditional craft. I find joy in learning new techniques in both art and craft from those who are master artists in their own specialities. My ideas are usually formed in a moment of awe, which I am sometimes able to capture on camera, but nature often moves too fast and the glimpse will have to do.

Her work has been influenced by teachers, mentors and artists she has worked with such as M.G. Martin, Claudia Esslinger, Kay Williams, Robin Kahn, Kysa Johnson,Juliet-Wallace-Mason, Jenny Mason-Gunning and also by family: her father (woodworking) and her son (etching).

The local farmland and gardens offer endless inspiration: an ancient SSI woodland coppice; a cider orchard and nuttery; mixed fruit orchard; a Wellingtonia; a variety of maples and birch trees; the perfect oak; a magical yew; traditional borders, including roses, clematis, hellebores, dahlias, a hydrangea border, wild flowers, daffodils, anemones, snowdrops, bluebells and agapanthus; a suburban ornamental cherry, and wildflower meadows. Living among this beauty along with maintaining and adding to a garden planted by many owners over the decades, Alison’s work often goes from “from seed to etching”. The work reflects both nature’s successes and losses in the garden and beyond, throughout the Border Counties and Wales.

“It’s easy to admire the beauty in nature living between orchards and ancient woodlands, among meadows and rolling hills dotted with sheep, but as an American, I appreciate how quickly green spaces can disappear; as an economist and artist I am determined to show the value in their beauty and conservation.” She enjoys using art as social commentary, aware that America lost 21 million acres of farmland from 2017 to 2023 to residential and commercial development. (https://houseofgreen.substack.com/p/whats-happening-to-all-the-american) “A new poll by More in Common, for CPRE, reveals that 86% of Britons support Green Belt and three-quarters of young people want more of the UK countryside protected, though most don’t trust leaders to deliver on this…75% of Britons want existing measures to protect specific areas of land to be strengthened, while less than 2% want to see them reduced.” (CPRE) Alison wrote, “Art at its very best, makes a comment about society and encourages other to make positive change.”

“As an artist I feel the need to create, with the anticipation that my work emotionally impacts another human being. I strive to make art that is conscientious, beautiful, and natural. I hope the viewer recovers a memory, is filled with the desire to touch the materials, to sit down, to pause, and to remind themselves to spend more time outdoors.”

Bio
Alison Tidmarsh is an American artist who has lived in Worcestershire, between the Cotswolds and the Welsh Border for over 20 years. “It’s easy to admire the beauty in nature living between orchards and ancient woodlands, among meadows and rolling hills dotted with sheep, but as an American, I appreciate how quickly green spaces can disappear; as an economist and artist I am determined to show the value in their beauty and conservation.”

Born outside of Boston, Alison was always happiest with a new box of 64 Crayola crayons or playing outside. At 10 she was inspired by a trip to The National Gallery, Washington D.C., where she discovered Georgia O’Keeffe, Alexander Calder, and Mark Rothko. Encouraged by her own family of makers and a few very special teachers, her first submitted piece in high school won a Scholastic Gold Key Award, validating her passion for art. While studying at Kenyon College and working in The Gund Gallery, Burns initiated a fundraising campaign to transform a barn on campus into a student art gallery and performance space. Holding a BA in Economics and Studio Art, her own senior art exhibition ‘Productive’ was one of only two awarded with Distinction.

Alison’s love affair with Britain began while studying painting and historical and critical studies at Glasgow School of Art where she favoured the work of Andy Goldsworthy and James Turrell over Damian Hurst. After working for the artist Robin Kahn, planning and organising the Time Capsule event at Paula Cooper Gallery, through the GLCA New York Arts Internship Program, she chose to move to New York City.

In New York, Tidmarsh began her career at The Museum of Modern Art. Marriage took her to Pittsburgh where she worked for The Andy Warhol Museum, before moving to England. She has raised three boys while restoring an orchard, maintaining an ancient coppice with a green lane, and planted a native woodland which the family calls The Great Escape. She now finds the time to work once again, capturing beauty through her art. She continues to be inspired by Giuseppe Penone, Louise Bourgeois, Norman Ackroyd, Elizabeth Blackadder, Barbara Hepworth, Mike Abbot, Alison Crowther and Tom and Mary Marie Bahe.

Venue

Worcester Art Collective
8 College Yard
Worcester
WR1 2LA

Directions: Next to the front entrance of Worcester Cathedral. 10 mins walk from Foregate Street Station or Crowngate bus station. No vehicle access to College Yard but numerous pay and display car parks in the vicinity.

What 3 words location: enter.frame.harp

Tel: 07984 693888
Instagram: thecasalinga

Website: https://alisontidmarsh.com

Added extras:
Toilets

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