I am a painter and batik artist and am currently exploring form and colour using wooden posts and sweet chestnut poles as my canvas. One of my pieces was exhibited in last years Royal Academy Summer Show and they've just chosen another this year. I am creating posts to mark important transissions, celebrations and moments in time.
I originally trained at Camberwell School of Art in the 70's as a printmaker and graphic designer but returned to Hereford College of Art last year to do an MA in Fine Art. This has helped me expand my interests and by the end of the course I was working out on location and with wood for the first time. Inspired by Andre Cadere and his Barres de bois rond (Round Wooden Bars) aboriginal larrakitj memorial posts, totem poles and a love of old and rotten utility posts. The whole process feels meaningful to me, from first finding an old post or choosing a new sweet chestnut pole from the woods, to stripping the bark, slicing, painting and rebuilding it into a sculptural marker. Whatever I make will eventually rot back down into the earth and this process of decay and constant change is also an important feature of this current work.
Weather permitting I will be working on my post sculptures in the garden so please come along and see what I'm up to and enjoy the welcoming garden and delicious refreshments. I will also be exhibiting paintings, batiks, prints and drawings and will have cards and work for sale.