artist statement
My practice as an artist is rooted in a sense of our evolving relationships within the animate earth. Art, as a reflective interdisciplinary process, is the means through which I investigate and share these relationships. It is one means through which we may enrich our life experience. It is an intimate response to the social and ecological conditions of our age. My work is shared through painting, workshops, installations and presentations.
education
2010 – 2012 MA Art & Environment, University College Falmouth (SANDRA BLOW AWARD for outstanding achievement)
1986 – 1989 BA (HONS) Graphic Design & Illustration, Bristol Polytechnic
1985 – 1986 Foundation Course, Portsmouth CADFE
practice
events
painting a parish future, ESRC Festival of Social Sciences, Exeter University, UK 2018-19
Lead Artist, Newport Community School Arts Week, Barnstaple, Devon, 2015
Project Development, SOIL CULTURE 2013-16, CCANW and RANE, South West England, 2011-16
Lead Researcher, The Story of Bideford Black – The Burton Art Gallery & Museum, Bideford, North Devon, 2013
Project coordinator, the value of trees – a participatory event organised for North Devon Biosphere Reserve in association with RANE, University College Falmouth and Beaford Arts, to engage the public with issues surrounding our relationship to trees, Barnstaple Town Square, 2011
residencies
CREATIVE EXCHANGE (painting a parish future), Environmental Sustainability Institute, Exeter University, collaboration with Senior Politics Lecturer Dr Joanie Willett, 2019-20
kescows an bys / the earth talks, Porthmeor Studio 5, St Ives, Cornwall, UK 2019
GNAP France (Global Nomadic Art Project), Art Underground, YATOO International, Saumur, Loire, France 2017
eARTh North Devon, Studio and Events, Collaboration with Francesca Owen, Ilfracombe, North Devon 2014-17
BESPOKE – collaboration with Freddie Opoku-Addaie (Royal Opera House) and Dance In Devon, 2012
A BUNDLE OF STICKS @ COURAGE COPSE CREATIVES for ART TREK, 2012
Selected for Shortcourse UK/Cornwall (Cape Farewell) expedition, 2011
QUADRAT site-specific dance art installation and workshop exploring the parallels and potential creative outputs of ecology fieldwork techniques – with Katy Lee (dancer) and Dr Mark Ward (Field Studies Council), Appledore Visual Arts Festival, 2010
workshops
Last Chance to Paint, Eden Project, Cornwall, UK 2019
Playing with Dirt, Sandy Brown Museum, Appledore, North Devon, UK 2019
Hand to Earth, Schumacher College, Dartington Hall, South Devon, UK 2019
painting a parish future, ESRC Festival of Social Sciences, Exeter University, UK 2018-19
Whitegold Festival, St Austell, Cornwall, UK 2018
GNAP UK, Dartington Hall, South Devon, UK 2018
painting together, White Moose Gallery, Barnstaple, North Devon, 2015
Tales of the Riverbank, BLACK & WHITE, Bideford, North Devon, 2015
Soil Culture – Dartington Gallery and Peninsula Arts, Plymouth, 2015
For the Love of Art, eARTh, Ilfracombe, 2015
Painting with Earth, Sandy Brown Museum, Appledore, North Devon, 2014
One Day in North Devon, MA Art & Environment Field Trip, Skern Lodge Activity Centre, North Devon, 2014
Art in Outdoor Education for NAFSO Annual Conference, Skern Lodge Activity Centre, North Devon, 2014
Soil Culture/Painting with Earth, National Soil Symposium, @ Bristol, 2013
Innovations in Marine Education, Field Studies Council and British Ecological Society, Dale Fort, Pembroke, 2013
A BUNDLE OF STICKS @ The Home & The World Summit, Dartington Hall, 2012
PEBBLE RIDGE a mini-expedition to explore the evolution of a living landmark, Appledore Arts Festival, 2012
Environmental Art Workshops as part of Beaford Arts Education Programme, 2008-13
Painting with the Earth (Earth Pigments in North Devon) with Appledore Arts, The Museum of Barnstaple & North Devon, Local Schools in England and Ireland, North Devon AONB and Exmoor NP, 2008-13
Green Ambassadors Scheme A series of art and environment workshops and mural projects with youth groups in North Devon to explore and represent aspects of the local ecology, developed in collaboration with the Field Studies Council. The project was funded by North Devon AONB, Exmoor NP and the National Lottery, 2008-10
exhibitions
Environments (group show), Tate St Ives, Cornwall, UK 2019
The Garden Room Gallery, Dartington Hall, South Devon with Jenny Mellings and Emma Hambly, 2018
Royal West Academy Annual Open, RWA Bristol, 2017
Greenhill Arts Open, Moretonhampstead, Dartmoor 2017
Deep Roots, Soil Culture, Falmouth Art Gallery and Penninsula Arts Gallery, Plymouth 2015-16
Breathing Art, Geumgang Nature Art Pre-biennale, South Korea, 2015
Soil Culture @ create, Bristol, 2015
painting together, White Moose Gallery, Barnstaple, North Devon, 2015
Soil Culture – Peninsula Arts, Plymouth, 2015
DIRT DIALOGUES – Integrated Art and Film Program at the 20WCSS, Jeju, Korea, 2014
bir! bir! The Art Yard, Macclesfield, 2014
pots, fish and ships, The Burton Art Gallery, Bideford, North Devon, 2014
The Walking Encyclopedia, AirSpace Gallery, Stoke on Trent, 2014
Soil Culture – a taster, The Innovation Centre, Exeter University, Devon, 2013
BIDEFORD BLACK 5 artists, White Moose Gallery, Barnstaple, North Devon, 2013
Short films shown at CAZ SQUARE EYES events, Cornwall and Istanbul 2012-13
In the Dark Times (Group Show) CMR Gallery, Redruth, Cornwall, 2012
New Visions: Contemporary Painting in an Uncertain World (Group Show), CMR Gallery, Redruth, Cornwall, 2012
HEVVA! HEVVA! Group show at the Eden Project as part of Shortcourse UK (Cape Farewell) expedition, 2012
in the midst of wonders, MA Art & Environment Group Show, The Poly, Falmouth, 2011
Painting with the Earth, solo exhibition, Appledore Visual Arts Festival, North Devon, 2009
3 paintings selected for Royal West Academy autumn exhibition, 2009
expressions of an intimate ecology, solo exhibition, The Burton Art Gallery, Bideford, North Devon, 2008
presentations
GNAP UK, Dartington Hall, South Devon, UK 2018
Escape to the Country, (5 minute TV article about Bideford Black), BBC 2015
The Home & The World Symposium, Dartington Hall 2012
The Devonshire Association, Exeter 2013
Falmouth University, MA lectures 2012-13
Ussher Society (Geoscience Southwest) AGM, Bideford 2011
Various talks and presentations to local groups in North Devon 2008-17
publications
Field to Palette, Dialogues on Soil and Art in the Anthropocene, edited by Toland – Noller – Wessolek, CRC Press 2019
Saunton – A Coastal Curation, Brend Hotels, 2018
Soil Culture – Bringing the Arts Down to Earth, CCANW, 2016
BBC Radio Devon interviews about Soil Culture and Painting with Earth 2008 & 2016
The Home & the World – A BUNDLE OF STICKS dissertation (online) 2013
BIDEFORD BLACK 5 artists, White Moose Publications, 2013
RANE Yearbook 2011 & 2012
Earth Pigments in North Devon – A Teachers Guide (online resource) 2010
articles: Devon Life 2014, NAFSO Journal 2014, ROCKWATCH (Geology Today Magazine) 2011,
Resurgence (and the Ecologist) Magazine 2009 and 2015
other information
enhanced CRB check (2019). public liability insurance . full driving license . PTTLS award in teaching