ABOUT
I am an artist from Sunderland and I gained a BA Hons in Fine Art at
Sunderland University and an MA in Fine Art at Northumbria University.
I was an art lecturer for seventeen years at Kirby College in Middlesbrough, and have teaching experience at Cleveland College of Art and Design,now called The Northern School of Art ,and at Sunderland College.
MY WORK
The paintings are inspired by the landscape of
Northern England.
Recent work has been inspired by the landscape around Hadrian's Wall and Lindisfarne. They are based on observation of lowering multi-layered skies, dark clumps of woodland on hilltops, Iron Age, Roman and Anglo Saxon remains and traces. I like to capture the ever changing weather of the Northern counties, the leaden darkness of the sky followed by the bright light after a storm.
Interlacing knotwork from the Lindisfarne Gospels and Anglo Saxon stone carving are worked into the imagery to refer to the layers of history all around us. Particularly that in which the traces of ancient people are evident such as Iron Age Hillforts, Chalk Hill Figures, Roman Remains, medieval field systems and old trackways. The interlacing and knotwork refers to the flight of birds, the ebb and flow of the currents of water and the tides and the energy of life itself.
PREVIOUS EXHIBITONS
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
CONCERNS
Crescent Arts Workshop Scarborough
Bondgate Gallery, Alnwick
Long Gallery, Newcastle University
2017 Earth And Air - Arts Centre Washington
2017 Earth and Air The Forge Studios Allendale, Northumberland
2015 Earth and Air - Durham World Heritage Centre
2020 The Gallery in the Hills
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Luton Central Library
Blackburn Art Gallery
Vicarage Cottage Gallery, North Shields
Arts Centre Washington
2016 Words in a Frame - Haslams of Hexham.
- Lamplight Arts Centre, Stanley
​WALK, WRITE AND DRAW
My practice involves going out to places in the wild Northern landscape ,walking and drawing and writing as I go. I am particularly drawn to places where traces of the past are evident ;Neolithic sites, Iron Age Hill Forts, ancient trackways, Roman Sites,Anglo Saxon Churches.I take the drawings that I make back to my studio and then develop them into a series of works from small to large paintings , collages and books .
As I walk along I take observational notes of the changing things I see and hear and smell as I walk through the landscape .
PLACE NAMES
Local place names are of particular interest to me and are sometimes featured in my work. The geographical terms particular to the North, describe the lay of the land, it's usage, and its appearance.
Also of interest are local weather words such as fret, a word of Viking origin used to describe a mist along the coastline.
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Stead Fell Lough Moor Cleugh Cragg Rigg Green Howe Ridge Furrow Common Dene Heugh
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Fret Dreich Dour
HIRAETH
Although the paintings are based on the landscape of the North East of England, the Welsh term Hiraeth encapsulates the spirit of
the work.
The word Hiraeth is Welsh and originally refers to a longing for the Welsh homeland. It is place-specific yet it has a universality of empathy. As well as being longing for a specific geographical place it is using the landscape as a metaphor for the human condition of longing, yearning, transition, and flux. It can be concerned with a deep yearning for a time in one's own history, or the longing for a time or place based on an imaginary ideal rather than a reality.
ART STUDIO
A: Studio 4
Arts Centre Washington
Biddick Lane
Washington
NE38 8AB
Visit by appointment