Happy Solstice

Stilt Structure II, found, discarded, recycled materials, 2024

An unexpected mishap in my studio/outbuilding knocked me back last week. A blocked manhole backed up into my studio loo, flooding the floors with foul sewage water. I managed to sort it with help from a friend, but it has taken me a week to clean up and salvage most things of value. A bit traumatic!

The up side is that it gave me a chance to reduce excess crap (‘scuse pun), now cleaner than ever! Sometimes it takes a setback to appreciate what we have. Today, as I write this, it is winter solstice - marking a turning point where darkness reaches its peak and the light slowly begins to return. Here’s to lighter days!

Good news - I’m thrilled that Stilt Structure II has been shortlisted for The John Ruskin Prize!  Thanks to judges Julian Wild, Victoria Pomery, Neal Shasore, Mary Evans, and Nichola Johnson.

My Stilt Structures refer to fragile dwellings existing on the edges of safety, raised high on make-do scaffolding to avoid floods and other threats. Labour-intensive processes showing the hand of maker, and a truth to materials are key in this work. Fabric remnants, collected over time, have been slowly, lovingly hand-stitched into patchwork layers, built onto an intentionally precarious structure. I harvested local plants to dye fabric remnants. Bound, wrapped and hand-stitched, the bundles carry politics of textiles. Somali nomads carry their homes - elaborate bundles - on overladen camels (symbols of adaptability, endurance, trade routes). Growing up in Kenya, I have vivid memories of elderly African women walking many miles home bent over with heavy loads piled high on their backs. The work is about adaptability and resilience. Given my recent flood, it seems apt.

The John Ruskin Prize showcases talent in all media, encouraging interdisciplinary works responding to this year’s theme, Patience in Looking, Truth in Making. Out of almost 4,000 entries, 91 artworks by 82 creatives have been shortlisted. The exhibition runs from 29 January to 21 February ‘26 at Trinity Buoy Wharf, London E14 0JW. The exhibition will be open Wednesday-Sunday each week, 11-5pm weekdays, 10-5pm weekends, free entry.

Last chance to take advantage of my Christmas Discount offer - 10% off all physical products in my shop until midnight 31 December. Use code: CHR1STMA5SPIRIT. Final Christmas gift ideas: I offer bespoke workshops, gift cards, online sculpture courses, and more.

I’m so thankful to my friends, relatives, colleagues, galleries, collectors, curators, arts organisations, visitors, and supporters. The assistance and encouragement has been invaluable.

Wishing you a fabulous Christmas, happy holidays and a fulfilling creative year ahead!

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Cycles of Making: Serpent Stories, and Christmas Offerings

I’ve been slowly gathering ideas, materials, and energy for new work. My sketchbook is usually where things begin - outdoor sketches, collages, tiny thumbnails, fragments of research, notes from talks, quiet moments with art. Back in the studio (and kitchen table), these threads become hand-stitched pieces, dye experiments, and small exploratory forms.

After a flurry of exhibitions, I took some time out from making. I felt exhausted, a little deflated, and financially stretched. Art is an expensive occupation, and in those moments I question why and what it takes to sustain a practice. I’m compelled to create. Fulfilment comes through making, even when the process is difficult. As Freud said, “Frustration is where we start from. Our possibilities for satisfaction depend upon our capacity for frustration.” Time away from the studio is part of the cycle - a recalibration and renewal, like a snake sloughing off its skin.

Snakes have been on my mind lately. Catherine McCormack’s talk Eve and the Serpent: Snake Symbolism and Repressed Histories of the Feminine (via The Feminist Lecture Program), was revelatory, unravelling layers of serpent stories. I’m drawn to ancient serpent symbolism connected to ecofeminism and the evolving story of Medusa. The serpent, tied to the Earth and chthonic realm, has long embodied rebirth, transformation, healing, and the cyclical unity of life and death (ouroboros). It carries associations with bodily wisdom, fertility, and feminine power. As patriarchal religions took hold, these meanings were distorted: the heroic narrative became one of slaying the serpent - silencing feminine knowledge and severing ties to the land. Medusa’s shifting portrayals trace changing attitudes toward gender and power, while Eve’s story extends this pattern of suppression. In the 1970s, the serpent re-emerged as a feminist icon, a symbol of repressed matriarchal histories and systemic change.

Collaged design for Unravelling the Fury

Upcoming Courses

My next Online Sculpture Course runs 5 Jan - 8 Feb ‘26. £80. Spaces are filling up so book soon, if interested!

Alternatively, my Self-directed Sculpture Course (no zoom meetings, group interaction or 1-to-1) is half the price.

Drawing: Tuesdays 2-4pm, 5 weeks starts 13 Jan, Makers’ Yard, 37 Lower Keyford, Frome BA11 4AR. Further details & book here (Frome Community Education)

Creative Sketchbooking: Wednesdays 2-4pm, 5 weeks starts 25 Feb, Makers’ Yard, 37 Lower Keyford, Frome BA11 4AR. Further details & book here (Frome Community Education).

Images below of participants’ work from recent courses (pic 9 by Rebecca Utteridge showing currently at RWA) & workshop at Sherborne School for Girls.

Christmas Offer

During December, I am offering you a 10% discount on physical products for sale in my online shop, using code: CHR1STMA5SPIRIT

The offer applies until the end of this month. *Please order by 16 Dec (12 Dec for prints), for guaranteed delivery (UK) by Christmas.

Explore my shop. All sales support the continuation of my work.

Exhibitions

My work is on show at:

Bath Society of Artists Open Exhibition, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, Sat 18 October 2025 - 10 January 2026, 10.30am-5pm. There is Public Choice prize - do vote!

The Piano Shop Bath, 1&2 Canton Place BA1 6AA

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Have a wonderful Christmas!

Last week to visit...

Sack, Cass Art Prize, London

I’ve had an invigorating month installing large-scale works in glorious spaces with the help of an amazing team, and I’m so grateful for all the support. Time has flown by and soon it will be time to de-install 3 shows. This is the final week to visit the following:

Cass Art Prize Exhibition, Copeland Gallery, Peckham, London SE15 3SN runs to Saturday 1 November, Sun-Thur 12-5pm, Fri-Sat 12-7pm. It was an elaborate operation installing Sack - thanks to help from: Roger Spear, Julia Middleton, Georgia Grinter, Jack Robson and Cass Art team. I stayed in London for the Private View (best canapés I’ve had for a long time), and enjoyed visiting other shows (Frieze Sculpture; Giacometti/Hatoum, Barbican; Gomes, Pace; Goudal, Edel Assanti). If you’d like to cast a vote there’s a People’s Choice award - here’s the link.

Threads of Light, Wells Art Contemporary

Wells Art Contemporary, Wells Cathedral, Somerset., My site-specific installation Threads of Light is located in the sublime Chapter House. Daylight streams through the work from stained glass windows. In contrast, it looked wonderfully dramatic on the opening evening with lighting by Greg Trezise. There’s an excellent range of installations and other artwork throughout the Cathedral. Open until Saturday 1 November.

One Island - Many Visions ends on 31 Oct. Don’t miss this show of site-responsive works by 27 artists from Royal Society of Sculptors and Portland Sculpture & Quarry Trust.

Above: My talk at the Artists-in-Conversation event

Below: My Eco Sculpture Workshop

Riot. Photo by Barbara Beyer

You can find my piece Riot at Tout Quarry Sculpture Park & Nature Reserve, Portland, Dorset 📍what3words: ///deliver.press.tilts. Entrances: Memory Stones, Priory Corner DT5 2EN & Tradecroft, Wide Street DT5 2LN. Free parking, open daily.

My sculpture Stilt Structure II is in Bath Society of Artists Open Exhibition, Victoria Gallery, Bath until 10th January 2026, 10.30am-5pm..  I was honoured to be invited as guest selector for 3-d work.

Pleased one of my sculptures (made from repurposed piano parts) is now in the permanent collection at The Piano Shop, Bath. I have 2 more pieces for sale there - do visit.

I’ve just finished teaching a Drawing Course (pics below of participants’ work) and will be running a Creative Sketchbooking Course via Frome Community Education, starting 5 November, Wednesdays 2-4pm, Makers’ Yard, 37 Lower Keyford, Frome BA11 4AR. There are a couple of places left so book soon if interested.

Please visit my instagram for regular updates and images.

Threads of Light

This month I have exhibitions running simultaneously in Portland, Wells, Bath and London. I’ve been installing a new site-responsive piece Threads of Light in the exhilarating Chapter House at Wells Cathedral for Wells Art Contemporary. Really grateful to Roger Spear and the team at WAC for all help and support. Riot continues to change under various weather conditions, sited on the rocks at Tout Quarry Sculpture Park & Nature Reserve in Portland, as part of One Island - Many Visions. Next week I’ll be sitting on the selection panel for Bath Society of Artists Open Exhibition, Victoria Gallery, Bath. My piece Stilt Structure II features in the show. Next, I’ll be reconstructing parts of Sack ready for delivery to the Cass Art Prize Exhibition at Copeland Gallery, London. All very exciting!

Threads of Light: installation in progress. Found/recycled materials: sustainable papers, tea bags, textiles, wax, wood, metal, sandbags.. Photos by Maddie Keates

An ancient tree, ghostly limbs and a ruined landscape evoke loss; yet mycelial threads - networks of energy - offer regeneration. Threads of Light considers the entangled relationships between humans, forests, and climate change. We are all connected.

‘Flowing light’ is the WAC theme this year, symbolising enlightenment. it relates to 13th century mystic Mechthild of Magdeburg’s writings, which draw on her union with God, pain, love, divine flow. My work suggests fostering deeper union with natural world, throwing light on the plight of forests, and nature’s tenacity. The immersive oscillation of verticals, translucent branching forms, fluid networks evocative of mycelium, fungal ecologies and forest histories creates a dynamic, ethereal atmosphere. Line interweaves through labour-intensive processes of care and repair: interconnectedness, flow of energy weaving through nature, binding life. A ghost tree, surrounded by shattered tree stumps, references deforestation, wildfires, climate change, haunting war visions. Hope is an act of resistance in dark times.

The exhibition runs from Wednesday 8 October - Saturday 1 November. Private View Thursday 9 October, 7pm. Entrance fee to the Cathedral includes WAC. Under 18s, free as are Wells residents with a local pass.

Riot Performance, 14 September, with me and Melanie Thompson: Found, recycled & donated materials: beach waste (ghost netting, rope, hard hats, fishing floats), wire, textiles (some home-dyed with natural pigments), wool, twine, plastic, sponge, polyester, natural debris, sandbags. Photos by Andy Ralston

On a very rainy day last month I performed with Melanie Thompson wearing Riot (in 2 parts) at its site in the quarry, Portland (what3words: ///deliver.press.tilts). Thanks to the small audience who braved the elements to watch. There will be a film produced of the event by Andy Ralston, which I will publish when edited.

I’ll be leading a FREE Eco Sculpture Workshop Friday 10 October, 2-4.30pm, Drill Hall, Portland (funded by The Arts Society Wessex Area) - last chance to book: fionacampbell-art@sky.com

I’ll also be taking part in an Artists-in-Conversation, Sunday 19 October 2pm with Ros Burgin, Nicola Turner, Rebecca Newnham, Kate Parson, Hannah Sofaer, chaired by Freeny Yianni (Close Ltd). Meet at Drill Hall.

Other Exhibitions:

Bath Society of Artists Open Exhibition, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, Sat 18th October 2025 - 10th January 2026, 10.30am-5pm.

Shortlisted for the Cass Art Prize 2025, Sack will be on exhibiton at Copeland Gallery, Unit 9, Copeland Park, 133 Copeland Rd, London SE15 3SN, Friday 24 October – Saturday 1 November.

Courses:

Creative Sketchboooking (via Fome Community Education) - last chance to book

Interesting article:

https://theecologist.org/2025/sep/07/food-sovereignty-climate-justice

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Happenings

Riot, recycled materials inc. ocean litter. Tout Quarry Sculpture Park & Nature Reserve. Photo Barbara Beyer

My piece Riot is now installed on the rocks at Tout Quarry Sculpture Park & Nature Reserve, as part of One Island - Many Visions.. We had a lovely and very successful opening Private View last weekend. See full description of Riot here, including what3words location. (Entrances – Memory Stones, Priory Corner DT5 2EN and Tradecroft – Wide Street DT5 2LN. Free Parking Tout Quarry carpark & Heights Hotel.)

I’ll be activating Riot as an intervention, in collaboration with Melanie Thompson this Sunday 14 Sept, 2pm at its site. It will be more of a happening than performance. Do come if you can. We will be there no matter the weather! Bring a brolly ;-)

I’ll be leading an Eco Sculpture Workshop on Friday 10 October 2-4.30pm, Drill Hall, (Easton Lane, Portland DT5 1BW). Book: fionacampbell-art@sky.com. I’ll also be taking part in an Artists- in-Conversation, Sunday 19 October 2pm with Ros Burgin, Nicola Turner, Rebecca Newnham, Kate Parson, Hannah Sofaer, chaired by Freeny Yianni (Close Ltd). Save the date! For further info see @oneislandmanyvisions.

Riot. Photos above by Barbara Beyer

Me with Riot. Photo Seamus Moran

Me with Madi Acharya Baskerville. Photo Barbara Beyer

My installation Threads of LIght is still in the making.  It will be sited in The Chapter House, Wells Cathedral for Wells Art Contemporary. The exhibition will run from Wed 8 Oct - Sat 1 Nov. Private View 9 October, 7pm.

Sack (shortlisted for the Cass Art Prize 2025) will be on exhibiton at Copeland Gallery, Unit 9, Copeland Park, 133 Copeland Rd, London SE15 3SN, Fri 24 Oct – Sat 1 Nov.

Exciting weeks ahead! I hope you can visit some of these events.

Upcoming Courses via Frome Community Education - book soon as places are limited:

Drawing:  https://www.fromecommed.org.uk/courses/id/drawing

Creative Sketchboooking: https://www.fromecommed.org.uk/courses/id/creative-sketchbooking-afternoon1

A huge heartfelt thank you to those who’ve donated towards my shed and performance work: Caroline Driscoll, Hanne Castein, Angela Morley, Claire Alves, Julia Middleton, Victoria Grinter. Greetings Cards will be winging their way to you soon! My shed is being incredibly useful already to store my work for WAC (see pics above).

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