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!