Collaboration and Community

I’ve been juggling several projects recently, so progress on my own art practice has been slow. A commission, along with various home improvements and repairs, has taken up much of my time for the past month or so.

Squeezing in hours to develop a series of small-scale Stilt Structures. These fragile assemblages stand somewhere between creature and scaffold, speaking of vulnerability and repair.

Stilt Structure V

Studio shot

Stilt Structure IV, Collaged recycled paper and plant debris

UPCOMING PROJECTS & EXHIBITIONS

Collaboration and community have been key lately. It’s been a pleasure to work on a commissioned project Communities in the Landscape for Winscombe Festival, 12 July. I am co-creating a largescale sculptural installation with Tomasin Cuthbert (Soap Soup Arts) alongside students at Banwell & Sandford primary schools, and Churchill Academy (where I taught Tomasin 30 years ago!). Tomasin has worked incredibly hard organising the Festival, which brings community together, and my part is funded by Somerset Community Foundation. Do please support the Festival Crowdfunder: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/winscombe-festival-2026

Tomasin working on our collaborative installation

Installation in progress

Delighted that Clad (below) has been selected for Black Swan Arts Open, 8 Aug - 27 Sept.

Clad, 41 x 31 x 36 cm, recycled materials: fabric, sponge, polyester stuffing, wool, thread, wire, steel, 2026

Following our collaborative travelling project 'Inch by IN:CH’ that took art to the people in community spaces across South West UK in 2021, our IN:CH collective is curating a show 'Where are we now?’ in 44AD, Bath touring to No 6 Bruton for Somerset Art Weeks Festival.

44AD, 4 Abbey St. Bath, BA1 1NN, 25–30 Aug, 11am–5pm daily (closing 4pm Sun 30/08). PV: 24 Aug, 5–8pm. Events: Artists in Conversation: Wed 26 Aug, 6pm 44AD,. Free, no booking needed. Workshop: Sketch & Sculpt, Sun 30 Aug, 11am–1pm. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Led by Fiona Campbell and Shirley Sharp. Book Eventbrite £12pp.

No 6 Bruton, High Street, Bruton, Somerset BA10 0AA, 25 Sept-4 Oct (open Fri, Sat, Sun).

I’ll be exhibiting in FAULT: studies in survival, The Old Waiting Room: Peckham Rye Station, London. 3–6 Sept. The exhibition considers forms of endurance.

Excited to be collaborating with Ushara Dilrukshan & Anousha Payne in an installation & performance at The Chapel, Brompton Cemetery, London SW10 9UQ for London design week. We will be premiering Guila Tofana with open studio rehearsals from 14th and performances on 20 Sept (times tbc). Giulia Tofana was a woman famed for unleashing poison on unsuspecting husbands of 17thC Palermo and Rome. This released women trapped in abusive or unhappy marriages who lacked any legal means to divorce.

Beyond Horizons, Stoberry Park Gardens, Wells, Somerset BA5 3LD, 5 Sept-4 Oct (closed Mon), part of Somerset Art Weeks Festival. I’ll be leading a textiles workshop on Sunday 4th Oct. Get in touch if interested.

The Gleaning (origin 2021) is touring to St Cuthbert’s Centre, Prior Lane, Holy Island TD15 2RX, 27-29 Sept, 10-4 (Mon-Fri), 10-1 (Tues). Free Exhibition & events: Sun 27 - all day drop in Workshop creating textile pieces; Mon 28 - 10-12 Artists’ Tour & Talk, Tues 29 - 10-1 Workshop: Sketch, Scribe, Stitch, £15pp inc tea & cake. Book: https://shorturl.at/zssj0

Enjoyed being on the selection panel of judges for Ilminster Arts Centre Open, runs until 31 July.

I’ll be curating the Summer Youth Open Exhibition, Trowbridge Town Hall Gallery 8-19 yr olds. Last chance to get your young people to enter (free!) - deadline for submissions 5 July: https://www.tothtrowbridge.com/events/youth-open-exhibition-call-for-entries/

I’m mentoring some of SAW’s Micro Commissioned artists, and learning as I go.

My Autumn term Courses via Frome Community Education will be available to book from Monday 13th July.

Featured in Somerset Life Magazine - June issue!

Enjoy the summer and hope to see you at some of these events!

Picking up Past Threads

Stilt Structure IV, Found, discarded, recycled materials: wood, jute, fabric (some naturally dyed), leather, polyester stuffing, feathers, sponge, copper wire, sisal, thread; 174 x 76 x 78cms; 2026

This year is turning into a period of picking up past threads, nurturing what already exists, and developing new work. I’m returning to projects that were set aside for a while, rebuilding connections, and engaging with the wider community.

Upcoming:

‘Communities in the Landscape' is a community arts project which will be part of The Winscombe Festival of Arts and Nature (12th July). Tomasin Cuthbert (Soap Soup Theatre Director) - who I used to teach at Churchill School - invited me to collaborate with her to create a large-scale sculptural installation. We’re working with schoolchildren to create multiple elements for the piece, inspired by shapes in our local landscape, insect/animal forms, and temporary human structures like washing lines, tents and dens.

So far, with Reception and Year 1 children (Sandford Primary School), we’ve been using eco botanical inks to make tie dye patches, weaving beads/buttons/bottle tops into wire ‘danglies’, and painting inspired by animal tracks and water movement - all to be hand-stitched together. We’ll also be working with Churchill Academy and Banwell Primary to create small sculptural pieces, embroider surfaces and more... I’ve been enjoying all the prep!

The final structure - an ambiguous hybrid form alluding to creature, playhouse, and vista - will imply precarity, adaptability and resilience, treading the earth - sometimes lightly, sometimes leaving scars. Galvanised by the notion that humans are not centre stage, and that our existence has always been a shared one with our non-human neighbours, we’re exploring our shared vulnerabilities, and ways to heal collectively. In our contemporary world, in which technology is changing at a rapid pace and affecting us as beings, it’s more important than ever to consider our natural connections.

The Gleaning on Tour to Holy Island

In 2022, I co-curated a community art project The Gleaning with Gill Sakakini. We worked closely with Polly Hall, and were supported by Rosalind Teasdale-Ives, Bella Frey and others.

Our project was about bringing people together, community, sanctuary, care & repair, sustainability, diversity - referencing global traditions, especially the handmade.  We reused material remnants including botanically dyed fabric, handmade paper, and found objects, which were imprinted, embedded, and stitched into patchwork and appliqué.  We created 11 large-scale translucent installations suspended in front of 5m windows in Shepton Mallet church - replicating stained glass.  We engaged numerous people of different ages, backgrounds, abilities, genders, nationalities. For inspiration we looked at a range of art from countries around the world, including Korean bojagi textiles works, Gee’s Bend textiles, African textiles, Polish and Romanian folkart.

We’re taking this project to Holy Island for a week in September, and getting excited about the trip connecting north and south!  The Gleaning opens 27-29th September, St Cuthberts Church, Holy Island, Sun/Mon 10-4, Tuesday 10-1pm.  On Monday 10am-12noon we’ll give a Tour & Talk; and on Tuesday 10am-1pm were offering a free Sketch, Scribe, Stitch Workshop.

Where Are We Now?

Five years on from our travelling exhibition Inch by IN:CH, artists from the collective are coming together to present new perspectives. Our exhibition will open at 44AD, Bath 24 Aug - 30 Aug, 11-5. PV Mon 24 Aug, 5-8pm; Wed 26 Aug, 6pm, In-Conversation; Sun 11-1 children’s workshop Sketch & Sculpt, £10 with Shirley & Fiona. Touring to No.6 Bruton, as part of Somerset Art Weeks Festival, open 25 Sept - 4 Oct, Fri-Sun, 10-4.

Beyond Horizons

Delighted Flags of the Forest has been selected for Beyond Horizons, a new annual major sculpture event to be held at Stoberry Park Garden, Wells, Somerset (5 Sept - 4 Oct), timed to coincide with Somerset Art Weeks. Flags of the Forest is a large-scale sculptural installation with textiles elements activated by the weather. I’m looking forward to placing it later this year in the magnificent grounds. Thanks to the panel of judges: Theresa Bergne, Nicola Knight, Fred McDonald, Martin Staniforth, Freeny Yianni, and Frances & Tim Meeres Young.

Flags of the Forest, installed at Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, 2023

Behind the scenes, I’m assisting Beyond Horizons, mainly managing the Instagram account.

Also supporting Micro Commission and Creative Pathways artists for Somerset Art Works.

Plus, developing new Stilt Structures, a series originating in 2024, some for outdoors.

Hand drawn design for outdoor Stilt Structure

My storage shed is nearing completion - it’s been a long drawn out project! Also spending time doing up my living/work spaces, appreciating what I have. 

XL Exhibition, Black Swan Arts, Frome. Last day today! Closing Hour 3-4pm - all welcome. Pleased to have donated a painting ‘Garlic’ to this fundraising exhibition, celebrating 40 years of Frome’s first arts centre. Do pop along for the final hour if near Frome!

Enjoy the summer months and hope to catch you at some point!