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!

Gathering

January is supposed to be a time for reflection, but with many projects gathering and colliding, it was full-on for me!  I think it was my busiest January ever. On the last day of the month I celebrated and took a much-needed breather with friends at Dawlish Warren beach - while collecting all sorts of goodies for ongoing work ;-)

Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand

I’m developing my series of multi-forms for an exhibition later this year: Together We Rise, Chichester Cathedral with RSS members, curated by Jacquiline Creswell.  The work’s inspired by the plight of pangolins, slaughtered/shipped in their thousands, wildlife wet markets and animal extinctions. The working title is Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand, after a series of Renaissance paintings (mainly by Durer) of the same title.

Stitch by stitch, a growing collection is slowly gathering in my studio (images above). I’m using recycled materials that are layered, hand-stitched, wrapped, tie-dyed with plant-based inks, and waxed over woven structures.  It’ll take me a few months, but I’m enjoying the labour-intensive process, which relates to care and repair. I still need to make about 25 more, so it’ll be head down for a few more months!

RSS Talk

I really enjoyed sharing my work in an online talk I gave last week to RSS members. I was so grateful and moved by the responses and feedback, and feeling energised from the conversations. Thanks to Simon Hitchens for inviting me to share my work. Image 1 (below) by Rebecca Newnham - diagram about interconnection while listening to my talk. Image 2: collage done in Sculptors Drawing Space - thinking through ideas for my installation.

Snowdrop Festival

I’ve been commissioned to make 3 giant snowdrop sculptures for the Snowdrop Festival, Shepton Mallet, 19-20 February.  A lot of time is spent gathering materials. I’m using recycled copper piping and wire for the structures and grateful for contributions from Cranmore/Dean residents of plastic and tent fabric, which will be added as a ‘skin’ for the petals, stems and leaves. Do visit the festival if you’re nearby and look out for the sculptures at the entrance to Collett Park, opposite Whitstone School, Shepton Mallet during the Festival.  

As part of the Festival, I’ll be running a wire sculpture workshop at The Art Bank BA4 5AA on Thursday 24th Feb, 10.30am-1.30pm. Further info here.

Pyre

Pyre is currently on show in Transfiguration, International Biennal 2021, National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute, Taiwan, until 12th April ‘22.

I have an image in the solargraphic exhibition Slow Time, at Black Swan Arts. It shows a collection of long-exposure photographs of Somerset landscapes created with recycled drinks cans. I loved learnng about the process in a workshop with Janette Kerr and John Gammans, and looking forward to making more sun trail images with my newly created pin hole can/cameras.

Online sculpture Course

We’re coming up to the final week of a 5-week online course I’ve been running. I’m delighted with the experimental nature of work-in-progress by participants and their feedback so far.  Participants are from various parts of UK and USA, including MA students, art enthusiasts and one who is doing it for a second time.  Content (focused on 3d work using recycled/found materials) includes a weekly blog with content-rich info/demos, Zoom sessions, 1-to-1s, What’s app and instagram sharing: #onlinesculpturecourse2022. Looking forward to our final zoom presentations next week!

Private Tutoring

I’ve started tutoring privately, and enjoying it.  If you’re interested in being tutored in art let me know!

Featured in a Blog

Thanks to Ruth Connolly for her excellent blog which features a section about about my work and practice related to nature and environment, and work I made supporting the brilliant initiative #artforyourworld (via #artistsupportpledge). The donation to World Wildlife Fund from a sale was a small gesture towards helping important environmental projects.

Shop

I have signed giclee prints, original drawings and sculptures for sale - do have a look.

Coming soon:

Workshops and resources are being developed with SAW for Greening the Arts - more info soon.

Books

I’m currently reading Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangeld Life and loving it! ‘ As.. vexed hierarchies.. soften, our ruinous attitudes towards the more-than-human world may start to change… ’We’ are ecosystems that span boundaries and transgress categories…Mycelium is… the living seam by which much of our world is stitched into relation… Nature is an event that never stops’..

And I recently read All We Can Save as part of a book circle initiated by Kelly O’Brien. ‘My heart is moved by all I cannot save:

so much has been destroyed

..’ Adrienne Rich

I recommend them both!