Happy New Year!
Photo credits from top: Snakes and Ladders (I) - Barry Cawston; Hope of a Tree - David Bird; All The Colours, ArtFirst - Laura Hylton; Octopus - Steve Richardson; Loft Residency - Dan Hopkins; Glut - Paul Tucker, Courtesy of The Ingram Collection & Unit 1 Gallery; Pyre - me; Hope of a Tree - Linda Ashe; Me installing Snakes and Ladders (I) - Kathryn Sewell
A few highlights from 2021. It was a tough year, but with plenty of highs. I met and worked with some wonderful people, and grateful for all the support from friends, family, buyers, organisations and followers.
It was great to have a short film made about my practice, commissioned by Art UK in partnership with Culture Street and Royal Society of Sculptors. Aimed at secondary schools, it’s one of 10 films about sculptors’ techniques.
I was delighted to be awarded first prize for Round Lemon’s anniversary exhibition ONE. I gave an artist talk and interview as part of it.
Thanks to Chris Greenwood Red Line Art Works for inviting me to give a Zoom talk.
Touring Inch by IN:CH was hard work but fun along the way. Collaborating with 10 other artists, we showed in some amazing spaces over 4 months, got funding, found new ways to show art and involve the wider community. I worked with Shirley Sharp on performative window drawing and shadow drawing events, and led workshops. The research and development of work was as exciting as the final outcome. Thanks to all venues and funders including Somerset Skills and Learning, Somerset Art Works, The Arts Society and many other supporters.
It was wonderful to be selected for Wells Art Contemporary at Wells Cathedral. Snakes and Ladders (I) was suspended in the South Transept. Thanks to excellent curators Simon Periton and Robin Sewell.
I was thrilled to be a finalist for the Ingram Prize 2021. My selected piece Glut was shown in a beautifully curated exhibition at Unit 1 Gallery along with some brilliant artists. Thanks to Jo Baring, Stacie McCormick and Alison Price.
My short film Life in the Undergrowth was part of In Pursuit of Spring at Black Swan Arts.
I loved my Loft Residency, which gave me a chance to explore, develop, make new work and document pieces in an incredible space. My solo exhibition was open during Somerset Open Studios. Thanks to Heritage Courtyard Gallery and Studios for inviting me and for their support!
Thanks to Spaeda Arts and Eastover School, Bridgwater for the Octopus and Sea Life wall commission. It was lovely to work with primary school children in the making of it and see their reactions when it was installed.
I enjoyed chatting to Polly Hall about my work for her Procrastination Station podcast.
I’m grateful to Seed Sedgemoor for commissioning All The Colours for Art First. It was a big learning curve: I designed a lenticular (holographic/moving) image of a chameleon changing colours for Buses of Somerset, made up of the community’s images, some created in workshops I led.
I was really delighted that Pyre was selected for the International Biennial Exhibition Transfiguration: From Nature to Art in Taiwan, which is on exhibition at the National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute until 10th April 2022.
Thanks to Sculptors Drawing Space and Royal Society of Sculptors South West for ongoing zoom meetings led by Simon Hitchens.
I ran my second sculpture course last year, got to know some great artists through it, and am about to run my third (10 Jan - 13 Feb). I still have a few spaces so if interested, see this showreel for details.
Images: Martydom of the Ten Thousand (working title), for Chichester Cathedral
In the studio. Photo by Jack Robson
Sketch: ideas for installation
I have some exciting exhibitions lined up for this year including Together We Rise at Chichester Cathedral with Royal Society of Sculptors curated by Jacquline Cresswell, and Materiality with Kate McDonnell, Kelly O’Brien and Nicola Turner at Walcot Chapel. Fingers crossed it doesn’t get cancelled again.
I’m working on a large installation for Chichester, inspired by the plight of pangolins. Stitch by stitch, forms are emerging and a growing collection of bodily forms are gathering in my studio. I’m using recycled materials that are hand-sewn, wrapped, tie-dyed with home-made plant inks, and waxed over woven structures. It’s going to take me a few months, but I’m enjoying the labour-intensive process. Louise Bourgeois said ‘The act of sewing is a process of emotional repair’.
Here’s to a greener year in 2022 full of love, kindness and creativity!