Background

I am a visual artist, with experience in project management and team work with a wide range of different organisations and disciplines.

My work has featured in solo and group exhibitions, and I have carried out private commissions.  I am also studying painting and photography part time for a BA(Hons) degree in Creative Arts with the Open College of Arts.

Since 2006, I have collaborated with a group of five other artists on environmental art projects, with the ultimate aim of developing of a visual art gallery (The Cloud Gallery) using eco-design and sustainable construction. 

The Cloud Gallery artist collective gained local authority support to a number of events and activities.  These included a successful eco-architecture weekend event (September 2007) with construction of simple sculptural spiral using straw bale techniques and Cloud Space, a sculptural installation, and associated Art Walk featured in the Greenhouse Shropshire exhibition in February 2008. 

The collective also participated in Shift Time, a diverse arts and science event organised by Shropshire Council in The Quarry, Shrewsbury, as part of the Darwin bicentenary festival.

I have also carried out graphic design of brochures and other publicity material and I designed and manage the Cloud Gallery website.

As a long term member of the Visual Art Network (VAN) management committee, I have helped facilitate and implement a number of arts projects. 

I was a key member of the Galleries Live project in which a former restaurant was converted into a contemporary art gallery and retail venue for artwork and crafts.  The Gallery has since moved to a more permanent location based in the Shrewsbury Market Hall. This venture has inspired other creative businesses to start up in adjacent units, and there is now a thriving community which is well worth a visit.

I am a chartered civil engineer, and employed part time as a project director in a large consultancy in environment and sustainability.

	My studio is based in an extension to my home in Shrewsbury. Appointments may be arranged to visit and view work.

Statement

I select textures, colours and abstract form from the natural and built environment to reinterpret natural and architectural surfaces, waveforms and other natural phenomena.

Recent work for the Imperfectly Natural exhibition explored rhythm, transition and connections. These are themes to which I regularly return. Like many natural events, governed by science and mathematics, random or chaotic interventions introduce “imperfections” and new directions.  I am interested in how transitions occur both imperceptibly and more dramatically.

The environment is multilayered, where often the fascinating detail at the microscopic level builds up to create an entirely different image at a macroscopic level.  I seek to employ this duality and layering in my paintings. 

Although there is a strong geometric element to my work, I strive for an organic feel.   The geometry and rhythms in architectural facades are an influence, but my works offer a more organic and irregular architectural vision to that seen in most city buildings.

I use a range of different media, including acrylics, oils, watercolour, pastels and mixed media incorporating card, plaster, wood, plastic and other found materials.  Recent works have incorporated solar powered LEDs. Increasingly, my work as a photographer informs how I approach my painting, and vice versa. Photography may be incorporated directly into paintings and constructed reliefs. 

Artistic influences are many and varied. Some are evident in my work, and others are less visible. Some of the key influences and inspirations include Chuck Close, Gerhard Richter, Bridget Riley, Victor Vasarely, Malcolm Hughes, Jean Spencer, Arthur Giardelli, Alberto Burri, Thérèse Oulton, Andy Goldsworthy, Naum Gabo, Edward Hopper, David Hockney, Helen Levitt, Roy Arden, Paul Graham, Keith Arnatt, William Eggleston, Henri Matisse, Paul Klee, Mark Rothko, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Antonio Gaudi, David Lynch, Derek Jarman, Jim Jarmusch, Quay Brothers, Mark E Smith and Brian Eno.

Past Exhibitions and Events