I use art to help enable people to take an active part in their community. Walking and mapping are my main methods of exploring how people interact with places, revealing hidden narratives and drawing attention to the more-than-human realm. I produce work in painting, drawing, photography, printmaking, books, and digital media, and I often work closely with the landscape by using foraged or found materials. I seek out collaborations with other artists, practitioners in other disciplines and local communities for co-creating and sharing work and to inform my own research. My artist practice is informed by over 35 years’ experience in international, multi-disciplinary environmental consulting.

My work has been exhibited in the UK and internationally in Australia, USA, China and France. I am experienced in delivering arts engagement projects with schools, community groups and in public walks and workshops independently and as one of Meadow Arts’ network of creative practitioners. I am a member of Walkspace, a collective of artists and writers in the West Midlands investigating walking in all its forms.  I aim to be inclusive and a catalyst for change, comfortable working in multi-disciplinary teams, and communicating with a diverse range of audiences/participants.

See my projects page and community and learning page for further details.

Some of the organisations I have worked with:

Age UK Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin | Arts Territory Exchange | Creative Black Country | DASH | Flood Plain Meadows Partnership | Historic England | Hive Shrewsbury | Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust | Mary Webb School and Science College | Meadow Arts | Natural England | Participate Contemporary Artspace | Shropshire Council | Shropshire Wildlife Trust | Telford and Wrekin Council | Telford Primary Schools | Tewkesbury Nature Reserve | Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum | Wrekin Housing Trust | Wychavon District Council

Solo Exhibitions:

Jan-Feb 23         Inhabited, King’s School, Worcester

Sep 2022         Wetlands, Gateway Gallery, Shrewsbury

May-Jun 22         Mosses and Marshes, Outback Arts Gallery, Coonamble, NSW, collaborative exhibition with Kim V. Goldsmith

Apr-May 22         Mosses and Marshes, M16 Artspace, Canberra, AUS, collaborative exhibition with Kim V. Goldsmith

Oct 21 Mosses and Marshes, Qube Oswestry, collaborative exhibition with Kim V. Goldsmith

June 2017        Shrewsbury Open Studios

Apr-May 17                 In Parallel and Entwined, The Hive, Shrewsbury, including Space Explorers! walking event

Jan 2017          In Good Hands Café, Shrewsbury

Mar 2016         In Parallel, Participate Contemporary Artspace, Shrewsbury

Feb 2014         Land in Hand, joint commission with Mairi Turner to document the development of Coton Hill allotments, published book and exhibition at Visual Art Network Market Hall Gallery, Shrewsbury

July 2011         Shrewsbury Open Studios

July 2010         Shrewsbury Open Studios

Jan 2010          Imperfectly Natural, Gallery3, Gateway Arts Centre, Shrewsbury

Feb 2007         C45P3R.com, No.35 Penson Chambers, Oswestry

Nov 2006         Phantom Cities, Bear Steps Gallery, Shrewsbury; joint exhibition with Colin Blundell

July 2006          This is Art Festival, Shrewsbury

Nov 2005         C45P3R.com, Frank café bar, Shrewsbury

July 2005          This is Art Festival, Shrewsbury

June 2005        Stone Works, Shrewsbury Music Hall Photographic Gallery

Group Exhibitions:

Jan-Feb 2023         A Charm of Goldfinches, Gateway Gallery, Shrewsbury, co-curated with Bryan Eccleshall

May-Sep 22         West Midlands Open, New Art Gallery Walsall

Mar-Apr 22         Beauty and Utility Showcase, Pershore Library; curated by Meadow Arts for the Flood Plain Meadows project at Avon Meadows with Open University and Wychavon DC

Feb 22         Akin, Unitarian Church, Shrewsbury; exhibition curated by Participate Contemporary Artspace CIC as part of the Darwin Festival

Dec-Feb 22         peat-surface-sky/Mosses and Marshes, Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury

Oct 21-Mar 22         Cinderloo Remembered, Coalbrookdale Gallery, Ironbridge Gorge Museums; co-curated and exhibited work from the Cinderloo 1821 project

Sep-Oct 21         peat-surface-sky; Wem Town Hall, an exhibition of artwork by Wem Youth Club, myself, Kim V. Goldsmith, Sue Challis and Kate Johnston

May 21-ongoing         Un-Boxing, Arts Territory Exchange touring exhibition, organised Gudrun Filipska, Caroline Kelley, Lenka Clayton and Carly Butler starting in Cambridgeshire (England) with aTE founder, Gudrun Filipska. Other venues for Un-Boxing will include Anglesey (Wales), Suffolk (England), Versailles (France), Saint Croix de Mareuil (France), and Copenhagen (Denmark). The second stage of Un-Boxing will take a more experimental form, developing its own network of hosts around a series of anchor locations including The Maryland Institute College of Art, Pittsburgh (USA), Pensylvania (USA), Pender Island (Canada), and Vancouver Island (Canada). 

Aug 20         Light! online exhibition hosted by Participate Contemporary Artspace CIC

May-Jun 20         F50 online arts festival

Dec 19-Mar 20         A Stitch in Time, Fourth Today’s Documents (my collaborative work with artist Gareth Jones featured with other Arts Territory Exchange artists), Today Art Museum, Beijing

Oct-Nov 19    Scaffolds of Nature, Participate Contemporary Artspace, Shrewsbury

Oct-Nov 19    VAN at 20, Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury

Oct 2019        Encounters, VAN Gallery, Shrewsbury

Sept 2019  Put this in your window and think of me (my collaborative work with artist Kim Goldsmith featured with other Arts Territory Exchange artists, curated by Art Language Location), Cambridge Artworks Artspace

Oct 18-Feb 20    Selected VAN members exhibitions, University Centre Shrewsbury

Aug 2018        Lawn and Meadow, Participate Contemporary Artspace, Shrewsbury

June 2018       Brownfield Research Centre, AirSpace Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent

Mar 2018        Encounters, VAN Street Gallery, Shrewsbury

Nov 2017        Shropshire Open 2017, Gateway Gallery3, Shrewsbury

Aug 2017        Eden, Participate Contemporary Artspace, Shrewsbury

June 2017       Collage Now, VAN Street Gallery, Shrewsbury (co-curated with Peter Williams)

Oct 2016         Qube Open, Oswestry

Sep 2016          Loitering with Intent, People’s History Museum, Manchester, featured a special edition of Stepz magazine “Between the Rollerama and the Junk Yard” including my article “A View on the Street”.

Sep 2015         Voyage of Enterprise, curator, Market Hall, Shrewsbury

Sep 2015         “Quotidian” part of A Voyage of Enterprise exhibition celebrating 50 years of the Market Hall, Shrewsbury

Sep 2012         Much Wenlock Open, The Edge Arts Centre, Much Wenlock

Jun 2011          Visual Art Network Market Hall Gallery, Shrewsbury

Nov 2010         Much Wenlock Open, The Edge Arts Centre, Much Wenlock

Apr 2010          Worcester Open, Pitt Gallery

Dec 2008         Postcards – an exhibition of affordable art, Gallery 3, Gateway Arts Centre, Shrewsbury

Aug 2008         The Shropshire Open Exhibition, Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery

May 2008        The Telford & Wrekin Open, Oakengates Theatre

Feb 2008         Cloud Space and Art Walk, with Cloud Gallery Artists Collective, Shrewsbury Music Hall, part of Greenhouse Shropshire exhibition

Jan 2007          Abandoned Chairs, Group Exhibition, Norwich Arts Centre

Aug 2004         Dedicated to Art, Eighth Art Exhibition, Sutton Bridge, Lincolnshire

Public Events

I am experienced in leading public workshops and events, often using walking and collage as inspiration for creating art works. I have also delivered artist talks and organised public events alongside curated exhibitions. A selection of events:

• Presented a paper “Mosses and Marshes: Values.Voices.Action” as part of the AALERT 4DM Creative Sessions workshop at RSA House (2022)
• “The Great Paper Caper”: led a papermaking event for Shropshire Loves Nature festival (2022)
• “Earth Parade”: co-led a celebratory procession with flags made by local community and with musical accompaniment with Walkspace artists Andy Howlett and Bethany Kay Hopkins at Bumble Hole Nature Reserve. Part of Dudley Creates’ Summer of Creativity (2022).
• International discussion event online for Mosses and Marshes project, organised with Kim V. Goldsmith with facilitator, 6 panellists from UK and Australia and 6 video provocateurs (2021)
• Guided walk at Whixall Moss with artists Elizabeth Turner and Keith Ashford (2021)
• “Future of Wetlands” webinar with Robert Duff, Natural England for the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (2021)
• walking event “Act of Resistance” at the Fourth World Congress of Psychogeography (4WCOP) in Dewsbury, staged in association with Creative Scene (2019),
• participated remotely in a festival at Skeidarahlaup in Iceland, co-ordinated with Arts Territory Exchange, by livestreaming a walk from Charles Darwin’s birthplace to his childhood garden next to the River Severn in Shrewsbury (2019),
• co-curated an exhibition “Collage Now“, featuring 11 contemporary collagists at the VAN Street Gallery in Shrewsbury (2017),
• curated the “A Voyage of Enterprise” exhibition to celebrate the 50^th Anniversary of the Market Hall, Shrewsbury on behalf of Shropshire Council.  The exhibition featured art (including commissioned work), architecture, history and narratives of people associated with the market past and present (2015),
• worked with a group of five other artists on environmental art projects for around three years promoting the development of a visual art gallery (The Cloud Gallery) using eco-design and sustainable construction.  The Cloud Gallery artist collective led a number of local authority supported events and activities, including an eco-architecture weekend event (2007) and Cloud Space featured in the Greenhouse Shropshire exhibition (2008).

Qualifications

BA (Hons) Creative Art, Open College of Art accredited by University for the Creative Arts

MA Engineering Science, University of Oxford

Diploma in Water & Environmental Management, De Montfort University

Chartered Engineer

Member,  Institution of Civil Engineers

Member, Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management