Artist Profile
Environmental artist
I am an art activist; a maker of gentle protest works.
I began my art practice in 2016 when I was invited to take part in ‘Sense of Place’, a project led by Joy Merron and Donna Vale. It took place on Brean Down, in a derelict coastal fort built onto a headland jutting out 1.5 miles into the Bristol Chanel.
For this, I created two installations: EROSION and EVOLUTION.
With Evolution, I wanted to raise awareness of our use of natural and man-made fabrics, their impact on the environment through washing and waste. Each component was made using a variety of donated natural fibres and fabrics following a social media call-out. They were then attached to the structure of a ruined look-out post on Brean Down and left to be weathered and worn.
This is something I regularly come back to in my work – waste, erosion, weathering – what we leave behind.
I am the Lead Artist and Curator of the ongoing collaborative creative project called ‘FIFTY BEES: The Interconnectedness of All Things’.
The project was conceived in 2017 to concentrate attention on the status of the British bee population and how endangered it is.
Each year, I create fifty small individual bee art pieces. I then invite another fifty artists, makers, writers, musicians to produce one new companion work in response to the ecology of one of those bees.
The FIFTY BEES presentation creates a unique narrative between bees, artworks and artists.
It makes explicit how pollinators are completely interlinked with our ecosystem.
To date, there have been 200 bees, 200 companion works and 4 exhibitions, the latest held in the Long Gallery at Black Swan in 2020.
My next exhibition, 'Towards the Tipping Point: Global Swarming’, in collaboration with Rebecca Bruton, takes place at ACEarts in Somerton from 31 October – 24 December
I am working on a new body of work for this called ‘Motheaten Hierarchies’ which will examine how we place value judgements on both humans and wildlife.
Meet the artists Saturday 31 October 11 am
Workshops, masterclasses and associated events.
Please see ACEarts website for details.