I am a self-taught Cornish Artist and Local History Museum Curator. Having grown up in West Penwith, I take inspiration from the unique culture and landscape of these rural, far-western reaches of the land; menhirs, moorland, working fishing villages, weathered granite, industrial heritage and Cornish folklore feature prominently in my work.
Historical significance and place are important to me; working full-time as a Museum Curator, I strive to provide access (to everyone) to the stories held within Cornish collections in creative and inclusive ways. This storytelling, as well as a specialism in collections management - the care of objects - is imbedded in my art practice (creating palm- or lap-sized things to be held, shared, interpreted, loved). In essence, I am playing with the museumification of my experiences.
Similarly important is the subject matter of my homeland’s ancient earth religion and its historic mining and engineering prowess which, though geographically remote, saw Cornwall achieve international renown in the 19th century. I believe that Cornwall is a small place with a big story to tell, one that I celebrate in my work.
My art practice explores these images and ideas and their relationship to the concept of home (for me, so deeply entrenched in the wilds of West Penwith) in the form of mixed-media paintings and collages, experimental drawings, and other small works on paper and board.
Walking is also very much a part of my practice: being alone in the landscape, walking daily over long-trodden stiles, on the coast or the Penwith Moors, with Rogers’ Tower my daymark. I am currently developing a series of ‘fragments’ written during these walks: poetic and diaristic writings documenting subtleties in nature.
Through playful experimentation with colour, my works are as much birthed from the feeling of a place (be that melancholy, nostalgia or hopefulness) as they are from observation. An ongoing series of miniature collage diptychs has presented the opportunity to reflect on how these feelings alter across time and show reverence to the changing seasons.
