Artist Statement
The objects I design and make look familiar and usable in some way – and yet are not.
They exist as amalgamations of everyday utilitarian objects with features that can
trigger multiple associations with something you have used or seen before. I’m
interested in the areas of slippage between the familiar and foreign, domestic and
industrial, the useful and useless and exploring the gaps between sculpture,
contemporary design and applied arts.
My reference points are usually photographs – taken of things I see on the street – litter,
recycling, abandoned furniture; or items in buildings connected to larger systems –
switches, handles, thermostats.
Alongside this, I research existing domestic or industrial objects, such as soap dishes or
shelving. All these references are then pulled together in a new prototype, hybrid objects,
often using casting as the technique to reproduce large quantities of each item. Their
material and manufacture suggests a contradictory notion of being both mass-produced
and individually crafted. Although they appear identical, small differences in thickness
or surface marks indicate each object as handcrafted, and not machine made – and this
is essential to the work.
By working with minimal means and using repurposed and recycled materials many
different meanings can exist within the work; a psychoanalytical reading alongside a
comment on commercialisation and the value of things. But fundamentally, it’s
about myself, being a maker, striving for perfection that is never satisfied.
Useless, beautiful objects of desire; neither functional nor purely ornament, they
encompass much about craft, about time, and the ambiguity of things. They take their
place in the world, relating to everyday life and the experiences of living today, in this
time and place.
Education
MA Fine Art, Bath school of art and design
BA (Hons) Sculpture, Winchester school of art
Exhibitions
2020
Wetlands unravelled, London Wetland Centre
2018
Side Street, Locker Gallery, Washington State University
2016
Wells Contemporary Open, Bishops Palace, Wells
WWOOMAFAABSU, Oxo Tower, London
It doesn’t stop here, Mshed, Bristol
The Gaps Between, Spike Island Testspace, Bristol
2015
do what you can: exercise x, Bute Park, Cardiff
BV Open Studios
2014
We Could Not Agree, Qpark underground carpark, Cavendish Sq, London
BV Open Studios
Extended shelf life, Gallery333, Exeter Phoenix
2013
Exeter Contemporary Open, Exeter Phoenix
MA AD, Group Show, Walcot Chapel, Bath
2012
This means something, The Parlourshowrooms, Bristol
Showcase in the City, SHAPE Pop Up gallery, 40 Gracechurch St, London
Mivart Raw* – Open Studios Weekend, Mivart St, Bristol
MA Show, Sion Hill, Bath School of Art & Design
2011
National Open Competition, Motorcade/Flashparade, Bristol
2010
Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary Exhibition, Shape, London
City of Bath College, Bath
“New Year, New Work” View Art Gallery, Bristol
2009
15 Christmas Steps Gallery, Group Show, Bristol
“Exhibition 3” View Art Gallery, Bristol
2008
“Art Presence” Centrespace, Bristol
156th Autumn Exhibition.RWA, Bristol
“There’s no room for individuality here” Tobacco Factory, Bristol
“Five” Awning Project, Bristol
2007
Windows204, Bristol
EAT Bristol
Bristol school of Art
Residencies
2009/10
AA2A scheme City of Bath College
Commissions
2016
Our hived mind, Bristol City council
2013
I didn’t see you there Hand in Glove public realm commission
Grants and Awards
Pollack-Krasner Foundation
Arts Council England Grant for the Arts
Small Arts Grant Exeter City Council
Oppenheim-John Downes Memorial Trust
Gane Trust
