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