About the Artist

About the Artist

I work in a wide variety of ways from carefully planning a project to no planning at all. The unplanned pieces are integral to my work. They allow me to explore ideas and techniques without worrying about the result. Because they sometimes don’t work initially, they push me that much harder to make them work. They send me off on a tangent or a new idea that I can incorporate into a more planned piece. The problem solving issues that arise are also invaluable to learning.

The importance of playing and experimenting is extremely important to the process within which I work. My aim is to create work that has technical excellence, a sense of energy, that maintains spontaneity
and which is above all, original.

I love the unexpectedness of using “the decorative arts” to produce strong surprising works which evoke a powerful response in the viewer from a strong attraction to the artwork through to an absolute rejection or sense of unease because they don’t know what to make of it.

Instead of being faithful to a particular medium, I utilise a wide variety of materials and techniques to create everything from wall pieces and clothing to masks and sculptures. Materials used include fabrics, threads and yarns, natural fibres, found objects, papers, barks and paints. Techniques include machine & hand embroidery, appliqué, basketry, papier-mâché, felting, dyeing, printing, and painting.

The use of stitch is common to all of my work. Even if you can’t see it, it will have been a major component of the construction process.

My work is strongly influenced by the natural environment and the various ideologies and philosophies which inform contemporary observations of everyday things. Some pieces are inspired by an idea, others evolve through the influence of the materials being used.