I originally trained as an archaeological site and find illustrator, then gained a PGCE Art and Design in the late 1990s. My first teaching job provided a large art room with a ceramic kiln, printing press and lots of materials, all of which allowed me produce work in a variety of mediums. I have exhibited successfully nationally and internationally, in both group and solo exhibitions. I was also Artist in residence at the Oxo Tower, London, as part of the 2017 National Open Arts Exhibition. I exhibit with a number of galleries across the UK, and take part in group shows and exhibitions, supplementing art sales with teaching. I am prolific and have a large portfolio of work, which can be viewed on my website.
Sirens
I want to depict women as thinkers, strong, singular entities not mother or queen or sex object, able to indulge and be guilty of sloth or envy, and still maintain feminine beauty – sirens. The depiction of women in art has been a preoccupation through a degree in Archaeology: the goddess figures of fertility, the possibility of matriarchal societies in the Neolithic and the dominance of home maker, gatherer roles for women. Experiencing depictions of women in Degas delicate dancers and burlesque bathers, Rodin’s fallen in the gates of hell and sexualised drawings of women, Henry Moore’s gigantic queens and powerful mothers cradling infants reinforce the same depictions investigated in Archaeology.
Marigold Men– challenging depictions of gender
The concern is socio-political, an address to the assumed gender roles in art and physical history. Marigold Men is an ongoing series of prints - the male nude wearing rubber gloves and concerned with the depiction of men in advertising using cleaning products and the male names given to cleaning products: Mr. Clean, Mr. Muscle, Mr. Sheen and so on.
