head-holding device self portrait 2025
When I was sixteen we lived in a tall thin house. We got a new rope fire escape and had to practise using it. I put the rope like a noose round my torso and climbed out of the window. One of my brothers was in the room egging me on. My stepmother was there too, killing herself laughing and my other brother was outside trying to look up my skirt. I could see that the rope was loose and I was going to drop several feet before the slack was taken up. I couldn’t get any words out. In the end I had to let go.
My practice is auto-ethnographic. I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s, had three kids in the 90’s and another one in 2008. From leaving education until I turned 50 I was a painter with an itch that I scratched on the side, making drawings, collage, objects, text and textile works using everyday materials and processes, always feeling something was out of kilter. The moment I stopped painting I was released from the surface and the vast imbalance of ubiquitously taught male canon of art history.
in 2019 I began to make one small drawing a day, a regular habit which extended over three prolonged periods, to date, releasing me from thinking and fixed outcomes and placing play and instinct at the centre of my practice. I like the work of artists such as Rose Finn-Kelcey, On Kawara, Alighiero Boetti and Louise Bourgeois, among others, who made serious, sometimes funny and always sharp use of their own lives as source material.
My work speaks to quotidian human experience from both a highly personal and a sociological perspective where the scrutiny of daily events and interactions denote common experience and feelings. In the last few years I have collaborated with artists Emily Lucas and Anna Cady. Having initially been a subject for Emily’s PhD considering autobiographical drawing from a feminist perspective, her research led us to instigate (both laughing) Collaborative which made work across multiple processes and which culminated in an entire house installation houseworkwork in 2023. Anna and I made a six part video installation Richard in 2024 which introduced me to moving image and directed me towards experimental performance and animation.
Alongside play and material openness (making work with whatever is to hand and/or whatever the work seems to need), the idiosyncrasies of English language are at the core of my practice. I work with text, text-like mark making, repetition and recently sound, using simple methods of drawing, collage, stitch, assemblage and collection to connect process to material and evince the meaning embedded in everyday materials and objects and the words used to describe them.
nb this work is alarmed
born Toronto, Canada 1966
UWE Bristol MA Fine Art 2017-20
Chelsea School of Art BA Hons Fine Art 1985-88
Wimbledon School of Art foundation diploma 1983-84
Stroud Illustration Collective (S I C)
Critical Mass // Draw 2024-25
Lives and works in Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK
solo exhibitions
THIS WORK IS ALARMED (working title) survey exhibition Chapels of Rest, Stroud June 2026
SPacejUNK drawing project exhibition SVA John Street Gallery, Stroud 2022
TODAY drawing project exhibition SVA John Street Gallery, Stroud 2020
FUTURE GIANTS The Malthouse for Select Festival, Stroud 2017
FURNISH Emma Leschallas, Tetbury 2012
RUN 50! Mount House Gallery, Marlborough 2011
WRECKS West Eleven, London 2010
CAVE DRAWINGS Tricycle Gallery, London 2006
CAVE DRAWINGS Stone Theatre, London 2005
BOONDOGGLE Sieff, Tetbury 2005
MEMBERS DINING ROOM Babington House, Somerset 2001
RUST AND MOULD Prema Arts Centre, Glos 1992
exhibitions
2025
DRAWING THE NIGHT IN Black Swan Arts, Frome 21 October - 17 November
RWA 172 OPEN Bristol 6 September 2025 - 4 January 2026
NOTES drawn to music Adderbank Gallery, Stroud 20-28 September
PAPER WORKS BIENNIAL OPEN RWA Bristol 25 January – 27 April
7th JOHN RUSKIN PRIZE Trinity Buoy Wharf, London 16 January - 2 February
2024
DRAWING IN THE ARCTIC CIRCLE Gallery Napa, Lapland 14 Dec 2024 - 7 Jan 2025
SI.C. BOOK COVERS REIMAGINED Stroud Book Festival, Stroud venues
DRAWING THE NIGHT IN Young Gallery Salisbury, curated by Susan Francis & Prudence Maltby Oct 25 2024 - Jan 4 2025
RWA 171 OPEN Bristol 13 Sept - 5 Jan 2025
(both laughing) Collaborative retrospective F Block, Bower Ashton Campus UWE Bristol
BLACKSWAN OPEN Frome
SUMMER Aleph Contemporary, Stroud
50/50 Unit 1 Gallery London
REUSE, REINVENT Victoria Works Chalford curated by Charlotte Abrahams SITE FESTIVAL
TRINITY BUOY WHARF DRAWING PRIZE 2023 touring exhibition The Gallery at the Arts University Bournemouth, The Arts Institute, Plymouth University ;Turnpike, Wigan,
RICHARD multi-projection installation (with Anna Cady) Chapels of Rest Stroud, Stroud Film Festival
A ROOM OF ONE’S OWN Irving Gallery, Oxford
S.I.C SCI-FI Film Posters Reinterpreted Museum in the Park & Lansdown Gallery, Stroud
6th JOHN RUSKIN PRIZE Trinity Buoy Wharf, London
INSERT ART HERE Lansdown Gallery, Stroud
2023
ARC Salon Painswick, Glos
RWA 170th OPEN. Bristol
TRINITY BUOY WHARF DRAWING PRIZE Trinity Buoy Wharf and touring UK
PROTEST POSTERS (both laughing) Collaborative SVA John Street Gallery, Stroud
WELLS ART CONTEMPORARY Wells Cathedral
Artist Curator ‘houseworkwork’ SITE FESTIVAL (both laughing) Collaborative Stroud
OPEN_OPEN Chapel Arts Studios, Andover
Artist Curator MY BODY IN MY HANDS (with Sam Lucas) SVA John Street Gallery, Stroud
SFSA DRAWING OPEN no format gallery, London
SALON FOR A SPECULATIVE FUTURE -’How to be in the future’ WOMEN ARTISTS’ PRINT PORTFOLIO EXHIBITION Publication Launch and Portfolio Exhibition (both laughing) Collaborative MOCA, London
S.I.C CREATURE FEATURES Film Posters Reinterpreted Lansdown Gallery & Museum in the Park, Stroud
SWEAR IT ON A DUSTER The Duster Project and Profanity Embroidery Group Twelve Tap Gin Bar, Whitstable & HOLD, Ramsgate
2022
SMALL FRAMES RO Frames, Stroud curated by Barnie Page
SALON FOR A SPECULATIVE FUTURE - WOMEN ARTISTS’ PRINT PORTFOLIO EXHIBITION / IMPACT 12 Multidisciplinary Printmaking Conference (both laughing) Collaborative UWE Library, Bower Ashton, Bristol
CHATTELS Moveable Objects (with Paul Grellier) Chapels of Rest, Stroud
FREE RANGE UWE Alumni Exhibition Truman Brewery, London
WORDplay Fringe Arts Bath
SFSA DRAWING OPEN no format Gallery, London
A ROOM OF HER OWN Irving Contemporary, Oxford
THE OUTPOSTED EXHIBITION Three Stories, Nailsworth
WORKS ON PAPER 4 Blue Shop Cottage, London
2021
NOWHERE SOMETIME online @consciousisolation curated in collaboration with UoG students
2020
HUMANISING MEDICINE ‘Covid19-Apart But Together’ BEING HUMAN FESTIVAL 2020 Queen Mary University of London
TRINITY BUOY WHARF DRAWING PRIZE Trowbridge, Dundee, London, Bournemouth
EAT, SLEEP, (I CAN’T) BREATHE www.vacantmuseum.com
THE OUTPOSTED PROJECT www.theoutpostedproject.com
GOOD ON PAPER COVERS EXHIBITION Stroud Brewery
2019
MERCATUS LIBER – VENICE VENDING MACHINE Venice Agendas Hamilton House, Bristol
HUMANISING MEDICINE – ‘this time it’s personal’ BEING HUMAN FESTIVAL Bart’s Pathology Museum, London
RWA 167 OPEN Bristol
FOAM Centrespace, Bristol
80’S FILM POSTERS RE-INTERPRETED Stroud Film Festival SVA Stroud
INCENDIARY Stroud & Hardwick Campus University of Glos curated by Patricia Brien
GOOD ON PAPER PARTY vol IV Centre For Science and Art, Stroud
2018
EVERYONE IS VERY HAPPY AND NOT CONFUSED Hamilton House, Bristol
LYNN PAINTER STAINERS Mall Galleries, London
ART WOMEN AND THE EVOLUTION The Bloomsbury, London
2017
RWA 165 OPEN Bristol
2016
JERWOOD DRAWING PRIZE London, Bath, Leigh, Bournemouth
ING DISCERNING EYE Mall Galleries, London
BLACKSWAN OPEN Frome, Somerset
Group Exhibition. Wetpaint Gallery, Chalford
2013
FIGHT FOR SIGHT Menier Gallery, London
2010
DISCERNING EYE Mall Galleries, London
2006
ART BELOW London Underground
Group Exhibition Thompsons Gallery, London
2004
Group Exhibition Thompsons Gallery, London
Group Exhibition Cheltenham General Hospital
RWA OPEN Bristol
DISCERNING EYE Mall Galleries, London
SUMMER SHOW Merriscourt Gallery, Oxfordshire
UNDER ONE ROOF London curated by Kitty Stirling
CONTEMPORARY DRAWING 04 Ruskin Mill, Nailsworth
2003
Charity Auction Tricycle Gallery, London
Great Ormond Street Hospital permanent donated exhibition curated by Sophie Ryder
2002
inaugural exhibition Rope Store, Nailsworth
ART FOR AFGHANISTAN. Stroud House Gallery
AFFORDABLE ART FAIR Rebecca Wordsworth Bristol / London
EYEPOPPERS Gloucester
SPRING SHOW Merriscourt Gallery, Oxfordshire
2001
AFFORDABLE ART FAIR Rebecca Wordsworth Bath
Group Exhibition Ainscough Contemporary, London
2000
Group Exhibition Rebecca Wordsworth, Babington House Somerset
1995
YOUNG ARTISTS Cystic Fibrosis Trust Bonhams, London
100 SMALL PAINTINGS Merriscourt Gallery, Oxfordshire
1994
NATURE Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh
MILLFIELD OPEN Somerset
PAPERWORKS Plymouth Museum and Art Gallery
PULP Brewery Arts, Cirencester
talks, conferences, events, residencies, reviews
PECHA KUCHA NIGHTS at SVA by in Good on Paper Nick Grellier 2025
RICHARD - a response Dr Paul Harper 2024
WHAT IS DRAWING RESEARCH? Symposium & exhibition (both laughing) Collaborative UWE BCU Drawing Research Group Birmingham School of Art Nov 2023
PROOF! (both laughing) Collaborative Postgraduate Research Conference UWE Bristol June 2023
(both laughing) Collaborative residency At The Garage March 2022 and Jan 2023
LOCKDOWN 1 Drawing Symposium Pecha Kucha online Drawing is Free / Drawing Projects UK Feb 2022
“Making Their Mark. Why artists draw: an interrogation of drawing as a subjective, autobiographical and emotional act” with Emily Lucas PhD research project 2020
www.a-n.co.uk/reviews/today/ review of TODAY drawings exhibition Artists Newsletter Trevor H Smith 2020
www.studiointernational.com/index.php/trinity-buoy-wharf-drawing-prize-2020-review-cooper-gallery-university-of-dundee-scotland 2020
“A Slight Increase In Happiness : a discussion on constructive thinking via a year of drawing” Bricks Bristol artist talk Jan 2020
“Bad Drawing : intentions for, and status of drawing” artist talk 2020
“Mighty Pencil : drawing and language, the funny and the sad” artist talk 2020
PECHA KUCHA NIGHTS Stroud producer 2024 ongoing
SELECT TALKS producer Centre for Science and Art Stroud 2017-2019
Works held in Tate Archives, RA Print Collection, Gloucestershire Archives (both laughing), ARC Salon.
Private collections UK, USA, Canada, S. Africa and Europe.