Artwork for Clae Eastgate
Joelle Taylor
Victoria Adukwei Bulley
Gillian Clarke
Menna Elfyn
Sabrina Mahfouz
Air and Light - A portrait of Carol Ann Duffy
Red Red - A portrait of Jackie Kay
The Poets
Details
I work with medium/large oil on canvas portraits with a focus on contemporary women who have made (are making) an important contribution through their work to society. It is important to me to note, celebrate and encourage the legacy of such women who I believe are often not given the deserved status. Through this focus I have also come to a place of teaching, developing workshops that not only guide those seeking to learn the techniques in creative processes, but to also develop a workshop that enables clearer pathways of creativity in understanding ourselves. This work is important to me and portraiture I find particularly suitable to its development.
Over time the role as an artist has gathered weight not only in executing work that must continue to evolve and require a higher level of output and sophistication, but also the increasing importance of reflecting our social climate.
I am a British artist specialising in portraiture.
Painting the Poets - A collection of painted portraits celebrating the lives and work of some of the UK's finest contemporary female poets. I have been working on this project for the last 5 years, nearing its completion and now beginning its journey exhibiting throughout the UK.
I have developed workshops in portraiture and still life. These are given in a variety of ways: the fundamental techniques in creating an artwork - or portrait; a hybrid workshop collaborating with other artists/writers/poets that fuse artistic disciplines opening new creative doorways; a creative environment in which to not only engage in a specific creative process but simultaneously encourage a line of enquiry into who we are, using these creative processes to stimulate psychological/emotional response.
Art Foundation, Shrewsbury/BA Degree, Birmingham (not completed). Successive training privately and art courses. Mostly self taught.
I teach workshops both privately and as a visiting artist to educational institutions including Latymer High and the Art Academy London teaching bespoke workshops in self-portraiture on the BA Honours Degree in Contemporary Portraiture. I also give artist talks, and mentor students.
My exhibitions are a hybrid of exhibition/event. Utilising gallery and alternative spaces as well as festival settings. All exhibitions recently and upcoming are solo shows of the Painting the Poets collection.
Kings Place London - Women in Frame 2019/20
Scottish National Portrait Gallery 2021/22 Contemporary Portraiture (permanent acquisitions)
Kendal Poetry Festival 2022
Bishops Castle, Town Art Gallery (Arts Festival/Poetry Pharmacy)2023
