Mandy Roland-Smith
Artwork for Mandy Roland-Smith
Details
How would you describe the work you do and why?
My needle-felting practice is deeply rooted in sustainability and narrative, employing local, natural materials and traditional processes. I source fleece from sheep within a ten-mile radius of my home and make vegetable dyes from plants I grown or pick locally. Each piece embodies the life cycle, representing circular systems, the interconnectedness of the natural world and our place in it. The work is biodegradable and regenerative, eventually returning to the soil. Through this approach I emphasise the importance of bringing traditional crafts to a modern context, inviting viewers to reflect on their relationship with the earth.
For you what does being an artist mean?:
Being an artist means exploring my internal world and externalising it through my hands, mind and materials. I used to work as a psychotherapist and my art carries a psychological and emotional weight underpinned by my experiences and my relationships to others and my natural world. Climate change has brought an urgency to my choice of materials. I used to make ceramics, and I still love make the odd green clay work from locally dug red Herefordshire clay. However wool is my material of choice now and the slow, sustainable, circular processes in preparing it and needle-felting give me time to reflect and process experiences and ideas. The materiality of wool speaks to something connected far back through time and throughout the world, part of a collective unconscious. with a connection to our ancestors.
Describe what you call yourself/your practice?:
Artist using sustainable, regenerative materials.
Your practice & activities include e.g workshops, teaching:
I have a little studio in Hereford where I make my needle-felted panels and other work. Preparation of the wool is done at home as there aren't the facilities water-based activities at the studio. So my house is full of smelly sacks of unprocessed fleeces from people on Freecycle and Free Fleeces on FB, as well as the Lleyns grazing our orchard; and there is usually a huge pan on either scouring or mordanting wool for dyeing. I try to dye in the summer when most of the dye plants are growing and drying is easier.
I work at my studio for at least three full days per week.
CV & Education, relevant & leading to your artistic practice:
1970s A pre-diploma at Leicester polytechnic and 3 years at Dartingtom College of Arts in Devon ( Dartington Diploma of Art in Education and Rolle Colle PGCE)
1979 A year training as an art therapist at Goldsmiths College (London University Diploma in Art Therapy)
1980s, 90s and early 2000s, various trainings in counselling and psychotherapy with UKCP and BACP registrations as Integrative Psychotherapist and BAAT registration as Art Therapist.
1980 - 2017 Working as an art therapist. counsellor, psychotherapist, supervisor and trainer in settings including a university counselling service, a voluntary counseling agency and private practice.
2025. Trinity St. Davids University, Hereford College of Arts B A Hons. Contemporary Design Crafts , first class (2025)
Hereford College of Arts Foundation Certificate (2018)
Exhibitions in the last 3 years:
2026 Surface Design Show, Islington, with Green Grads (Group)
2025 Green Grads, Yorkton Studios, Hoxton (Group)
2025 Wells Art Contemporary (Group)
2025 Harmony, Artlandish, Maylord Centre, Hereford (Group)
2023 ‘Not Supposed to Know’, Gamble Street Nottingham (group)
Your gallery outlets/stockists:
Please contact artist