My Art

Thank you for sharing…
Sometimes (your work has) been the only reason I have made it through the night.

– Visitor comment from Mental Health Week exhibition

The spirit of this exhibition brings to mind Emily Bronte’s poem: “No coward soul is mine’… Not many artists would dare to exhibit works so raw side by side with others of aching, touching beauty: a public looking for nice landscapes, sentiment or roses in vases to hang in the living room will be severely disappointed.

But those looking for artistry across a variety of mediums, poetic vision, frighteningly real fantasy, and deeply emotional, vivid dream imagery and dark yet romantic metaphors will rejoice! Time HAS to be taken to view this exhibition, to study the intricate, subtle detail and to read the beautifully crafted ‘stories’ underneath each piece.

– Visitor comment from exhibition ‘She Dreams’

A courageous, beautiful exhibition about a taboo subject…Some… are indeed very sad, but many of them are quietly joyful. Like the process of grieving itself, there is no easy progression from dark to light in this exhibition, but the overall impression that you take away is a feeling that the mourning of all unborn children has been permitted in this space, in a way that is rarely possible in the unsympathetic glare and glitter of the outside world…Honouring the unborn: a deeply moving art exhibition.

– Review of exhibition ‘Waiting for You’ in Weekend Notes

Sometimes confronting and always compassionate, my art delves into the hidden, private, or marginalised areas of human life, exploring the full range of experiences and emotions.

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Artist Statement

My art has helped to keep me alive.

Creative expression is essential to my survival and part of my resilience. My art is overwhelmingly personal, not just on my own personal life but all things in life that have been labeled ‘personal’ and are aspects of what it is to be human that are often difficult to capture or communicate.

My art eases my pain, calms nightmares, captures dreams, staves off self destruction, expresses joy, holds tenderness, and gives me mementos from different experiences and parts of myself. My artworks are my talismans from other worlds, the thing that comes back with me from various heroic journeys, such as the ink painting I created alone at the ocean after the miscarriage of my baby. They contain knowledge I otherwise forget when the dawn comes, the fairy gold turns to dust, and the tales seem unbelievable.

Sometimes people tell me my art helps keep them alive too.

My great passion in art is the process, meaning, and feeling of the work – I’m flexible about the medium. Sometimes I create a work many times in different media before I find the one that’s the right home for it. I’m constantly pushing my skills and learning new mediums. My 2D work is usually painting and drawing in oils, inks, and watercolours. Some of these are paired with writing and poems and become handmade books and zines. My sculptural work uses polymer clay, timber, metal, glass, fabrics, and unusual materials such as rose petals.

I often use art to explain, inspire, or humanise. I illustrate my own and others health resources.

0701 Sea dogs, Romping original size-002
Sea dogs, Romping, ink on paper

The ‘freakish’, idiosyncratic, and ‘wild’ are a focus for me. My art is woven through with my experiences of psychosis and the sublime, and is often begun in altered states, by candlelight or under moonlight. I am an intuitive artist who often begins a work to discover it and finds images emerging from the materials themselves as my unconscious mind speaks.

I layer my artwork, adding different elements over time, across different members of my system, and in different mental states. I frequently create prints of my 2D works which I then embellish with precious metals and gemstones. So a work begun in the dark in a wild place and possibly with non-archival materials, may be polished to shine in a meticulous artisan process in my studio before it is available to buy.

I am also a Social Practice Artist, which means at times I work collaboratively with people and communities, creating art based on interviews and shared experiences.

My art helps make it bearable to look at deeply personal topics.

With sensitive handling, Social Practice Art is an incredibly effective way of engaging hidden communities, complex issues, and taboo topics. It supports the voice of people who are often ignored, and increases the visibility of the experiences and ideas of those affected, without necessarily exposing them directly. After blog readers around the world sent tokens representing their miscarriages to be cremated with my baby I realised this was the heart of my arts practice – difficult to describe, deeply personal, intrinsically relational.