I'm exhibiting this year in Oxford in a conservatory and garden setting, at the home of Judith and Mike Berger, along with three other members of the Oxfordshire Craft Guild.
I paint wood, paper and card, and use photos and photomontage to create original jewellery. My feature beads are hand rolled from decorated card/photos; each has several coats of lacquer, leaving it highly durable and light to wear. The earring and necklace fastenings are sterling silver. I'm inspired by just about anything - colour, design, shape and the natural world all catch my eye.
My exhibition pieces have a definite floral theme. I've always loved flowers, both garden and wild. The three ranges I'm showing are;
Indian Woodblocks - these hand carved wooden blocks have been used for centuries for printing onto paper, textiles, clay etc.
Meadow Flowers - a handpainted range on beechwood and hand-rolled paper beads consists of cornflowers, poppies & dasies - some of my favourites!
Tiles from Syria (1600-1700) - based on details of decorative tiles from Syria that can be found in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
I was born and brought up in St Ives, Cornwall, and both my parents were artists. My father was a successful portrait painter and designer, and my mother having studied fashion was an accomplished craftswoman. My early memories are of sitting on the floor in my fathers studio with paper and crayons. Many of my school friends were the sons and daughters of practising artists and visits to their homes meant being introduced to an amazing range of abstract and figurative art.
I decided to train as an Occupational Therapist which would allow me to use my practical and creative skills to help people's rehabilitation and recovery. For ten years I worked in NHS mental health settings where I was able to use creative skills crossing the fields of art, craft, music and drama. In 1986 I became Director of Restore, a pioneering and creative community mental health work rehabilitation service. During all this time I was creating, working with leather, textiles and wood. The process of making jewellery evolved from painting on wood. After 16 years at Restore I became freelance, working partly as a management consultant, which also enabled me to spend more time making jewellery. After ten years of doing these two rather different roles I now concentrate on making jewellery.
My work sells through shops, galleries and museums in Oxfordshire and further afield. Usually I work quietly and contentedly from my workshop at home, but occasionally I'm excited by something out of the ordinary; for example in 2018 I was commissioned by Tate Britain to produce eighty five pieces of jewellery for their Edward Burne-Jones exhibition shop.