I am exhibiting with wocART in the West Oxford Community Centre on the Botley Rd.
Our theme this year is "Ways of Seeing" and there will be 8 of us showing a rich and varied mix of artwork including paintings, textiles, photographs, glasswork, silver and glass bead jewellery and ceramics.
There will be lots of surprises and something for everyone, including prints and a wide range of cards - so come along, have a look and stock up!.
As an artist, I am largely self-taught: I took Art A-level but then read Classics at University here rather than going to Art school. I have drawn and painted throughout my life but much more so since my return to Oxford to live in 1998.
I love trying to capture people in action or engrossed in activity but I can be inspired by anything I see around me, particularly if it involves powerful forms, strong light and shade or strong emotions. Most of what I produce is representational - I like how the world around me looks too much to let go of it very often - although my work is probably moving more towards abstraction at the moment.
The focus of a lot of my recent work has been on the idea of "identity", using my love of ancient Greek sculpture and art as a framework for this and drawing on Greek statuary and myth to help me express ideas about personal identity and personal experience. In the past year or so I have also returned to an old love - life drawing - and this underpins a lot of what I am working on at the moment. I really want to thank all the other artists who go to Botley Life Drawing (see site 167), and Ali Hogg (who set the drawing group up) in particular, for creating such a stimulating environment .
For this year's show I will be bringing along some of my life studies from Botley Lifers and OVADA (where I also did some lovely Life Drawing classes recently) - for these I tend to use a mix of graphite, chalk, pastel and, where there is time enough, collage (it is a slow medium) but I will also be showing work which I have created working from my life drawings (such as my pieces "Intervals" and "Autumn Gathering", both included in my Gallery). I am really enjoying exploring the possibilities of colour at the moment, and the interplay of the various, different media. This is a direction in which I intend to continue. It is important to me to prepare my own collage papers using acrylic paints, to give myself a wide range of different textures and subtle colours which I know will stay true over time.
I hope also to bring along some other work developing the theme of "identity" but I can't say much about this at the moment as I am still working on it - watch this space
As well as exhibiting at the West Oxford Community Centre, I am also showing some life drawings, and possibly some other work, at the Louie Memorial Pavilion (site 167 – in Arnold’s Way) as part of the Botley Drawing Group.