I have worked almost exclusively with papercutting for over a decade, cutting designs by hand to create layered images ranging from picturesque Oxford architecture and landscapes to microscopic patterns found in the natural world.
Simplifying the features of the landscape into flat areas of colour creates an impression of the view in front of me and a sense of quiet. I look for balance of composition and colour and particularly enjoy placing a detail, such as a building which can be quite intricately cut, within the landscape to draw the eye and contrast with the rest of the image.
I enjoy exploring the possibilities of working with paper as a material; how it changes as I cut intricate patterns or how the cut edges of the paper add an extra, sometimes unexpected, dimension to the work. I enjoy its simplicity and our familiarity with it; we all have an innate understanding of paper and its uses and it is great to surprise people!
Alongside my layered papercuts will be some of the work I have been making as research for a PhD I am currently undertaking at Oxford Brookes University. These are altered maps and atlases which explore the act of making and the progression of ideas into form within my work. While the concepts of these two bodies of work are very different they are brought together by the technique of papercutting and sit happily alongside each other.
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I graduated from Camberwell College of Arts with a degree in Visual Arts: Drawing in 2003, followed by a PGCE in Secondary Art and Design. I have since taught Art in Secondary Schools then worked as a Gallery Manager for 10 years before focusing more fully on my own artwork.
In 2020 I completed a Masters of Fine Art at Oxford Brookes University, being fortunate that my practice is small-scale and carried out largely in my garden studio at home so not too disrupted by the arrival of Covid and the shift of all learning online. Following the MFA I felt I had so much more to explore in this area of my work and began the long but fascinating journey of a part-time PhD by practice.
I am a member of the Paper Artists Collective and IAPMA (the International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists) and the Oxford Art Society and Oxfordshire Craft Guild.