About
I am a printmaker, artist and illustrator living in Ceredigion. I began my career as a self taught printmaker whilst living in East Africa, working with lino printing and hand-printing cards and prints at home and I am now studying for an MA in Fine art Printmaking at the School of Art, Aberystwyth.
I work from sketches taken in the countryside and drawings done from these. I usually plan out a design on paper but transfer it to the plate and do most of the work there. The finished image can be quite different from the original drawing as each stage transforms it and the different printmaking plates bring their own effects. I am currently working with intaglio processes as well as collagraph, lithography and etched lino in addition to lino cuts. I am dedicated to the craft of printmaking without being too invested in any one type of plate: my main focus is to realise an idea based on observations from nature and use whatever printing matrix is necessary to create the ideal image.
My focus is usually on representing the tangled lines and morphology of plants. I am interested in areas where two ecosystems meet because there is often a strange crossover of species that is more diverse or mysterious than either of the two areas (these particularly diverse edge places are called ecotones). I call my kind of prints plantscapes: pieces that convey the noisy quality of a great diversity of plantlife.
My work is not overtly conceptual, and reflects my joy in nature and response to the natural environment. However, I am interested in human connection to nature and I am currently using the MA to research and develop a contemporary image that conveys this seeking and grappling with spiritual connection to our ecosystems at a time when human relationships to our habitat are confusing and can be destructive.
Solo Exhibitions
Explorations in Printmaking: Celf Cletwr, May 2019
Group Exhibitions
New Beginnings: Aberystwyth Printmakers, King Street Gallery, May 2019
On the Edge: Borth Arts, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, April 2019
The Sea, The Sea: Borth Arts and HAUL, Bronglais Hospital, April 2018
Aberystwyth Printmakers Annual Exhibition: Old College Aberystwyth, December 2017
Education
MA Fine Art Printmaking, Aberystwyth School of Art, 2018-present.
PDip Law, UWE, 2008 - 2009.
BA English Literature, Bristol University, 2004 - 2007.