These small drawings (11 x 6.5 cm) are a work in progress. They are all ink and wax on paper and there are currently over 200 of them, residing on a Rolodex. They arose from ongoing discussions with Chris Dorsett and are likely to be part of a forthcoming exhibition in 2025.
The series is growing all time and some of the work may be seen in the gallery section. I think it will provide the source material for other works over the coming year, in addition to being part of the Rolodex piece in themselves. They feel as though they might end up being very large prints or paintings.
I was invited by Wilcote Art to curate a group exhibition in November 2024 of the work of thirteen artists who have taken up residencies ther over the last two years. Each artist had two pieces in the show.
Since December 2023 I have been collaborating with Sabrina Rodrigues, working together as Playlist inc. In this collaboration, Sabrina and I explore our interest in modern and contemporary classical music, through a joint YouTube playlist. Thinking about, discussing and working to this music, we explore the resonance and dissonance emerging from our respective practices.
In early Autumn 2023 I undertook a fortnight's residency at Wilcote Studios. Some of the pieces continued the Dwelling and Portal themes, others are derived from my walks whilst on the residency, in particular to Ladywell, Wilcote.
My 2023 collaboration with wonderful textile artist Fiona Sperryn resulted in two exploratory pieces, Garden XVI and Garden XVII. The work had photography at its foundation but was largely executed in pastel and ink on paper. Fiona then produced the pieces on a Jacquard digital loom. Garden XVII was selected for the 2024 Banbury Ironstone Prize Exhibition.
Inescapable is a video poem, produced in early 2023, follow the link HERE to watch it on Youtube. Inescapable is my response to a difficult period in 2022 and relates to my wider interests in place, portals and time. It brings together my photographs, drawings and sonnet, Inescapable, inspired by the book Underland by Robert Macfarlane and music, Valencia, by Caroline Shaw performed by the Attacca Quartet on the album Orange, featured by kind permission of First Chair Promotion and New Amsterdam Records for use on a strictly non-commercial basis.
This image/text series from 2022 is built on preparatory photographs for work on people and place which focused on the part of Oxfordshire in which I live. I have combined short extracts from a poem by Colin Pink, Stelae, that stood out for me when placed with the reference photographs and ideas from my studio research.
There is a Youtube video of the work, poem and music HERE. A PDF which includes all the images, the poem, and further information is available to download HERE.
During 2020, I collaborated with Colin Pink on a second collection, producing 12 woodcuts in response to his poems. The collection was published by Paekakeriki Press in September 2021 as an individually numbered limited edition of 250. They may be ordered direct from the publisher here,
The collection hinges around an eponymous epic poem which relates the human cost of a fishing tragedy off Cornwall in 1962. It includes twelve sonnets and ten triolets, reflecting Colin's interest in formal poetic structures, though the subject matter and treatment is anything but. "Love, death, disaster...
In June 2019 Against the Grain Poetry Press published the book of poems and woodcuts on which Colin Pink and I collaborated. The collection is entitled The Ventriloquist Dummy’s Lament and consists of 21 of Colin’s poems, each accompanied by one of my woodcuts. These in turn inspired a series of paintings also shown here.
You can order the collection direct from me, Colin Pink or Against the Grain Poetry Press priced at £10.00 plus postage and packing. To purchase from me simply choose the book cover from the images below and proceed via PayPal as with other purchases from this...