As well as working on commissions and more commercial work, I make conceptual pieces and installations. This is a really important aspect of what I do, as the experimental work feeds into the rest of my practice, refreshing and inspiring it. I respond to places and their history and was delighted to be invited to work on a commission from Chrysalis Arts recently. I chose the Georgian Theatre in North Yorkshire and had a short funded residency there, and a solo show in the Theatre itself. An ongoing inspiration too is the film “I Know Where I’m Going”, made on Mull in 1945. I was invited to undertake a residency on Mull by the Arts Centre, An Tobar in Tobermory and was able to make more work considering and responding to the locations in the film, culminating in a solo show at An Tobar. For more pictures of each project, click the thumbnail images below.
I Know Where I’m Going?
This project allowed me full rein to pursue my obsession with the film! I am in good company though as it’s also apparently Martin Scorsese’s favourite. I visited many of the locations - it was wonderfully inspiring to be shown round Moy Castle by its owner, and just to have the time to draw, photograph and write about the landscape. Three more books/installations emerged as a result of this trip and my exhibition included the new pieces alongside other books I’ve made inspired by the characters in the film. I kept a blog about my residency and exhibition, so more to read here.
‘A Theatre of Words’
I was commissioned by Chrysalis Arts to produce a body of work for the North Yorkshire open studios. I chose the Georgian Theatre Royal in Richmond for my project, and spent a week at the theatre, exploring the building, its theatre museum and archives. The pieces I produced drew on the history of the place; they became about memory, about words echoing across the centuries, from the first words in the first ever performance on the opening night in 1788, to the words spoken when the theatre was restored and re-opened in 1963. Visually I found inspiration in the theatre’s collection of posters, with their mix of different typefaces as well as in the early painted scenery on display in the museum. I kept a blog about the progress of my project, which you can find here.
