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 For a visual
artist, 21st
Century Northern England is an inspiring place to be. It is a place where
Nature meets expired man-made 19th century textile mills that can be seen in
both rural town and urban city alike. The demise of these buildings has
created the opportunity for Nature to meld with and reclaim the derelict shells
and their rich history with renewed organic growth. It is an area for play
on texture and colour as a visual artist. This is an aspect I am
increasingly visiting in my work.
The textile industry is a part
of my here and now and also a part of my own social history in Central
Scotland. My father's family were mill workers or tailors and this is from
where I feel my interest in texture has evolved.
Dundee in 1989 was where I
first embarked upon an art course to address my desire to further my art.
It was a stepping stone where I discovered a real love of colour when I had to
paint a scene depicting a corner of the art studio. My objective was to
paint the many colours I could see. The outcome was that I began to look
at colour in a different and much deeper way.
In 1993 I moved to
Yorkshire where I studied an Advanced GNVQ course in Art and Design at Keighley
College. Keighley is a small town born from the woollen industry
which flourished so strongly in its West Yorkshire city neighbours of Bradford
and Leeds. It nestles in the hills of the south Pennines - a wild and
rugged landscape of upland moors and lowland dales. I was strongly
influenced by the raw industrial feel of Keighley as well as the opportunities
which arose at the college to allow me to further investigate colour. It
was here that I first developed an appreciation of Vincent van Gogh's work and
this was to stay with me in my further studies elsewhere immediately
after leaving Keighley.
My next place of study was the
College of York St. John in the mediaeval city of York, the County Town of
Yorkshire. It was here that I came to study for my B.A. (Hons) in Art and
Design. I specialised in Fine Art and started to explore the human
condition through life study and abstract paintings using texture and
colour. I feel I moved on during my three years at York and that my work
matured a great deal, leading to where I am today.
My work at present is a
revisitation into my original interest of colour and texture combined with my
University work into the human condition. I have recently completed my
commission for The Cut Club in Knaresborough as part of their new image and
re-launch as Watkins Wright. I was lucky enough to be able to exhibit some
of my work there in early 2003 after a chance conversation with the
owner/manager, Paul Wright. Following on from the success of that
exhibition, Paul commissioned me to produce eight linked large-scale art works
for the new workstations which are central to the new and modern image of
Watkins Wright.
I am presently building up a
new body of work in my own right, away from the academic environment of
University and College, re-addressing the ideas which first influenced my desire
to become a professional artist. I hope to build on this with further
commissions and exhibitions both locally and further afield.
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