
Textile Artist
Lockdown has been a strange mixture of emotions. It’s been a gift of space and time to slow down and consider what I want as well as a time to create new work, learn and try new things. The initial explosion of opportunities, support and information from the creative world was wonderful if a bit crazy at first as the world woke up to how good creativity is for wellbeing. Trying to keep a healthy balance between screen time and making was hard and I don’t think I was the only one who experienced a fear of missing out. I know for-instance that many artists have felt under pressure to come out of the pandemic with a new body of work. At some point I got a bit overwhelmed so I stopped everything, switched off and concentrated on feeling OK which turned out to be a really good idea. When I did start making work again I had to be more resourceful and inventive with whatever materials I had in my studio and having less choice was a really good thing because it generated some very different pieces of work that probably wouldn’t have come into being otherwise. Isolation has been an opportunity to learn new skills connecting in ways that I haven’t before. Right from the beginning I loved the peace of early morning walks through ghost town and down to the seafront and harbour, always taking my camera because I knew it would be a unique opportunity to capture something that felt very surreal. Colours seemed heightened, the sun was golden and the natural world was blossoming. There was such clarity in the reflections on the water.
As an abstract artist I’m conscious of the things I see around me as shape colour and light and it doesn’t always immediately play out in my work but I see the experiences of these lockdown walks now in ‘AND B.R.E.A.T.HE…’. It’s a new piece that feels very different and came out of the blue when I started painting again. It feels like a very uplifting piece and I can see for sure references back to all that light and colour. It’s energised me to do more painting and I don’t know what that will lead to but I’m happy to wait and see. So lockdown has been interesting. I think it will be a long time before we see what the lasting effects will be but I feel changed in some ways and of course it’s not over yet so who knows? In August 2020 AND B.R.E.A.T.H.E featured in ‘Breathworks’ at Modern Art Oxford Gallery as part of a collection of personal stories that shed light on how we all experience breathing. https://www.modernartoxford.org.uk/learn/breathworks-exhibition/