Artist Biography

I’m a Fine Artist from Cheltenham and began the journey of my practice at Stroud College where I did my Foundation Diploma in Fine Art. During this course I began to build the foundation of my current practice. Finding my inspiration in 60’s psychedelia and artists such as Bridget Riley, Victor Moscoso and Wes Wilson. Through this course I experimented with layers, spectral colours, black-lights and installation, considering an immersive experience for the viewer. 

 

I then studied Fine Art at Bath Spa University, where I continued my journey, and learnt about other artists who create immersive experiences for viewers such as Olafur Eliasson, James Turrell and Ai Weiwei. Theres artists helped me shape my artwork to consider the sensory stimulants of the viewer. 

 

I played around with OP Art, ‘Light Art’, Sacred Geometry and Sensory Installations as well as deepening my own spiritual Practice which feeds into and inspires my arts practice. My final degree show was a fully immersive room in which the viewer had to take off their shoes before entering, and then step into the ‘Trip’. I had painted the walls and ceiling with light reactive paint and hung plastic sculptures around the room so the viewer had to move around, engaging with the room. The point of taking off shoes before entering was to bring the viewer into the present moment. The removal of shoes before a practice is known in many spiritual forms and is a way to connect to the Earth and to feel with the whole body.

 

During my final year when writing my dissertation, I found out from a Psychologist that I have severe dyspraxia and also dyslexia. This had clicked into place with me as I have always struggled with writing, computers, memory and a whole load of other cognitive functions. It made sense that I have always been a very tactile person, and very attune to patterns and textures of things around me. After this discovery I learnt so much about myself and how to navigate in the world which makes sense to me. This also fed into my artwork and my spiritual practice.

 

I did a Visionary Art course in an Eco Village in Italy with the VAVA (Vienna Academy of Visionary Art) working with artists Autumn Skye Morrison, Kevin Kampeau and Lawrence Carauna. We were taught to listen to our sacred imagination, to meditate on the canvas and to see the image in a vision and honour it. We also learnt new painting techniques and about the Mischtechnik and Visionary Colour Theory.

 

My love of philosophy also has a crucial role within my arts practice. I used to have a book about famous philosophers through history including, Plato, Aristotle, Leonardo Da Vinci, and from these I learnt from an early age that by learning about as many different topics, disciplines and subjects as possible, can we then begin to learn the true nature of reality. As I am not academically inclined, this has always been a bitter sweet love because to write essays or learn in a formal manner about philosophical things isn’t within my capabilities. And so these ideas and theories feed into my artwork instead, where I feel most comfortable and confident. I want my artwork to resonate with people, to hit a truth within another person and create a ripple effect of an idea.