[section label=”Title” scroll_for_more=”true”] [row h_align=”center”] [col span=”11″ span__sm=”10″ span__md=”8″ padding=”40px 0px 0px 0px” align=”center”]

ARTIST STATEMENT

[/col] [/row] [/section] [section label=”Photo Grid” visibility=”hidden”] [row v_align=”middle”] [col span=”4″ span__sm=”12″] [ux_banner height=”99.99%” height__sm=”250px” bg=”65″ bg_color=”rgb(247, 245, 244)”] [/ux_banner] [/col] [col span=”4″ span__sm=”12″] [ux_banner height=”500px” height__md=”400px” bg=”103″ bg_size=”original” bg_color=”rgb(247, 245, 244)” bg_pos=”74% 0%” parallax=”6″] [/ux_banner] [/col] [col span=”4″ span__sm=”12″] [ux_banner height=”99.99%” height__sm=”250px” bg=”63″ bg_color=”rgb(247, 245, 244)”] [/ux_banner] [/col] [/row] [/section] [section label=”Quote” bg=”43″ bg_color=”rgb(247, 245, 244)” bg_overlay=”rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5)” parallax=”10″ dark=”true” padding=”120px” padding__sm=”50px” visibility=”hidden”] [row style=”collapse” h_align=”center”] [col span=”6″ span__sm=”10″ span__md=”7″ align=”center”]

Artist Statement

[/col] [/row] [/section] [section label=”Artist stat” padding=”60px”] [row h_align=”center”] [col span=”7″ span__sm=”12″ margin=”0px 0px -60px 0px”]

An investigation into the Unknown and the emotions this precarious state brings into being.

My sculpture explores the external and internal, both physically and metaphorically.
Openings, the junction between space occupied and contained, are reminiscent of mouths, entrances to narrow passageways or cavernous unknown interiors. These both invite and threaten simultaneously.

Upping Sticks: to pick up one’s possessions and move to another place.

These objects, whose beginnings at first referenced the humble stick, have become much more than the expression of the movement of people, the plight of refugees. Although ideas of journeys, of stepping into the unknown are still central to my work, these forms also address our personal fears when faced with their strange, uncanny presence.

Using metaphors of familiar objects in abstract form, sticks, bundles, sacks, these pieces articulate the fragile and vulnerable state of displacement and dis-belonging. Of being confronted by the Unknown.

The viewer is asked to explore, contemplate, and question.

Working in series
process and materiality
marks of making left in evidence
making intuitively with materials
responding to that which comes into being
embracing the unexpected, allowing a flow of unconsciousness
a means to understand myself
and the world about me
My practice

[/col] [/row] [/section] [section label=”Quote” padding=”0px”] [gap height=”60px”] [row style=”large” v_align=”middle” padding=”0px 40px 0px 40px” padding__md=”0px 10px 0px 10px”] [col span=”5″ span__sm=”12″] [ux_banner height=”500px” bg=”260″ bg_size=”original” bg_color=”rgb(247, 245, 244)” bg_pos=”34% 9%”] [/ux_banner] [/col] [col span=”7″ span__sm=”12″]

This work embodies mystery, it is profoundly abstract, difficult to grasp and define, but it is rooted in clearly delineated thinking. There is a tension between the clarity of the thinking and expression against the opacity and elusiveness of the subject matter – it is knowingly about the unknown. The work is also about itself and its materiality. We can see (and feel) the making and the act of enquiry through action. The boundary edge is clearly defined but, in the bumps and undulations of the form we can see the negotiation between the interior and exterior being played out. It uses the language of the vessel and the container – hollowness and a definition of space – but eludes being labelled or limited by this in its mysterious abstraction..

– Nicholas Lees.

[row_inner label=”Signature” h_align=”right”] [col_inner span=”3″ span__sm=”4″ span__md=”4″ margin=”-60px 0px 0px 0px”] [ux_image id=”40″ visibility=”hidden”] [/col_inner] [/row_inner] [/col] [/row]

Eye of the Collector. Ting Ying Gallery, 2, Temple Place, London. May 2022

Artefact. Ting Ying Gallery, Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour, London. May 2022

Fresh. British Ceramics Biennial, Stoke-on-Trent. September 2021 

Summer Exhibition. New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham. 2021

Rising Stars. New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham. 2021 (Runner up Award)

Future Edit Graduate Showcase. Crafts Council, London. 2020

MA Graduate Online Exhibition 2020. University for the Creative Arts, Farnham

New Growth Installation. Heathland Artworks, Tilford. June – October 2018

Re Mastered. Crafts Study Centre, Farnham. June – September 2018

[/section]