Artist Statement

“My work lives in the gaps between the superficialities, nurturing the hidden spaces that we tend not to see.   I like to explore the cycle of life and decay, and the dichotomy of fragility and preservation, working with unusual organic and locally found materials that tell intimate stories about the physical locality as well as shedding light on the values and priorities of people living in the area. This combination of the natural habitat and man’s influence shape and colour everything in our world and expressing the nature of that interaction is central to my work. 

Working with plants is like revealing a multi-layered story: the constantly changing colours, shapes and textures, the relationships with locality, habitat, landscape and environment… the history, the mythology and medicinal qualities. The foraging itself is almost ceremonial: each plant differs day to day, year to year, and the memory of those circumstances also feed into it.  Some works are more literal and some are more abstract, but to have recognizable flora always brings familiarity, and a touch of nostalgia. Working with resins allows me to give structure these otherwise ephemeral and delicate forms.

I hope people don’t just view, but experience something when they are with my pieces, and also tap into the sumliminal beauty within it. There are multiple levels to each piece, and details within details, and hopefully an element of surprise. The greatest compliment clients give is when they say they keep discovering a new area in the work.  I think I just suggest things and each person interprets it subjectively.  There are always preconceived ideas and associations to do with the materials before they’ve even approached the piece, but I might be presenting it in a new light to them.”