I was born in Winchester to an English father and an Irish mother . I feel part English and Part Irish,
I often feel more Irish as growing up, this culture was maintained at home.
I trained as a nurse (SRN) in Portsmouth and later trained to be a Health Visitor and a practice teacher, training at the social Sciences and Psychology dept. Later I taught student health visitors from the Florence Nightingale building in Southampton University. I continued with this work for over twenty five years as well as bringing up three children.
I think I have always been creative, I used to decorate wedding cakes making pastillage flowers and models .I always loved painting and drawing and painted murals for family and friends.
I attended a convent school in Southampton and loved art. My teacher wanted me to apply to go to art college but my mum opposed this. In Ireland it was seen at important to have profession so she encouraged me to look at nursing or teaching.
When I turned 40 I started to go to painting classes and the tutor encouraged me to apply for a part time Visual Art degree at Winchester School of Art. It was a four year course and I had to apply submitting a strong portfolio. I remember scrabbling together what I could and completing a submission project which was “things that scare you “ I drew my old garden shed in charcoal and
this unfolded to images from my memory and imagination; dark images not pretty images.
At the interview I was asked which artists I liked I couldn’t think with nerves and said Turner and Bonnard. I don’t think the tutor, Trish Bould, was impressed. I knew I was going to be on a steep learning curve as the course was Fine Art, contemporary and very conceptual based. The other students on the course were so interesting from many different backgrounds and careers. Nurses, Doctors, IT specialists, artists with diplomas in printmaking and
graphics to retirees and a BBC journalist.
I think the benefit of attending Art College later rather than 18 is that I had a lot of life experience, had studied social science and cultural studies and could apply them to my ongoing art investigation. The course was great; you could move through different disciplines, but essentially it was conceptually based, which for me was challenging. I was encouraged to undertake video and
installation and my work was described as “painterly”( I thought yes of course its because I want to be a painter). The view of the course tutors was that painting and art should be seen in a much
wider context.
My final piece was a large video and sound installation called Life. I visited local hospitals and recorded sounds such as patients talking, being called for appointments and the electronic voice from a machine used in resuscitation.
It started with the recorded baby ultrasound heartbeat and the image of a fountain in monochrome. It was moving to the sound of the heart beat and had a sexual context the beginning of life.
I often feel more Irish as growing up, this culture was maintained at home.
I trained as a nurse (SRN) in Portsmouth and later trained to be a Health Visitor and a practice teacher, training at the social Sciences and Psychology dept. Later I taught student health visitors from the Florence Nightingale building in Southampton University. I continued with this work for over twenty five years as well as bringing up three children.
I think I have always been creative, I used to decorate wedding cakes making pastillage flowers and models .I always loved painting and drawing and painted murals for family and friends.
I attended a convent school in Southampton and loved art. My teacher wanted me to apply to go to art college but my mum opposed this. In Ireland it was seen at important to have profession so she encouraged me to look at nursing or teaching.
When I turned 40 I started to go to painting classes and the tutor encouraged me to apply for a part time Visual Art degree at Winchester School of Art. It was a four year course and I had to apply submitting a strong portfolio. I remember scrabbling together what I could and completing a submission project which was “things that scare you “ I drew my old garden shed in charcoal and
this unfolded to images from my memory and imagination; dark images not pretty images.
At the interview I was asked which artists I liked I couldn’t think with nerves and said Turner and Bonnard. I don’t think the tutor, Trish Bould, was impressed. I knew I was going to be on a steep learning curve as the course was Fine Art, contemporary and very conceptual based. The other students on the course were so interesting from many different backgrounds and careers. Nurses, Doctors, IT specialists, artists with diplomas in printmaking and
graphics to retirees and a BBC journalist.
I think the benefit of attending Art College later rather than 18 is that I had a lot of life experience, had studied social science and cultural studies and could apply them to my ongoing art investigation. The course was great; you could move through different disciplines, but essentially it was conceptually based, which for me was challenging. I was encouraged to undertake video and
installation and my work was described as “painterly”( I thought yes of course its because I want to be a painter). The view of the course tutors was that painting and art should be seen in a much
wider context.
My final piece was a large video and sound installation called Life. I visited local hospitals and recorded sounds such as patients talking, being called for appointments and the electronic voice from a machine used in resuscitation.
It started with the recorded baby ultrasound heartbeat and the image of a fountain in monochrome. It was moving to the sound of the heart beat and had a sexual context the beginning of life.
The video was projected onto the ceiling and there were white curtains, much like those around patients bed. The video on the ceiling provided the view the patient would have lying on their back in bed. At the end, the sounds ended with a slamming door and footsteps and the room was flooded in blue light. It was emotive and transportative. My nursing career and the cycle of life influenced the work; it was about life but also my life.
I was awarded a first.
My dissertation was “Can artists collaborate with scientists?”.I visited the Wellcome Institute and other areas where artists were blurring the boundaries between art and science. I loved the work of Helen Chadwick .
During this time I had to balance my life between work , art college and family life with three teenage children.
It was challenging, but provided great narrative in my work.
I also felt that there was a distinct gap between the practical world of work and Art.
However I didn’t want to stop and went on to do my MA Fine Art by project. I investigated the influx of social media; this was pre Facebook but Moblog was a blog site where you used your mobile phone to share images and connect with people . I wanted to look at how small space of the artist could transcend through the use of social media and the internet. The small space transcends to
the large space outside of the gallery setting.
It was also about relationships and how these connections influenced artist and their work.
Instagram and Facebook were on their way, I was ahead of the game!
Since completing my MA I have collaborated with many artist on installations and projects. for example. placing art in empty shops and spaces.
One particular installation I did with fellow artist, Sue Maclachlan was “Womens Work is never done” at Greenham Common.
This was also exhibited in London at an all women’s exhibition.
I was awarded a first.
My dissertation was “Can artists collaborate with scientists?”.I visited the Wellcome Institute and other areas where artists were blurring the boundaries between art and science. I loved the work of Helen Chadwick .
During this time I had to balance my life between work , art college and family life with three teenage children.
It was challenging, but provided great narrative in my work.
I also felt that there was a distinct gap between the practical world of work and Art.
However I didn’t want to stop and went on to do my MA Fine Art by project. I investigated the influx of social media; this was pre Facebook but Moblog was a blog site where you used your mobile phone to share images and connect with people . I wanted to look at how small space of the artist could transcend through the use of social media and the internet. The small space transcends to
the large space outside of the gallery setting.
It was also about relationships and how these connections influenced artist and their work.
Instagram and Facebook were on their way, I was ahead of the game!
Since completing my MA I have collaborated with many artist on installations and projects. for example. placing art in empty shops and spaces.
One particular installation I did with fellow artist, Sue Maclachlan was “Womens Work is never done” at Greenham Common.
This was also exhibited in London at an all women’s exhibition.
I continued to paint and draw during this time and gradually my practice became more about painting. I had come a full circle.
I think the difference was that my paintings had more depth and I started investigating more about the work providing a sense of place . About memories and me in that space. I was interested in experimenting with painting using different media and techniques; for me its always about play and discovery.
My current practice is painting and I work from my studio at home. I also work in glass but incorporate painting into the glass work.
I think the difference was that my paintings had more depth and I started investigating more about the work providing a sense of place . About memories and me in that space. I was interested in experimenting with painting using different media and techniques; for me its always about play and discovery.
My current practice is painting and I work from my studio at home. I also work in glass but incorporate painting into the glass work.
I am influenced by artists such as Turner, Donald Teskey, Joan Eardley, Kurt Jackson.
I recently went on an artist residency at the Burren Art College in Ireland. This was a great opportunity to refocus and reboot my painting .
I had the opportunity to immerse myself in a landscape I feel is very much my ancestral home. My mother came from this part of Ireland and
the South West coastline and rugged landscape is very important as I visited the Burren quite a lot as a child.
the South West coastline and rugged landscape is very important as I visited the Burren quite a lot as a child.
I felt a deep connection and could lose myself in the landscape. I have been
reading the work of John O Donahue. He is a poet and philosopher .His work is about the Celts and I have found it inspiring particularly his work Anam Cara and Eternal Echoes.
reading the work of John O Donahue. He is a poet and philosopher .His work is about the Celts and I have found it inspiring particularly his work Anam Cara and Eternal Echoes.
It helped me understand why at times I felt lost and neither English or Irish. This time in the Burren was also a spiritual journey and left me wanting to return and carry on with my painting of the landscape that for me is home. My work is about resonance, memories a journey through a landscape, its not truly representative more about my time my feelings and what I absorb. A personal history.
Memory is one of the most beautiful realities of the soul , where the past is
gathered. I like to then transpose this in my paintings
Memory is one of the most beautiful realities of the soul , where the past is
gathered. I like to then transpose this in my paintings