Welcome to my world of curiosities
During my time at University I have come a long way in discovering myself and my way of working. I have been influenced by the resources and the people around me and have learned so much for which I am thankful.
I have always been fascinated by History and Science and all branches inbetween. I have an inexplicable love for the antique, the old and forgotten.
Old black and white photographs,letters,diaries,jewellery,albums,books and so on fascinate me. I am drawn to them.They are something precious and fragile. I think part of this love was because of the stories I would be told by my grandparents, their black and white picture albums, my uncle's old photograph restorations, and the wealth of items in my grandparents' attic which was a favourite play place for my sister and younger cousin and I.
I wanted to express this love for the antique in my work. I hence sought after old books in the library.I was overwhelmed with the wealth of imagery I found. Mostly from the Victorian period, the images were so wonderfully crafted but almost forgotten now.I wanted therefore to use these images in my own work somehow.
I was never much of a reader but with this discovery I would constantly have my head burried in a book somewhere, reading about bizarre Victorian remedies,ideas,fashions and trends, news and disasters. I used all this to my advantage. I collected as much as I could,scanned or photocopied from books and created peculiar curious images. These would engage the viewer and force him to appreciate the old in a new context.
My recent discovery of a shop in Covent Garden has kept this burning desire for engravings alight. The Dover Bookshop provides all the copyright free images you can get your hands on! A blessing for someone like me!
I like creating textures of my own in my work. This was moved along from my exposure to some of Ian Dodds beautiful work, whom I had the pleasure of meeting at Univeristy.
Looking through children's picture books I came to realise how much I liked collage work such as that of Sara Fanelli.
Hence you can see how my style emerged from all these influences to create what you see here.
I have always been fascinated by History and Science and all branches inbetween. I have an inexplicable love for the antique, the old and forgotten.
Old black and white photographs,letters,diaries,jewellery,albums,books and so on fascinate me. I am drawn to them.They are something precious and fragile. I think part of this love was because of the stories I would be told by my grandparents, their black and white picture albums, my uncle's old photograph restorations, and the wealth of items in my grandparents' attic which was a favourite play place for my sister and younger cousin and I.
I wanted to express this love for the antique in my work. I hence sought after old books in the library.I was overwhelmed with the wealth of imagery I found. Mostly from the Victorian period, the images were so wonderfully crafted but almost forgotten now.I wanted therefore to use these images in my own work somehow.
I was never much of a reader but with this discovery I would constantly have my head burried in a book somewhere, reading about bizarre Victorian remedies,ideas,fashions and trends, news and disasters. I used all this to my advantage. I collected as much as I could,scanned or photocopied from books and created peculiar curious images. These would engage the viewer and force him to appreciate the old in a new context.
My recent discovery of a shop in Covent Garden has kept this burning desire for engravings alight. The Dover Bookshop provides all the copyright free images you can get your hands on! A blessing for someone like me!
I like creating textures of my own in my work. This was moved along from my exposure to some of Ian Dodds beautiful work, whom I had the pleasure of meeting at Univeristy.
Looking through children's picture books I came to realise how much I liked collage work such as that of Sara Fanelli.
Hence you can see how my style emerged from all these influences to create what you see here.