Biography
I have long been fascinated by stone: collecting pebbles and fossils, stacking stones, photographing them and building in stone. With this in mind my children bought me some chisels for Christmas in, I think, 2013. I have been carving stone since then. Since retiring from teaching chemistry and photography in schools, I have been able to devote my time fully to creating sculpture and offering sculpture courses. My art has been exhibited in a number of venues across Oxfordshire and beyond, and my work sits in private collections nationally and in Europe and the USA. I am a member of West Ox Arts, the Oxford Sculptors Group and an elected member of the Oxford Arts Society. I was the recipient of the Lady Mary Moser Award in 2022.
My work is informed by, and in sympathy with, nature. Stone often sits in the garden or studio for many months before shapes and forms suggest themselves to me and work on a piece can begin. I like to work in reclaimed or rescued stone from building renovations or quarry waste that would otherwise be discarded but also source from quarries and suppliers in the UK and further afield. Favourite stones include Ancaster weatherbed and hard white, Bath Hartham stone, alabasters and serpentines. I also use metal leaf on some pieces, usually 24ct gold but also copper, silver and aluminium. For my sculpture-in-a-day courses I use Maltese limestone.
My sculpture is made to be touched - indeed I invite exhibition visitors to do so - and so texture is important to me. Sometimes this means that a piece will be sanded until it is as smooth as can be and then wax polished to an even greater sheen and softer texture. On other occasions this means retaining the rough surface of the quarried or broken stone. Whether it is one of these extremes or something in between, I hope that my sculpture, whatever its scale, is as pleasing and thought-provoking to the hand as it is to the eye.
With work for the outdoors made with gardens in mind, I relish the fact that once installed, a piece will slowly age and become part of the garden with algae, mosses, plants and the light and shade of the changing days and seasons. My years of experience teaching and practising photography mean that my stone pieces often capture a 'decisive moment’: I often try to depict movement and interaction that defy the solidity of the medium. At my studio in the stunning grounds of Cokethorpe School, where I also teach my Sculpture-in-a-Day classes to the public, I am surrounded by beautiful parkland with geese, peacocks and red kites for company. Daily dogwalks in the Oxfordshire countryside, mountain-walking and lake-swimming mean that my eye is keenly attuned to the natural world, and I hope that this is clear in my work.
