Creative Arts Wales

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My Art

  2. Storytelling & Identity

I completed a 2 year part-time Masters degree in Arts in the Community at the University of Glamorgan, graduating in 2007.  My main area of research focused on digital storytelling and intergenerational participation.

Previous to that I graduated from the University of Wales Institute Cardiff as a Fine Art printer in 1994 at the age of 45, working mainly monochromatic producing monoprints, woodcuts, etchings etc.

I later combined my passion for computers with my love of printmaking and my work now goes through many stages utilising both traditional and contemporary practices – the final process nearly always digitally produced. However, these processes are still evolving.


Artist statement

The subject matter of my work revolves around my dream world, and in the waking world I strive to interpret my dreams, to make visible to others the invisible. It is a unique world, mine alone, it exists only through the power of my own imagination - taking sustenance from my thoughts, my fears, my essence - my very soul.

Influences

Lucien Freud, Albrecht Durer, Shani Rhys James, Alison Watts.

Paintings

I am an experimental painter and like to break all the rules. I believe it’s how you use paints that are important, not whether you are a ‘purist’. My preference is towards watercolours, acrylics and pastels but I enjoy working in mixed media and combining painting, printmaking with digital art to create unique pieces of work.

Printing

My love of printmaking began at university and I have experimented with most mediums, but have a preference for monoprints, drypoints and woodcuts because they allow me to be more spontaneous and to connect physically with the materials and grounds. My subject matter includes self portraiture.  When I first began to scrutinize myself I became aware of a certain detachment which surprised me.  In structural terms the overall image ceased to hold prominence, becoming fragmented, breaking down into pure tones, shapes and contours.  The modelling aspects of monoprint, moving ink with small pieces of card, and the painterly style involving the use of brushes, turps and rags – even fingers – gives way to the process of printing.  These process elements play an important part in the final resolve of the work.

Digital Art

The computer allows me the freedom to give form and substance to my dreams, and to share my world with others. It never ceases to amaze me that the computer, a logical, mechanical, man-made device used every day by countless millions of people in the workplace and home, can also be used as a creative tool, enabling great sensitivity and endless computations to metamorphose my dreams - to give life and substance to the twilight world of my imagination.

As with other media before it, the digital art studio is not always considered to be a true art form. More and more user friendly software is being developed for the home computer enthusiast with claims of turning anyone into an instant artist. The credibility of this media as a true art form has therefore often been called into question, with the result that some artists have abandoned this form of artistic expression and returned to the more traditional forms of painting, printing etc., before fully exploring its unique qualities.
Painting with light instead of pigments is just another tool for artists to utilize in the production of works of art . My aim is to produce digital artwork not only for public view but also to raise its profile amongst other artists as a complimentary medium used with, and alongside, not instead of, more traditional methods.

Details of Group Exhibitions

  • Mid Wales Open Art Fair - 2006
  • St. David’s Hall Cardiff Welsh Artist of the Year exhibition - 2003
  • On-line Symbolist Exhibition (finalist) - 2002
  • St. David’s Hall, Cardiff, Poems & Pictures, Tenovus Cancer - 1997
  • “Wales Open Art Show”, Aberystwyth
  • “The Making of Prints”, Wakefield, Yorkshire October “Monoprints”, Battersea Park, London - 1996
  • “Ola and Out”, The Old Library Gallery, The Hayes, Cardiff - 1995
  • “Destinations”, St. David’s Hall, Cardiff- 1994
  • “The Naked Face”, The Contemporary Portrait Society, London
  • “Fresh Art”, British Graduates Exhibition, London
  • Degree Show Exhibition, Howard Gardens, Cardiff
  • Royal West of England Academy, ‘Open’, Bristol
  • Llantrisant Arts Festival, Mid Glamorgan, Permanent Waves Arts Festival, Cardiff, The Mercer Gallery, Huddersfield
  • “The Half Imperial Show”, Scarborough - 1993
  • Wales ‘Open’ Art Show, Aberystwyth
  • The National Eisteddfod of Wales, Dyfed
  • “Contemporary Paintings & Prints, The Barbican Centre, London
  • Cowbridge Community Centre
  • “The Face Fits”, Milton Keynes
  • St Albans Cathedral Centenary Exhibition, St. Albans

On-line works

A J Canvas Prints

Work on othe web sites

Arts Council of Wales
Axis Directory
Artist Directory
Wales on the Web
The Symbolist Artshow
Paintsaints (No: 226)
Artnet