I am an artist living in St Albans, Hertfordshire.My art practise is about recycling found materials and objects usually sourced from my garden. These materials I inherited from my father in law, he was brilliant at reusing and keeping materials for another day.
I am fascinated by buildings. For many years I drew them, travelling around Britain collecting images of interesting architecture.
My work uncovers a sense of nostalgia, memory, time, place, history, story, sometimes loneliness and loss.
Recently I have been making small Copper Shed sculptures from copper pipes and reclaimed wood, these sculptures offer the viewer a place to use their imagination to create a story.
I hope my art helps the onlooker to make up playful journeys with words, have fun experiences and adventures.
More Artist's Words About Houses/Sheds
A house is a reflection of ourselves. A space for finding a corner to lose yourself and use your imagination. Gaston Bachelard (1884-1962) was a French philosopher says that the house is the container that shelters our body, which is the container for our inner life. To access inner life we need time to daydream. For daydreaming the house offers spaces to curl up in, such as nooks and crannies, window seats, attics, drawers and bedrooms.
Our house is a corner of the world, it's our first universe, even the humblest dwelling is beautiful. All inhabited space is essentially the home, but it doesn't have to be a house it can be a tent, a shed, a seashell, a car....places where we can be alone so we can access our 'inner spaces' with time to imagine and daydream.
The house in which you were born in is your first space of material warmth, protection and rest. We often dream of our first house, I do. It is imprinted in our subconscious. Sometimes if we dream of our houses it's difficult to explain in words. This is where poetry is helpful.
My copper sheds are about having the space to use my imagination, as they are modelled on my art studio space. The space is the garden too. My shed has a story. It was built by my husband at another property, we sold that place but couldn't leave the shed. So we took it apart and moved it on a lorry to the new home. Built it and then converted it to a studio. It was a log and heavy process, but we were too attached to the building.
As a society we have a history of moving buildings we love so they don't get pulled down and lost forever.
Copper Shed Sculpture
Its sits alone on the plinth
with aged markings on its walls,
Imagine walking along the wood to the open door,
inside it's mostly dark shadows, with a small patch of light from a window.
Is it inviting? Is it comfortable?
There's a corner to sit and daydream, a place to think and imagine,
Being solitary is lovely.
The walls are cold in the Winter and warm in the Summer,
windows open and close for imagination to fly.
The wood path is wobbly and blackened,
imagine a path to the human soul.