For as long as I can remember I have always been making something. In retrospect, I may well have picked this desire to create up from my nan and my mum, who were always making something as well.

 

I was an analogue child that was closer to the make do and mend generation than the digital children of the 21 century, who have a screen that feeds their desires, but not necessarily their creativity.

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For that I will always be truly grateful.

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I always loved to embroider, but as the years passed and my life became more focused on single parenting and domestic issues, I seemed to have lost the desire to create. I just lost my creative mojo.

 

Then one day, several years ago, I attended an exhibition on mental health and saw the most incredible sight. It was a sampler that had been sewn by an inmate of a Victorian Asylum.

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The inmate Mary Frances Heaton had used a needle and thread and other accessible materials to petition Queen Victoria about her own personal experiences of her own social injustice that had befallen her.

In that moment, as I stood there looking at this piece. I was transfixed and amazed by her ingenuity and her passion to be heard.

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Her passion reignited my desire to create and to use embroidery and textiles as a basis to draw attention to social issues and to empower women, especially those that deserve more attention than afforded them.

 

Mary was incarcerated for 41 years, but she never gave up using her voice. I like to think you can hear an echo of her in mine.

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Since then, my work has featured in solo exhibitions as well a group shows.

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I am continuously inspired and welcome all interest in my work, exhibitions, commissions and collaborations,

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I am happy to report that my creative desire has now been fully reinstated.

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Exhibitions 

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2018

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Fighting Talk/Shefest  2 – 15 March Chapel Walk Galley Sheffield

https://www.shefest.org.uk/fringe-festival-2018/fighting-talk-an-art-exhibition

 

Dame of the Hour  6 – 22 March St James Wine Vaults Bath

https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/news-and-events/events/dame-of-the-hour-exhibition/

 

Thumbnail Group Show  9 May – 23 May Nolia's Gallery London

 

Solo Show  19 June – 29 July 44AD Artspace Bath

http://www.44ad.net/associate-artist-events.html

 

50/50 Group Show  3 August – 23 August Crow's Nest Gallery London

https://www.artistic-uk.org/50-50

 

Cash is King  30 August – 8 September The Saatchi Gallery London https://www.rebelnottaken.com/cash-is-king

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BLACK Group Show 18 December - 20 December The Crypt Gallery Euston Road,
London,
NW1 2BA

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Work donated to Fivers4artists https://www.artistic-uk.org/fivers-for-artistic Cas

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2019

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Viva Iconic Group Show May 18 - Viva Dalston 2 Stoke Newington Rd, Hackney Downs, London N16 7XN

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One Love Group Show May 26 -  London 

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Cash is King 2  Money Talks - Notes featured in the second publication, exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery 21 August - 8 September.

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Cash is King - Mad in Margate Group Show - 18 October - 3 November 

Artgame 18 Marine Drive, Margate, Kent UK CT9 1DH  https://www.artgame.co.uk/event/mad-in-margate-private-view/

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For The Love Of Money Art Exhibition - 9 November - 31 December Studio 45,  45 Marshalls Row, Brighton BN1 4JU

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S.E.W International Contemporary Stitched Art Exhibition - https://www.societyforembroideredwork.com/events.html 12 November - 17 November The Clerkenwell Gallery, 20 Clerkenwell Road, London, EC1R 0DP

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The Foreplay Art Show -1 of 4 Female Artists Group Show 24 November - 31 December

At The Other One Gallery Art Space 1 The Cockpit, Saffron Walden, Essex
CB10 1HJ

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5 YEARS 50 PHING THINGS CHRISTMAS CHARITY AUCTION - The Ben Oakley Gallery Greenwich Market, 9 Turnpin Lane, Greenwich, London, SE10 9JA - 14 December 

https://www.benoakleygallery.com/5-years-50-phing-things/

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Making you think with a needle and thread

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