ABOUT ME
I describe myself as an artist who makes jewellery and have taken my time coming to the workshop. I began by training as a mental health nurse at the Bethlem and Maudsley Hospital in the early 1990's, where I had the privilege of being part of other people's stories. Inspired by the large art collection, now held at the Bethlem Museum, and a growing interest in psychoanalysis, I went on to study Fine Art Textiles at Goldsmiths University.
As a child, I would spend hours with my father -a blacksmith turned carpenter- and watch or sometimes help as he worked, so returning to the workshop now has given me a sense of coming home; the familiar tools, sounds and smells.
Much of my work depends on this visceral connection to memory. I try to listen to my intuitions in both idea and sensation. Sometimes I am drawn to the roar of flame and so I melt. Sometimes I remember the sound of metal on metal, so I hammer. Sometimes it says hollow, sometimes flat... and I find a process for each of these.
This is where emotional process meets material, personal mythology and observation meets technique and my pieces evolve. My imagery rests on small details from the natural world -the light on moss, the dust on a moth's wing. It is in these that I find the magic I wish my pieces to hold. Whilst all the items are able to be worn, it is also important to me that they are objects in their own right.
There is huge pleasure for me in making these and I hope that they each retain this as they pass from me to you.