Shelley Burgoyne

Any new body of work is born from a period of exploration and research. I use a range of approaches. I work with two and three dimensional experimental studies, drawings, sculptural maquettes and prints, using these as a springboard for new imagery.

This early research provides a rich source of imagery and potential.

I often develop the work using printmaking media. Ideas continue to flow while immersed in the ink, colour, and intensity that the print process gives back. Printmaking in this intuitive way leads to the evolution of unexpected imagery and creates new ‘life forms’ in the process.

I collect water samples from rivers and seas and look at these with a microscope. I make drawings directly into my sketchbooks. In 2015 I spent four weeks as Artist in Residence at the Venice School of Graphic Arts. During this time I worked in the Department of Micrology at Venice University where I spent time looking at water samples from the canals using the environment of a science laboratory to generate my artistic enquiry. This project extended my fascination with the architecture of the natural world and built on previous residencies research in Morecambe Bay, Cumbria; County Mayo, Ireland; and the River Severn, Gloucestershire. More recently my interest has been drawn to the River Calder.

All of the projects and residencies I have been involved with include public engagement in a variety of settings with people of all ages and abilities.

Being in wild places is central to my work. I am looking for visual connections between the experience and the place. My current particular interest is in the layers of organic process inherent in the peat moorland. How do parts of the diverse organic matter merge and connect? New works inspired by the moor will be inhabited with organic forms, plant life and anatomy. The drama of the landscape and its minutiae has held my attention for many years and this will follow through in this new series of print works.

I have worked as a practicing artist and printmaker since 1979 and am based in Todmorden, West Yorkshire where I have a printmaking studio.
www.shelleyburgoyne.co.uk @shelleyburgoyne20