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I am a printmaker, designer and print tutor.
My work is a celebration of the natural world and of special places. I use linocut, screen printing and other print techniques to create simple bold designs with limited colour palettes. I like to portray wild creatures in their natural habitats and also look at whole ecosystems from woodlands to shorelines, rivers, moors and meadows. Most of my designs come from personal experience of locations and wildlife sightings, which seem to resonate with other peoples’ connection to places and to the natural world.
A lot of my work has an optimistic feel and my style is influenced by mid 19th Century design which reflected an optimistic era. Am I optimistic about the fate of our natural world? How can I be? The reality of mass species losses, habitat destruction, air and water pollution and spiralling climate chaos prevents this. But making connections through art and through nature gives me hope. The more we resonate with nature the more likely we are going to want to value and protect it.
In the last year or so I have made a series of prints in linocut and mixed media that focus on moorland ecology – ground nesting birds, sphagnum moss, heather, bilberries – and also experienced a growing awareness of the importance of peat in that habitat So I was delighted to join the Peat Appreciation Society when it began, with amazing artists, many of whom want to blend the boundaries of art and science.
I teach printmaking classes at Northlight Art School. I have also done a lot of public art workshops both there and through Hebden Bridge Arts (and Hebden Bridge Arts Festival before them). I enjoy teaching techniques in a practical way and helping people get good results. I also enjoy making a space where people can allow their creative side to be nurtured and the positive effects on mental wellbeing of focussing on an art activity in a group atmosphere can be felt
In this exhibition I envision exhibiting work and making some new prints in situ, possibly with an element of visitors being able to join in and make their own small prints.
@rachred
Turquoise Arts 