About.

Bio.

Artist's Statement.

Growing up in Northern Ireland I knew I wanted to be an artist from a young age and dreamt of going to art school. I came to Australia for a working holiday in 1981 and stayed. I completed a Bachelor of Fine Art Degree at the Canberra school of Art and followed it with a Graduate Diploma in Education at the Canberra University. I have had a creative career as a painter, sculptor and art teacher, before signing up for a Master of Fine Art at the National Art School in Darlinghurst.

While I grew up during the Troubles and spent my adolescence navigating the political trenches of an oppressive, partitioned society,  only recently have I begun making work about this formative experience.
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Undertaking the MFA has facilitated a deep exploration into the effect of my past and has led to a greater understanding of who I am. 

• ​I have recently completed a Master of Fine Art Degree in Sculpture at the National Art School, Sydney.
• I am an artist and a teacher with a depth of experience developed while working across related sectors which demonstrate my skills in good administration, time and task management. I have consistently and successfully worked with diverse groups throughout my career.
• I have had successful solo and group exhibitions, exhibiting sculpture, painting and drawing. Many of these exhibitions have been held in community run spaces. I have also fulfilled various art commissions over the years and currently work in my own studio.
• I have travelled broadly and lived in Tokyo and London. During this time I participated within various communities developing my skills in understanding and adaptability.
• In London I worked as a casual teacher at The Southbank International School as well as designing and presenting an after school arts program for the primary years.

My current body of work is inspired by growing up during the Troubles in a 1970s Belfast. It is about unity and division, beauty and fear, it is about landscape and architecture, trauma and resilience.

I use materials that are evocative to me of childhood memories, predominantly steel and burnt timber. The rusted orange texture of the steel is strong yet vulnerable, it is a resilient material in its early stages of decay and reminds me of the burnt out cars and buses used as barricades across Northern Ireland. The smell of  charcoaled timber arrives in waves, sometimes as a pungent reminder of destruction, sometimes as a gentle smoky perfume. My work is poetic, and open to an instinctual interpretation that our experience and memory thrusts upon us.

I believe the role of art is one of the great constants: it is communicator, guardian of humanity, and our hope for the future. I hope my work encourages a conversation about the past, about the effect of trauma and war, about culture and connection to land, and ultimately, to encourage empathy and collective responsibility.

CV

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