BA (hons) in Fine-Art Tapestry, Edinburgh College of Art
MFA in Fine-Art Tapestry, Edinburgh College of Art

I am a visual and performance artist and workshop leader. Born in Australia and living and working in Edinburgh, I graduated from Edinburgh College of Art with an MFA in Fine Art Tapestry. This training, while firmly rooted in the making skills and techniques of tapestry weaving, fibre arts and drawing, supported me to further explore my own voice and process both visually and conceptually through photography, video, installation and performance. Alongside drawing, these are the mediums I currently utilise in my practice. Textiles, texture, surface, pattern, colour and line remain important elements in my work visually and symbolically. I find I am consistently drawn back to the structure and aesthetic quality of grids and lines and these inform my compositions and imagery.

Central to my practice is the exploration of and bringing voice to experiences that can be hard to communicate verbally. Since my teenage years, the visual and psychological language of art has been a very profound form of self expression and communication. It has been at times like a lifeline, giving me a voice and a presence when I felt isolated and invisible.

My own arts practice weaves together experiences of trauma, chronic illness and slow intentional healing alongside themes from fairytales, myths and imagination. I am interested in the feminine aspect in all of us and in particular how this impacts and shapes my own inner and outer identity. I have a curiosity about the parts of ourselves that exist in the shadows, between the spaces, the stories we don’t tell or share - the hidden or potentially ‘darker’ aspects of our experiences as human beings.

I live and work in the city of Edinburgh in Scotland where Edinburgh Castle and the spires of historic medieval beauty intersect with the neon-smoke of nightclubs and the dark romance of the closes. Arthurs Seat, a dramatically visual rock formation rises up to join the city skyline and from its green-gold, stony landscape I draw a lot of creative energy and inspiration. Land or City-scapes weave in and out of my work. I grew up firstly in the suburbs of Canberra, Australia with much time spent outside the city in the country, at lakes and at the coast. Later my family moved to a community located on a deep green edge of Aberdeen-shire in Scotland. These two places with their physical differences remain always central in my inner visual as well as emotional landscape. I moved to Edinburgh to study Art in 1996 and have an BA (hons) and an MFA from Edinburgh College of Art.

I have worked with adults with intellectual disabilities for 20 years facilitating individuals and groups to express themselves creatively through art, craft and performance. I am currently employed in the role of Puppetry Workshop Leader at Garvald Edinburgh, a community organisation that supports adults with intellectual disabilities to reach their full creative potential. As part of this role I facilitate the co-creation of Puppetry and Visual Theatre performances.

In all aspects of my practice there is a focus on process, creative play, experiment, exploration to find a connection from which to devise finished work.

My intention is to open up, share and initiate further dialogue, communication and connections.