Although my work is non-traditional and sometimes challenging, most people find it accessible. I enjoy getting people interested in unusual ideas and many people respond to and comment on the sensuous qualities within the work.
Newcastle Building Society, Newcastle, 2008
Oasis is a suspended installation created specifically for the atrium
of the Society’s new building: Cobalt. The ideas and form for the
work were generated through discussions and making sessions with staff
whilst in residence over a three month period.
On each floor of the building are vending pods for soft drinks. As the
company have a strong recycling ethos it was decided to create the installation
entirely from over 350 plastic bottles sourced and recycled on site.
The building overlooks lakes where birds land and flock; through watching this process the idea was born to juxtapose artificial and natural. The bottles were cut to create bird-like forms, as if a strange translucent flock were frozen in mid ascent.
20-21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe, 2004
The Arts Centre partially occupies a beautiful old church. During this month-long residency, I worked with 13 to 19 year-olds who visit the Centre or meet in the square outside.
As the largest of the church windows faces the square we decided to use this as a focal point for our artworks. These included a suspended piece within the church tower and a 6m tall, translucent screen which was attached to the window externally. Everyone involved in the project collaborated on the design and creation of these.
Meadow Gallery, Ludlow, 2003
Entering this installation, the visitor steps into a hugely magnified depiction of an event occurring all around them in the meadow. The forms seen hovering above the grasses represent the dispersion of cells on the growing tip of a plant.The installation was created by mounting polyethylene foam sheet on steel rods which allowed the cell shapes to move and sway with the meadow grasses.
The Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 2003
This installation was commissioned as part of Liverpool's Capital of Culture bid and was part of a festival aimed at raising environmental awareness. Plasticity was created from hundreds of plastic bottles collected by school children.
The form was inspired by algal blooms, a phenomenon caused by algae feeding on pollution in water; the blooms - whilst beautiful looking - can grow so large that they eventually starve other life forms of oxygen.
Created to float on a brine pool, this installation utilised materials chosen for their links to the salt industry. The structure was inspired by salt crystals which form on the surface tension of brackish water if the salt concentration is high enough.
Fine detail was worked into the upper layers of the installation by a process of drawing with salt onto PVC; these drawings were created by workshop participants. All 144 designs were incorporated into the installation. This was a Year of the Artist funded residency.
The Green, Promenade & Beach, Hunstanton, 1998
This was inspired by the bright bold designs of the wind surfers' sails and kites around the resort; these fabrics withstand sun and rain well, so similar materials were used. Sun-umbrella frames became the mannequins for a series of 30 'sculptures'. Nine of the sculptures were designed and partially made by local school children.
The project was commissioned by the Borough Council of King's Lynn and W. Norfolk in partnership with Commissions East and Capital Challenge
A field, Wysing Arts, Cambridgeshire, 1997
The idea stemmed from walking ancient turf mazes in Lincolnshire combined with a love of spirals and helixes. The lie of the land, its history as a dairy farm and the more prosaic structure of a cow's stomach all helped to determine the shape.
Nothing was added to or removed from the field; the installation was created by cutting grass, and cutting and turning turf.
The work was commissioned by Wysing Arts as part of the show 'Seven Go Specific'.
Ann Art Festival, Transylvania, Romania, 1997
The festival was sited in the crater of an extinct volcano. In the centre was a circular lake, above, a circle of sky framed by pines along the crater rim.
The performance took place beside the lake and involved slowly revolving within a seven metre span of heavy yellow canvas - worn as a skirt - so drawing the circle inwards and leaving the audience delineating the original 'low tide' line.
Blackthorpe Barn, Suffolk, 1996
This 100 foot long, 16th Century threshing barn has a steep roof of thatch; to reflect both this and the original use of the barn the installation was created in thatching straw.
The roof proportions were used in two/thirds scale to create this 20 metre long inversion of the roof interior.
The installation was commissioned by Blackthorpe Barn and formed part of the 1996 Bury St Edmunds Festival.
Dunaújváros Spring Festival, Hungary, 1994
The performance site was the side of a ten storey housing block in a town originally called Stalin Town, which was built in the fifties to house the workers for a new steel mill.
This 'vertical dance' - executed by Ernst Süss - was about giving wings to disused and unloved buildings.
A sister piece was created for the side of a disused Hotel in Budapest. The scaffolding netting used symbolises that a building is about to be transformed, to be 'made better'.