After studying Three Dimensional Design (BAhons University of Brighton) and MA Ceramics (Cardiff School of Art and Design) I set up a studio workshop with Red Herring Studies, Brighton, where I concentrated on making narrative based metalwork and large scale public art commissions. More recent work has moved towards explorative mixed media exhibition work, developing themes and directions as outlined in the Portfolio section.

 

Public art commissions include: Life Span (in collaboration with Bruce Williams), perimeter sculptural railings and gates for the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast (2000), funded by The Millennium Commission; Railings, access ramp and gate for Swindon Dance Studio (1997); Sculptural gate for the Hawthornes Urban Wildlife Centre, Southampton (1995); A series of architectural spandrels for Banbury town centre (1993). In 2004 I was the first female artist-blacksmith to be awarded a bronze medal by the Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths in recognition of the contribution to architectural metalwork.

 

Solo exhibitions include Somewhere, Otter Gallery, University of Chichester (2013); Threshold, R Space Gallery in Belfast (2013); Points of Presence, Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham, Sue Williams Gallery, London and Winchester Gallery (1993).

 

Group exhibitions between 1990- 2026 include: Beyond the Frame, Cromer Arts Space; Marks Make Meaning - drawing across disciplines, University of Brighton; Decadence? Views from the edge of the century, Crafts Council Gallery, London; Fe-male, work by five women blacksmiths, the Collection Gallery, Ledbury; Out Of This World - The Influence of Nature in Craft and Design, Crafts Council Gallery, London; Decouvertes, Galerie Arts and Crafts, Brussels, Belgium; The Chemistry Set, Crafts Council Gallery, London; The Furnished Landscape, Crafts Council Gallery, London; The Avant Garden, Barbican Centre, London.

 

Work held in public collections include Goodwood Sculpture Park, the Crafts Council, Hove Museum and Art Gallery, East Sussex County Council and a series of ecclesiastical artifacts commissioned by St Michael and All Saints Church, Brighton.

 

From 2000 to 20023 I held the post of Senior Lecturer on MDes and BA(Hons) Design and Craft at the University of Brighton. Pedagogical research: between 2007 - 2009 I was CETLD Research Fellow (with co-project leader Cynthia Cousens), University of Brighton, See What Happens- the value of creative experimentation in materials. Experimentation is widely recognised as being fundamental to developing an individual, agile and sustainable creative practice. This research analyses and evaluates the role of experimentation through materials in the creative designing and making of three-dimensional objects and artefacts. It also aims to strengthen its place within the Higher Education curricula in Art and Design.