I moved to the North East of England to go to Art college and ended up staying.
Since leaving college I have spent my time making sculpture.
Originally I exhibited nationally as well as locally and during this time I benefited from various awards and residencies, which allowed me to develop my working practice and broaden my experience.
I became increasingly aware that I wanted to put my work in more publicly accessible places and I used the opportunity offered by my year long residency at Durham Cathedral to do this and sited work outside on the river banks surrounding the Cathedral (‘The Upper Room’ & ‘Kathedra’).
Since then I have successfully completed many large scale public artworks within the UK as well as many private commissions.
I worked with Lucy Milton of Helix Arts to instigate the St. Peter’s Riverside Sculpture Project and became the Lead Resident Artist. The project lasted twelve years, one of the longest running Public Art residencies in Europe, with a permanent team of three artists, a writer for a year and involving over 15 other artists. Thirteen major artworks were created and integrated into the regeneration of a former shipbuilding area on a two mile stretch of the River Wear in Sunderland. The team worked collaboratively with many professionals including architects, designers and developers and actively involved the local community in the process, working with schools, groups and individuals to ensure a sense of ownership and artworks that are properly informed by their place, culture and history. A number of local residents have taken on the role of guides and guardians of the work. The project gained much recognition.
I have continued making sculpture and I am currently working on various projects and developing new work in my studio including a film.
"I endeavour to make work that is appropriate to its place, both in a physical and conceptual sense. I want it to be accessible, intriguing, involving and enjoyable.
I relish the challenge and enjoy working with many different materials having worked with wood, stone, glass, concrete etc. anything and everything including chocolate!
The theme of my work, put simply, is to transform the familiar and ordinary into something extra-ordinary.
When appropriate, I like to involve the public in the creation of public artworks whether that be; exchanging ideas, information and skills; working practically; or just working on site."