My work is about the attention to skill in making, whilst drawing on ideas based in nature, using a variety of mediums (such as painting, drawing, printmaking, textiles, bookmaking and mail art) and resulting in an environment where the audience can not only view the work, but also has the opportunity to interact with the work (and the artist) and potentially create their own work. I believe that the artist should not be so strictly separated from the viewer, and that this is key to making art accessible to everyone, and creating a network of exchange that is not particularly linear.

Similarly, I don’t think that there should necessarily be such a strong distinction between art and craft. The focus on fauna and foliage within my work is a way of exploring a return to a more organic aesthetic, using materials and methods that are craft-based and that celebrate the distinctive traits of the handmade.

I will use this opportunity as a way of further investigating these ideas, both through theoretical research and practice-based experimentation, further developing my skills in techniques I am already familiar with and those I have only had little experience with, and looking into the relationships between digital and more traditional mediums within my work.

I currently work from my studio in Macclesfield, Cheshire.