Hard to Swallow

With a background in engineering, both military and civilian, and as a lifelong inhabitant of the southwest, I draw inspiration from my varied life experiences, encounters with people and places through travel, and my natural surroundings. Materials and construction inform my creative process, and in an abstract style, I like to combine both man-made and natural elements in my creations. Involving the viewer in my sculptures and installations as the kinetic elements encourage engagement and exploration, introducing perspectives that invite movement to fully appreciate. With ‘Hard to Swallow’, I have used stainless steel to illustrate the volume of an adult basking shark's mouth, with beads made from recovered ocean plastic being ingested. This 1.5m x 1m x 1m installation is fixed to heavy timber recovered from Plymouth Dockyard, connecting our maritime heritage and has spent a year on public exhibition in the gardens at Mt Edgecumbe in Cornwall. Of similar construction, my collaborative sculpture ‘Ebb and Flow’, currently on public display on Plymouth City Plaza, is awaiting relocation to its permanent position in the peace garden on Plymouth Hoe. Currently, I am studying part-time for a BA in Craft while working on other projects.