What I do…

I explore themes of place & identity in the public realm. Interpretive & contextual research which inform the development of verbal & visual narratives have become key anchors of my practice. I primarily work within an Integrated Design Team where a collaborative approach becomes more inclusive & dynamic. This is ultimately more creative & the wider consultation this provokes promotes more ‘buy in’ from client & audience alike.

My aim is to explore, re-frame and present historic and contemporary contextual evidence as original, evocative and relevant interventions. This is an approach, which offers a rigorous edge and threshold at which to work with the realities and needs of site. I am keen to maintain and or redefine the local vernacular.

I am interested in how people navigate, react to and read spaces; particularly how a site can silently communicate. Proportion, rhythm and colour are manifest ‘through the surface’ in pattern, texture and sculptural form; structures and systems for marking place, function, time and motion.

Edges are also a source of inspiration – that particular threshold between one state and another. In the public realm this is often about physical boundaries; a change in geography, material, texture or use – but it is also about perception & emotion. I live by the sea in Ramsgate, Kent.  I take inspiration form the natural world. I am concerned about how we treat our environment.

I challenge client teams and stakeholders to re-assess perceptions of site through my actions and responses. I work collaboratively with agencies beyond the art community, to further explore opportunities & manufacturing methods, for example – setting up a short research programme with the National Oceanographic Centre in Southampton or working with the Digital Research Department at Falmouth University.

Over time, my practice has evolved a proactive and holistic approach to site, possible only successful through early inclusion in project teams. This early involvement therefore creates the opportunity for interpretive intervention and embedded expression as opposed to simply reacting to others prescribed viewpoint. This arrangement has allowed a valuable insight into issues of urban development and the public realm which allows me to contribute in significant ways, which were previously unavailable to me as a project artist

As a member of an extensive Integrated Design Team, I have worked with Southampton City Council & their partners for many years on public realm projects in the city. This extended relationship brings knowledge in-depth to extended project timelines. I am currently working with Balfour Beatty Living Places on a transport interchange & public realm project for Southampton Station Quarter North.

Projects I enjoy centre upon an implicit contextual understanding & engagement with local communities & stakeholders. At Maidstone in Kent, I worked alongside Letts Wheeler Architects & the project team in developing a visual narrative to be embedded into the granite surfaces of this High Street Regeneration Scheme. The research brought so much detail to the surface that the client agreed to the team seeking Arts Council Funding for a publication to be available as a ‘walking book’ enhancing the experience to be had on foot within the local area. We were successful in this bid and received £30k funding.

The Margate Sea Defences Project & Combe Down Stone Mines Stabilisation Legacy Project lie within an Historic Conservation Area & World Heritage Site respectively. Both projects demanded an intrinsic understanding of place. Both offered diverse outcomes. One project is a response to a vital civil engineering sea defence programme which is ultimately protecting a community, whilst the other is primarily a response celebrating a community whose homes were threatened & blighted by stone mining beneath them & which are now both secured.

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