Statement
My art reflects a lifelong interest in memory and thought, and the way we interpret our experiences over time. I am intrigued by the notion that each of us carries her own parallel universe in her head. These worlds of the mind are as complex and changeable, as full of repeats and variations, as the physical world around us.
A former landscape architect and environmental planner, I draw on my experience of landscapes around the world to create sense impressions of space and light. My stylized landscapes feature the repeated use of simple forms found in nature, such as leaves, trees and blades of grass. My sketchbook drawings are an attempt to capture fleeting, unposed moments in everyday life. In all of my work, whether abstract or observational, small sized or wall sized, I look for the lyrical.
Having worked on landscape master plans ranging in size from eight to 80,000 hectares, I am fascinated by relative scale, and the way the smallest shift in perspective can determine whether something looks tiny or tremendous.
These ideas are being developed in a series of solo exhibitions. First was The Portable River, or "Undercurrents - Ten Views through a River of Words", in 2007 at the River & Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames. Second in the series was "The Portable Forest" at Ripley Arts Centre in Bromley, Kent in 2012.
Undercurrents is about creative self expression, and what a story feels like when you can't find the words to tell it. The Portable Forest is about thought and memories, and the way they come to us in moments of stillness. I think of quiet reflection as a habitat where certain species of thought thrive. The images in The Portable Forest derive, in part, from my experience living in Germany. One day I was deep in a forest where the only sound was a cuckoo calling in the distance, and the only visible creature was the occasional surprised deer. The magic of that memory has stayed with me, and I retreat to that world from time to time.
