In January 2023 I was awarded the Cotswold Sculpture Association 2023 Bursary - “intended to support sculptors who are wishing to engage in a period of self-determined professional development”. Part of the opportunity was exhibiting at Creating Spaces 2023, so January-May I played with new materials in preparation for the show.

There were 3 collections produced and installed for Creating Spaces -

  • Because I can

  • Molehills

  • WTFIT.

  • Plus ‘In Your Face’ which is its own thing.

In Your Face

Taking up space, and doing it all for no other reason than because I can.

Because I Can

Taking up space, and doing it all for no other reason than because I can. Large pieces made from expanding foam, concrete, acrylic and found objects.

The series is called "Because I can" because I can do what I want (with reminders), and that's powerful to me. Having spent years being suppressed, sometimes just existing is poignant. But making stuff that gives me a dopamine fix, and isn’t perfect/planned/sensible... Well, that's a big ol middle finger up to that stupid human. I hope that by being around it, you feel some sense of liberation too.

You can view and purchase the collection here.

Molehills

Small pieces which look rather like cakes, but really they were inspired by seeing the molehills at Miserden House. I loved their disruption in a well-kept lawn, and wanted to do some disrupting too.

They’re all made from concrete, cast in random things from my recycling bin, and they will all survive a lot of knocks.

You can view and purchase the collection here.

WTFIT

Small pieces made from jesmonite and expanding foam, purely for the love of it. I also love the feel of jesmonite… It’s almost milky and silky. Delicious. You can't pick them up sadly because I stuck them down with museum wax for the show, but trust me they're smoooooth. Then when I was finishing them off with a gold pen I added some random ranty words on WTFIT #1 cos I was feeling ranty.

So WTFIT #1 has this written on it:

WTFIT Some have all, some have nowt, some could do without. WTFIT where the hand of power forgets humanity and kindness. Where difference is difficult and shunned and given no aid. Magic are those with their eyes and arms and mind wide open.

Process of making and playing

These are things in progress… You can often see more things like this on Instagram too.