Artwork > Magdalen Road Studio Box PrintExchange 'CommUnity'

The land is my starting point.The mark starts and then I endeavour to use natures' shape and natural reflections. I can see man has used areas historically. Sometimes over incomprehensible timescales.By that means memory is very important to me, as I approach a place hoping to create a space where I can manipulate paint and superimpose images relevant to me.I return to places regularly because creating mind maps I can use at will is increasingly a part of my process.
My print is based on an area of common land known as Padworth. It survived the enclosure act and the acquisition of heathland by the local large landowners due to its sparsity and lack of topsoil ....it is mainly gravel and can be boggy.However, the usual norms are changing rapidly and the two ponds have disappeared over the last three years.Local people have always had rights to use it and it has always had rights of way. All of which were recently threatened.So my imagery reflects points at which I enter the common, then my relationship to it as I access it on horseback,an elevated viewpoint,Horses are integrated throughout my work as well as the female form.
The building of a community is quite a surprise to me. The more passionate I have become about the places I use, the more attracted are people who empathise agree and understand.The artwork has become an outlook on life.So my willingness to defend common land, at some cost to myself, turned to delight as I realised others were willing to donate their substantial professional skills.Other such groups are erupting all over the place as a result of pressure on green fields rights of way and land holding aggregates.
There is also an increasing resonance with the past, because history is repeating itself. The argument has always been about the beauty of the land and the value of it. The enclosure act meant even heathland was being taken and so the rich in land become wealthier.Then in the present political climate those same pressures exist.
I see environmental change through an artistic lens. People are mounting campaigns to defend the use and access to land. So I have a future hope that artists can and do draw people together forming a new kind of community, from walks of life not normally sitting together. A new kind of community can be sparked by Fine Art.I am continuing to share what are evolving into political thoughts creatively with other artists.