Ffurf celf: Celf Gweledol a Chrefft
Cliciwch ar un or darluniau am fwy
Interconnected throughout my creative works today, are the various mediums of which I have discovered along my creative journey that began many years ago as a young girl. Once my creative abilities were recognised by both my secondary school art teacher and my parents, art materials and personal tuition from a local professional artist were in abundance.
After leaving secondary school I went on to study general art and design at Southport College. It was here, where I would obtain my first glimpses into the creative worlds of photography, textile design, graphic design, and human figure drawing. My passion for colour and pattern design only intensified and this prompted me to study textiles and surface pattern design at Stockport College. Yet again, further skills were acquired some of which included: surface pattern designing, screen-printing onto fabrics, batik painting and the dyeing of fabrics, fine art embroidery and life drawing and painting. Once more, these activities have proven to be invaluable in my creative practice today.
During the final project at Stockport College, I became aware of a curiosity into the human condition through a project entitled The Colour of Life, in which wall hangings, fine art embroidery pieces and books inscribed with poems and early childhood photographs were created to illustrate and explore the four stages of life: birth, growth, decay and finally death. But, it was not until my visits to sketch and paint the portraits of the elderly residents at various residential care homes, that I become aware of my newfound purpose to use my creative talent to benefit the lives of others.
Disillusioned by the restrictions imposed by the commercialised structure of the surface pattern and textiles course at Stockport, I decided to study fine art at Wirral Metropolitan College. Here, I was to be exposed to an entirely different approach towards creative expression, new skills were unleashed and the old were cultivated.
Drawn to a mountainous area near my home, I began exploring each viewpoint within the fertile landscape with a newfound fluidity by way of expressive painting and drawing. A profusion of abstract expressionistic art works followed. Forever intent on exploring beyond my present skills, I drifted towards the medium of printing, the expressive qualities and fluidity of the screen-printing inks inspired a shift towards yet another unfamiliar medium.
Further exploration into screen-printing together with other creative activities were placed on hold, when at the ripe age of twenty-two and just shortly after completing a fine art degree, I developed severe rheumatoid arthritis. During subsequent years, my creative passion weakened amid the pain and frustration and later through the distortion of physical function. Efforts towards continuing some kind of creative activity was undertaken to override the pity and despair felt through the social isolation and emotional struggles.
From the moment that I was diagnosed at Wrexham hospital, my life was to follow a very different path, far removed from the dreams of an eager young graduated. Many years have faded since, and ten years on my illness has succeeded in impairing the function of the majority of major joints within my body, but still, I remain optimistic.
Hope, diminished pain and increased function have now emerged since undergoing a bilateral total knee replacement in 2003 and most recently in April of 2005, a total elbow replacement. Throughout the relentless progression of my illness, my passion for creative expression and construction, although at times it may have weakened, remained.
Unable to paint and draw as I once did, I explored the benefits of computer technology and this lead me to digital photography, whereby images could be documented through a digital camera and then later, manipulated through the means of a computer package. This media both transformed my approach and my ability to create new work.
Combining digital photography with digital manipulation allows me to create work with a sense of exploration and disembodiment. Infusing nostalgic imagery with chromatic value, which relates to emotion with peculiar expressive marks has an essential purpose of suggesting an emotive response in the viewer of my work.
