Thinking about my practice.

I have a special interest in random objects and things.

'We know that trash is a welter of symbols: it is risk and fascination, foretold catastrophe and seduction, the beauty of the ugly and the memory of the human' Lea Vergine, When Trash Becomes Art. page 12.

In terms of the exploration of the banal, everyday, nothing is too humble for me to find interesting. I am always drawn to things intuitively, sometimes when I'm looking at an object, a potential 'work' pops into my head immediately. But the majority of the time, I find its use when I've been working with something else, and then it feels essential that I add in another element. Although intuitive however, I have realised that I tend to be drawn to objects that are metal or the opposite, fabric and soft. They often have a relationship with femininity such as household appliances. They often have interesting shapes and curves and are usually fairly simple in their overall structure. I like organic colours but also like to add a spark of bright colour. I love working with temporary materials. When compiling an artwork, there’s a voice in my head that's saying: right that needs to go there, and that needs to stand up, this needs to be tied or dipped or glued.... Not always do things work, in fact, the objects go through many different transitions. Sometimes I'll leave an object in one stage for a couple of weeks before temporarily installing it on something else and then changing it or adding a new found object. When I'm working, although I am aware that things can look 'thrown together', this is not the case. Everything is carefully thought about, and despite the sometimes messy and chaotic outcome, things are not made in frenzy. It is more a process of digging things out, extracting them and balancing them against one another or manipulating them. I get small pleasures out of the way some chalk sits in a bowl or masking tape wrapped around metal or a piece of window blind wrapped up...etc.

One thing that is slightly newer in my work this time, is there is more of a light-hearted approach to this piece than perhaps works in the past. This is due to my feeling more comfortable in my working environment and feeling freer to play and have fun with my work than previously. In the work, an element of humour as emerged. See work above for example.

I like to create stories in my work. Little narratives. This is why I like installations or collections of sculptures/objects as I get nervous about pinning things down absolutely. In making an installation with lots of different elements the work has a multiplicity of metaphors, making it more open ended, and individual to the viewer. I hope in the end work there is an intertwining of references to different storylines.