Spotlight at MAKE South West

These are pieces that were made but never really saw the light of day because of Covid and lockdowns. By revisiting old work I am able to recycle materials and ideas, improving and elaborating on themes. As a way of reinvigorating work, it gives the pieces another chance to avoid the bin or lie forgotten in a box taking up space.

I have found that ideas have a circularity over the years and things that interested me forty years ago still resonate and excite me. My favourite museum as a child was the Museum of Mankind in London which was then merged with the British Museum. As an adult I think it would have to be the Pitt Rivers in Oxford and the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam. Ethnological collections fascinate me, I am able to travel the world and see how other people live and solve problems, make beautiful and use materials. 

These porcelain mixed media amulets were inspired by the large collection in the Pitt Rivers and an image of a shaman in the iconic book Africa Adorned which I remember checking out at Camberwell Art School library in the 80s.

Some of these pieces will be heading north to the Platform Gallery, Clitheroe in July for a joint show with Design-Nation hubs North West and Cornwall & Devon, from 17th July to 18th September.