Arts Thread

My passion for the land is the foundation of my work. This expresses itself through a form of making I call 'primitive'. I define this as making that stems from rawness and simplicity, whilst responding to the immediate environment. Using this approach, I endeavour to create site-specific works with an open line of questioning through hyper-local materials. My practice is concerned with the malleability of the land, which is an exploration of living materials. Considering the narratives in material, making and place, I am investigating the “palimpsest” of the landscape. The conversation materials have with their environment, demonstrates the significant value in their storytelling. I believe that with this strong connection to their origins, a material gains meaningful quality. Growing up in Ireland, I inherited the Gaelic obsession with stories. This has gifted me with a keenness for poetry. The importance of poetry within my practice is in setting my narrative in the places I work. As a maker, it is fundamental to have a dialogue with the material. It allows you and the material to express themselves. I use poetry because I feel it has natural freedom in its thinking, which allows me to communicate imaginatively and equally with the material.Through developing my process, I have explored places ranging from Peaks to riverbeds and the coastlines of the UK. Exploring the landscape has developed my understanding and opened my making. The material narratives that I have been investigating are unique, in their access to the deep history around us and tell tales of the forces at play. This has instilled a sensitivity in my work that accompanied by my strong curiosity, forms the essence of my way of seeing and making.