while at senior school in suffolk found i was good at doing technical stuff for the school plays.  academically i struggled past O levels, at the time i thought it was because of my involvement with amateur dramatic societies.  many many years later my dsylexia was formally diagnosed – suddenly my formative years made more sense.

 

despite an A in art at year 9 i didn’t take art any further.  i suspect that this was because of it being “not a proper job.”  

 

i took my local youth theatre experience to the next level by being accepted into the national youth theatre.  

 

unsuccessful A level grades meant taking a year out and rethinking what i was going to do.  i took my hobby to the next level studying stage management and technical theatre at LAMDA.

 

i’ve had what i look upon as a non linear career where i worked my way through technical disciples that i wanted to master because of becoming interested in them and wanting to know more about them.

in 2001 after the death of my father i moved to derbyshire and began to take stock.  

in 2006 i embarked on a BA in film and video at the university of derby and within a month had moved onto the fine art course.

 

there would be one last foray into large scale events – i directed the feed for the arena imag screens at the scouting world jamboree in chelmsford and the “live in 08” event at the millenium dome.  is still called the millenium dome ? maybe it’s the O2 dome now…

 

in 2009 graduated from the university of derby with a ba(hons) in fine art.   my degree show work saw me being selected for east midlands finest in nottingham at the surface gallery and future focus at quad in derby.  with the momentum set up by these two exhibitions i set about realising a fully worked up version of the snee snaw .  the project was funded by the arts council.

in the research phase of the project a short interaction with a member of the public in which i actually never spoke to them – altered my confidence in making work.  even to this day i’m not fully sure of being back to where i was before the interaction. i do however reflect that i am now able to start to talk about that something happened.

 

at the time i diverted my attention into a voluntary organisation i’d help to set up with my partner.  we met on the fine art degree.

realising i needed to keep my own practice going i set up a pop up exhibition at the artsmith gallery in derby.  

 

i see myself as a multidisciplinary practitioner because i like to do more than one thing –  there are so many interesting and exciting processes to experience.

 

after graduating from the degree it has taken me some years to resolve the move out of what i started doing as a career to where i am now.  the maker residency in 2016 helping me to start to think of my practice more holistically.

 

despite my dyslexia i find keeping reflective blogs on the a – n platform to be very useful as a tool to measure progress and plot idea formation and realisation.

 

 

i had my formal diagnosis for dsylexia made in 2008.

i live and work in derbyshire.