Date: 2020-2024

Client: Somerset NHS Foundation Trust

Art Consultation: Art For Life (director Lisa Harty)

Budget: £40,000 ( Total including design and fabrication)

Fabrication:

Enamel Panels and name plaques - AJWells,

Plywood Panels - L&S Printing

Wallpaper printing and installation : Subwayeps

Brief: Initially to develop concept designs for artwork that will form part of the scheme to redevelop inpatient facilities at the site for Rowan Ward 1 & 2 at Summerlands Hospital in Yeovil. After a successful presentation to staff and the development team the project will progress into the detailed design and implementation phases that will result in the creation of artworks that are embedded and integrated into the overall design of this redevelopment scheme.

Project: I worked out a colour scheme early in the project in consultation with the Unit staff , it was inspired by the Rowan Tree and Somerset. I wanted to use the colours in the artwork, furniture and finishes rather than on the walls as repainting walls is much more practical and economical if they are all white.

When I saw the drawings of these corridors I was initially flummoxed they were almost entirely made up of locked security doors but then I talked to the builders ( via Art for Life) and asked if we could customise the cupboard doors with the scheme colours. I also designed small enamel number plates for the doors which were manufactured by https://www.ajwells.com/. Having an image, a name and a number makes it much easier for the individual patients to remember which of the identical doors is theirs!

There was a budget for the whole project, we decided that some of it should be spent on enhancing the staff spaces so that they feel different from the patient’s spaces. I designed a rather homely and domestic wallpaper based on the Rowan theme, it will be used in different colour ways in different staff spaces. The original design was a linocut.

For all the Communal Patient Spaces I designed large colourful panels, some in plywood and some in lovely glossy vitreous enamel. I tried to match the mood of the panels to how the spaces would be used… thus- the first is for the games and activities room , the second for the dining room, the third for the women’s quiet room and the last one for a Faith room . There are twenty of these panels altogether.

All furniture in a mental Health setting has to be indestructible and very heavy so that it can’t be used for weapons or for self harm. They also have to be easily cleaned. We chose furniture in the ward colours that is comfortable and as attractive as possible within these restraints!

The two large plywood panels were the first pieces installed in the refurbished Unit. The unit was being extended to bring together two units one formerly in Glastonbury and this one in Yeovil. This means that patients from the Glastonbury catchment area will now have to come to Yeovil and that some staff will now have a longer commute… not ideal - but the least I could do was acknowledge the history by depicting Glastonbury Tor in one panel and Montecute House,Yeovil in the other. I chose to print on plywood as a lot of the hospital environment is very sterile, favouring wipe down plastic ( the ply is coated)

Client : Art For Life (director Lisa Harty) Somerset NHS Trust

Funding : The National Performance Advisory Group (NPAG) for Arts, Design and Heritage in Healthcare

Site: The Wildlife Garden outside Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton

Budget: £20,000 (including design fee and fabrication costs)

Date: 2022

Design Brief:

The first part of this project took place during the Covid Pandemic before I became involved (initiated by Allison Day). All staff at the Trust were asked what 'tiny treasure' they had discovered during lockdown.

The gathered contributions, approximately 100 in total, were used to populate digital handprints with the staff member’s name, role and ‘tiny treasure’ to create a virtual paper chain of hands, that were displayed within the Musgrove Gallery from August to October 2020.

I was commissioned to use the ‘tiny treasures’ project as a starting point for a more permanent piece of artwork to be installed in the rather neglected Wild Life garden where members of staff could sit during their breaks.

After surveying the site I decided that the ideal place would be in the centre of the space. There was a large rockery which made the space dark and unwelcoming, it was agreed that this could be removed.

I wanted to include all the original contributions, I liked the fact that the evoked the story of the lockdown and also showed the breadth of the roles involved in running the hospital. I sorted the anecdotes into categories and was originally planning to make four benches around the circular tile mural with two of these categories carved into each of them (ie sports and exercise, community, caring and sharing, family and friends, learning and playing, parks and countryside, nature and birdsong, home and comfort and hobbies, making and baking.) However the budget wouldn’t stretch that far so I incorporated the categories into the mural as Kaleidoscopes of seven tiles.

The tiles were printed by https://www.dccustomtiles.com/ and coated so that they were slip proof.

Date: My work completed 2019 - Installation delayed due to Corona Crisis . Installation finally took place in 2023

Art Consultants: Willis Newson - Arts and Health

Art and Wayfinding Project Overview:

The wayfinding strategy for the 3Ts Redevelopment will mean that visitors to the new hospital will be able to find their way around using feature artworks, as well as the signage system.

Following an open call, I was one of 12 artists and illustrators have been appointed to create original works in response to the theme ‘Connect with Place’.

The artworks will:

• identify key junctions

• identify points of arrival

• differentiate floors

• differentiate lift cores

• provide visitors with straightforward and enjoyable journeys

Date: 2017

Client: City of London Open Spaces

Location: Golders Hill Park, London

Budget: £5,000

Brief: create a mural in our Golders Park classroom.  The piece should site-related and focus plants and/or animals found in Golders Hill Park.  The main audience will be children aged 3 – 11 and the mural should provide a bright, colourful and inspirational link between the indoor classroom and the park outside. The artwork should have a minimum life expectancy of 10 years and be easy to maintain. The mural should cover an area 15 metres by 1 metre, plus an additional 3.5 metre by 2 metre area. 

Design and Fabrication: The colours and style were chosen to compliment the original design of the classroom. The entire project from application to installation took seven weeks.

The murals were printed on a suede type vinyl and the bird panels used waterslide decals on plywood plywood, finished with polyurethane varnish.

Date: 2014-2016

Client: Ealing Health Trust with David Morley Architects

Art Consultation: Willis Newson

Budget: £59,000

I was commissioned to produce integrated artwork and way-finding for the new six ward Medium Secure Unit, replacing an outdated Victorian Asylum building. A theme of 'rivers' had already been developed through patient and staff workshops.

I based vinyl murals in the dining rooms on local scenes which could also evoke more generic memories. In the family visiting rooms I made large circular vitreous enamel panels depicting night and day scenes of the same river scene. I used poetry generated by service user workshops on murals in the quiet rooms and also stencilled these onto the long corridor walls between the wards and therapy areas. I also designed an enamel panel for the entrance explaining the history of the unit and the origin of the name 'Three Bridges'.

Feedback:  “Patients really feel they contributed. They voiced their ideas and opinions in workshops. They were involved in the design process. They wrote the poems that run along the corridors. They feel that the space is theirs. They have a sense of belonging and ownership.” Gerd Sortland, Service Change Lead.

Date:

Commissioned End of May 2019 and designed and installed by the end of August 2019.

Budget:

£15000 to include design, project management, manufacture and installation.

Commissioned by:

Alison Catlin, Public Art and Cultural Events Co-ordinator,South Gloucestershire Council.

Neil Lankaster, Head Teacher, Charlton Woods Primary Academy, BS34 5DB

Fabrication by:

Tiles: Digital Ceramics Custom Tiles, Stoke on Trent.

Decals: Subway EPS, Worthing, West Sussex.

Enamel: AJWells, The Isle of Wight.

Background:

Charlton Woods Primary Academy provides school places for 420 pupils in a newly built mixed-use neighbourhood on the outskirts of Bristol. It has been sensitively designed by South Gloucestershire Council in constant consultation with the Head Teacher Neil Lankester. A particular feature of the school is the landscaping of the grounds and the many trees which have been planted.

Brief:

To provide a public art scheme to enhance the main frontage of the building which includes an entrance lobby, two main windows and an inset area in the brickwork between them.

The Project:

The artwork was inspired by the beautiful landscaping of the school grounds as well as the rural history of the site. It was designed to enhance the simple elegant style of the architecture. I filled the 4metre x 3.5 metre with 700 tiles. I used bespoke printed tiles (in 30 different designs) laid in a vertical version of the pattern of the brickwork. The tiles portray the changing colours of the trees and sky throughout the year. Facing the school is an assisted living unit for the elderly, the school is approached by a path across a paved and landscaped area between the two buildings. From a distance the mural appears as pattern with subtle colour changes but as you get closer more detail and interest is revealed. At first sight the pattern appears random but it actually has a strong logic to it. I like the idea that it takes a while to work this out.

Sometimes in art galleries, I have seen groups of small children being explained abstract art works (Henry Moore, Bridget Riley ) they seem to relate to them in a really open minded way more so than lots of adults. Personally I can still remember the patterns and colours of the wallpaper I had on my wall when I was a child and the pictures in some of the story books I had. I was definitely more fascinated by the ones that weren’t literal and purely pictorial. I’m hoping that this mural will stay in the minds of some of the children that go to the school and foster a love of colour, pattern,trees and the environment.

The tiles are exterior grade porcelain tiles by CeSi Italia and have digital decals fired onto them with an additional glossy coating so that they will be effectively self cleaning. The tiles were printed and fired by The Surface Design Studio, Digital Ceramic Systems, Stoke on Trent.

The mural should last as long as the school building. In order to keep pupils and teachers engaging with it I have provided a permanent interpretation and ideas board. The board combines tree facts and environmental issues with ideas for projects, plus a bit of humour. I have aimed it at adults (parents or teachers) viewing with children, but younger children can just enjoy the pictures or older children can read it on their own. The board is screen printed on vitreous enamel - made by AJ Wells enamel, Isle of Wight.

The last component of the artwork is bright Hexis vinyl decals on some of the glazing at the entrance hall. This will look quite muted from the outside but provide a bright pattern from the inside. It is also leaf patterns to tie it in with the tile mural..

Date: 2015

Client: Hillingdon Hospital - Nuclear Medicine Department,

Art Consultation: Willis Newsom

Budget: £5,600 for design and fabrication

Brief: 9m vinyl corridor piece , a ceiling light-box for a refurbished X-ray suite and three di-pond panels for the waiting area.

A theme of ’Windows’ has been selected as an interesting starting point. The artworks could provide ‘views’ into natural or urban landscapes.

Design Concept:

For this project I worked with my husband photographer Steve Speller www.landtraces.com

‘Layers of time – past and present’

These photomontages by photographer Steve Speller and digital artist Alison Milner depict present day landmarks in the hospital catchment area overlaid with imagined scenes from the distant past of prehistory, effectively ‘landscape x-rays’.

The work was inspired by the fact that traces of Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age artifacts and landscape features have been excavated by archeologists in the area.

Particularly significant was the excavation of the Stanwell Cursus prior to the building of Heathrow’s Terminal 5. The Cursus, a 4km earth bank built in the Neolithic period some 5,500 years ago, runs under two of the airport’s runways and is the second largest of its type in Britain. Numerous ceramic artifacts and flint arrowheads were also found during the Heathrow dig and also in other areas around Hillingdon and Uxbridge indicating a consistent habitation of the area.

Feedback: The feedback from the department was very rewarding we worked closely with Lubna Hussain, Superintendent Radiographer . She was so proud of her refurbished and re-equipped department that she invited HRH Princess Anne to open it and she accepted!

Date: 2012-2013

Client: Macmillan Cancer Care and ADP Architects.

Budget: £25,000 (including design and fabrication)

Art Consultation:Willis Newson

I was commissioned to produce integrated artwork for a newly built Macmillan Cancer Care Centre in Runcorn.The aim was to make the work welcoming, calming and locally relevant.

I started by designing a large vitreous enamel mural (4.5 metres x 2 metres) for the waiting area. The colours were chosen in conjunction with the architects to tie in with the furnishing of the department. The mural depicts a view of Runcorn bridge which spans the Mersey framed by plants which have a role in cancer treatment and therapies.

The mural forms the basis for all the other artworks and products in the unit including scarves for the staff and crockery for the patients and visitors. A green window vinyl welcomes visitors and suffuses the entrance with sunlight in Macmillan's signature green.

Long term-ongoing project

‘Fired Once’ is a research project which uses ‘play’ as a methodology the resulting ‘samples’ will be arranged in sets and in series which could be considered ’art’ and may be exhibited and bought as art pieces.

All the work I make will be in clay and high fired once (ie no biscuit firings, glaze firings or transfer firings) This is a way of giving myself limitations but also a way of using less energy (respecting the environment) and reducing overheads. It also follows in the spirit of functional ceramics such as bricks and flowerpots. I hope to explore existing techniques but also innovate new ones.There are two current collections ‘Nature Table’ and ‘My imaginary Tile Co.’

The work is also research for larger projects in collaboration with planners, architects and Interior Designers for use in Wayfinding and Placemaking projects.

Exhibited: MADE London 2016 and Gallery 57 Arundel,Group Show - ’A Silent Space Between’ 2019

‘Nature Table’ consists of miniature frames and plinths for displaying natural objects - secular shrines for pine cones and quails eggs - giving humble objects a space of their own.

The collection is mostly unglazed porcelain and black stoneware, made using a deliberately limited range of tools and techniques.

Sometimes what you imagine is more than the reality

We had a map. The same map that all the visitors had, but how many visits do you have to make before you rewrite the map with your own landmarks? During our stay we circumnavigated the lake from several directions and we always met someone who wanted to find the Shell Grotto. Those words have a double magic that the actual place somehow didn’t deliver. I wondered whether we should send people in the wrong direction so that they could imagine it for a little longer.

In Margate there is a shell grotto that doesn’t disappoint. It’s the fact that it is under a very ordinary street and entered through a very ordinary gift shop that presents no clues, that makes it even more surprising. Maybe if the grotto at YSP wasn’t approached through a soaring wood, next to a beautiful lake, it wouldn’t be so anticlimactic.

Anyway shell grottos make me think about how a little effort repeated and repeated can add up to something so much more than the sum of its parts. In my home I have a row of stones on a window sill. There are eighty of them and they are all more or less round. They start at the tiniest, the size of a pea and then increase incrementally to the largest at the size of an orange at around sixty millimetres. People ask how long it took to collect them and I sometimes say ‘twenty years’, but the truth is it took no time at all. One day I picked up one stone which took about half a second and I was also looking at the view and talking at the same time. After that the same thing happened now and then whenever I was on the beach. Maybe the first stone was very round, but most of the rest are just more or less round.

I feel like I’ve invented a principal here to decorate a garden path, a window sill, the wall of a house, a tile grotto, a shell grotto, a pebble grotto. To build Los Angeles Watts Towers or Barcelona’s Sagrada Família.

This is my Imaginary tile company. Have a look at my tile samples, think of a wall and then think of all your friends (possibly all the friend you have ever had all your life) coming around and making you a tile each and then the one or two friends that are into DIY grouting them onto your wall - AMAZING everyone that walks past your house will smile and even if your house is in a dark street full of grey houses your house will make a difference to people’s lives.

Date : 2005 to present

Coasters

For almost twenty years I have been designing coasters with images. The coasters use ready made UK manufactured tiles from Johnson Tiles in Stoke on Trent. They are mostly organised in interchangeable sets of six images and are sometimes photographic and sometimes illustrational. The images usually evolve as offshoots of my other projects. I have also made bespoke sets to commission. Some coaster sets are available on my shop page.

Porcelain Brooches

I have consistently made these pebble shaped brooches for nearly 20 years, I still enjoy making them as every one is a slightly different combination of shape and image . They have never stopped being popular and I love it when I see people wearing them. I also like the fact that by keeping the process simple I can sell something hand made at a very affordable price. Like the coasters the images usually evolve as offshoots of other projects and I can sell them as shop merchandise alongside exhibitions.

Both the coasters and the Brooches are sold in shops and galleries including Bluecoat, Liverpool, Atelier by the Sea, Brighton and Charlston, East Sussex, The Old School Gallery, Northumberland, Boo Vake, Perth, Scotland. They are also available on my website shop.

Please email if you are interested in stocking them

Process

My photographs or illustrations are sent to a printer in Stoke on Trent. The water-slide decals are printed using ceramic pigments, I then apply them to the tiles, pots or brooches and they are fired in a kiln where the image bonds permanently with the glaze. The images can be fired onto any pale coloured ceramics (either hand made or manufactured).

Pots

I have collaborated with various ceramicists and manufacturers over the years , designing photographic or illustrational decals for specific forms. (Christane Kersten, Tanya La Mantia, Habitat, Royal Doulton, Macmillan Cancer Care)

Process

My photographs or illustrations are sent to a printer in Stoke on Trent. The water-slide decals are printed using ceramic pigments, I then apply them to the tiles, pots or brooches and they are fired in a kiln where the image bonds permanently with the glaze. The images can be fired onto any pale coloured ceramics (either hand made or manufactured).

Date : -2011 - Formica Sampler Tables 

Date : Stoobles - 2012 

Project : Shown at TENT London 2012

The formica pattern ‘Green Sampler’ has echoes of 60s op-art and geometric Islamic patterns, it is printed as a non-repeating ten foot length  of formica . Each table  cut from it is similar but different from every other.

The stoobles are three products in one : a small table, a stool and a limited edition print. They are made from CNC cut ply with a waterslide digitally printed decal which is protected with matt polyurethane varnish. The decoration of the classic stooble is actually a scale drawing of their component parts (the round seat and the two arched sets of legs).When taken apart the stooble fits neatly in a string bag.

Date: 2011 - present

Collaborator: AJ Wells Architectural Enamel.

I started working with vitreous enamel, as an extension of my work with ceramic vessels and tiles.

AJ Wells are based on the Isle of Wight and the work that attracted me to them was their production of maps, panels and signage for London Underground and their history of collaboration with artists and designers. I have now worked at their factory to produce two collections of homeware and subsequently I have also produced artwork there for two hospital art projects a school project and work for my YSP exhibition.

I have designed these murals for my own bathrooms . The first two are very simple using the line between the sea and sky or the land and the sky as colour-fields and adding simple graphics which relate to the locale. The third was made in an outbuilding for a temporary bathroom using tile seconds and left over tiles from the mural project I did for my exhibition at the Visitors Centre at Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

About:

The project was themed around place-making and way-finding; attempting to make sense of the space between building and enrich the built environment.

I used materials which are more often associated with the building trade, such as ceramic tiles, vitreous enamel and plywood to produce a series of fresh, evocative collages, constructions, panels and prints.

Venues:

The exhibition was originally commissioned by Yorkshire Sculpture Park in March 2018 and scheduled for June 2020. Sadly it was cancelled due to The Corona Virus Pandemic.

A distilled collection of the work (with some Covid restrictions still in place) was featured in the YSP shop and displayed in the ground floor including the large tile Mural ‘A Walk in the Park’, from 27th March -27th June 2021.

The exhibition then continued with extra print works at Salt Architects, Beverley , East Yorkshire.

Finally the exhibition was shown from October to December 2021 at The Old School Gallery , Alnmouth, Northumberland, this last exhibition showed the full collection of work originally conceived with the title ‘The Spaces between Buildings’ minus the Yorkshire Sculpture Park Mural a copy of which was donated to YSP.

Date: 2005 – 2013

Client: Originally developed with the Booth Museum,  and Brighton and Hove Museum Services. 

Venues: Booth Museum, Brighton, Horniman Museum, London, Rhyl Gallery, Wales, Bonhoga Gallery, Shetlands, Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Devon, The Treasure House,Yorkshire, The Barn Gallery, West Dean, Sussex and Pump House Gallery, London.

Award: 2005 Arts Council Award

The exhibition was originally shown at the Booth Museum of Natural History and later  it toured through the Touring Exhibition Group. The Educational component and layout of the exhibition was tailor-made for each new venue.

The exhibition is about simple elegant objects, both natural and manmade. It makes subtle connections between the natural and the manmade and between 3D objects and the 2D portrayal of objects. The exhibition is designed to work at different levels: as a source of inspiration for artists, designers and students, as a tool for early years design education, as a commentary on categorisation and representation and as a collection of curiosities.

Date : 2009

Client : Craft Central, London EC1M 4DS

Award : Reflect Forward Award via Arts Council Lottery Fund

With this solo exhibition I revisited my pre-art school career in nursing, exploring the relationship between belief and medicine. Part of my funding agreement was that I would use a museum archive as inspiration for the exhibition. I chose to use the Wellcome Trust Archive.  I concentrated at looking at English or European artefacts relating to folk medicine, tablets, tablet making and anything to do with religion and medicine.

I made five different groups of objects for the exhibition. 'Gene Pool'   and 'Three Wishes' which both relate to the DNA lottery and the potential of genetic engineering. 'Porcelain Prayers'  and ' Charm necklaces and bracelets' which explore faith and belief in relationship to health, and lastly 'Tongue in cheek' which looks at pill branding and the placebo effect.

For further information about this exhibition please contact me.

Dates and Venues:

May-July 2010 -Cooper Gallery, Barnsley,

April - June 2011 - Bilston Craft Gallery,

July-August 2011- Inverness Museum

Sept- Oct 2011- Three Highland Galleries,

May-July 2012- Waterside Arts Centre,Manchester

July- Sept 2012 -Nature in Art, Gloucester

May 2013-Oriel Gallery at Antrim Castle Gardens and Clotworthy House,Antrim, Northern Ireland.

Description:

I curated this group exhibition in 2010, it went on to tour 8 different venues around the UK .

The exhibition inspires the viewer to look again at the extraordinary world of plants, and our relationship to them. From the beautiful luminous photographic prints of seaweed by Steve Speller and Alison Milner, to Ruth Moilliet’s ghostly flowers sandwiched between layers of glass, Sin Mui Chong-Martin’s intricately detailed pencil drawings of moss and Teresa Stewart- Goodmans quirky and very personal embroideries of trees.

The exhibition is planned individually to fit every different venue.

Featured Artists have included:

Sin Mui Chong-Martin, Joy Fox, Fleur Grenier,Julie Anne Hargreaves, Christiane Kersten, Anna Knights, Alison Milner, Ruth Moilliet, Jane Moore, John Moore, Rebecca Newnham, Daniel Reynolds, Jasmin Rowlandson, Simon Schofield, Steve Speller, Teresa Stewart-Goodman, Richard Sweeney, Eve-Claire Taylor, Maggie Williams and Sarah Young.