From Dull Downstairs Toilet to Enchanted Forest

I have just fitted this panel into a large downstairs toilet window, replacing the ugly textured glass that had been there since the 1970’s.  The house is a listed lodge in Higher Cemetery near my home in Exeter and was once the grounds keepers cottage; now it’s a family home. It was built in the Gothic revival style so popular at the time by architect Edward Ashworth and is great, quirky old building.

The panel needed to obscure the person sitting in the loo, have natural details and a large central tree; the clients love green and the panel has a large green border of streaky green glass which gives the small room a green hue, like you are in a forest. I have lino cut printed ivy leaves onto the bottom corners of the panel and the central landscape is packed with painted detail of grasses, leaves, animals and birds. It was quite a challenging window as it is a very big window in an extremely small room, so you see it from very close up, which is quite unusual for such a large, grand opening!

Past Present Future Project

Really pleased to formally announce I have been chosen as one of the artists commissioned to make a piece of art as part of  the Exeter Community Centre’s  Past Present Future Project 

I am very excited to be involved and will be making a window for the Centre in response to the memories and discussions of local people over 60 who live locally, or have a connection to the St David’s area of Exeter.

The Exeter Community Centre had a prestigious history as the West Of England Blind School, from the mid 19th Century to 1965 (when it moved to a new site) and blind people from all over the country were educated in a range of practical and traditional academic subjects in the building. The site now has a  new lease of life as a community centre, with local charities offices, local groups and classes and an excellent cafe.  To celebrate the past and future of the building I intend to make a multi-sensory piece with lots of textures for people with little or no sight to enjoy as well as sighted people and I hope to incorporate some braille as well as interesting textures. The window will sit between the cafe and the main foyer in a prominent position.

I have been greatly helped by the West of England School Association with archive material (including some excellent photographs of past students) and hopefully I will be running my workshop with past alumni of the school. This is really exciting to me as I cant wait to hear their memories of the school and what they have gone on to do since those days.  Being a visual artist I am obviously very dependent on my sight and its going to be a fabulous challenge to make

prestigious past student of the school

something which will also appeal to the other senses and to get the opinions of people without sight. 

St Davids is an ancient part of Exeter, with a rich and very varied history; capturing the memories of people who have a  life-long connection with this central Exeter district will be really fascinating.

What we need is LOTS of memories of the area, so if you know a person who is over 60 and wants to be part of the project then please encourage them to get involved!