In 2012, along with other members of the Enigma Group of Worcestershire Artists, I was invited to make new work in response to the upper rooms of Himley Hall in Dudley, not open to the public and untouched for decades. The outcome was Quintessence I, II and III.
“The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former”
I was born in my parents’ bedroom at Sheinwood Manor in Shropshire, a rambling, gracefully aging, Georgian farm house. The fabric of the building felt imbued with history, almost as though – if you were to peel back the tired wallpaper – you would see the very souls of the people who had lived there.
When I first visited Himley Hall it evoked memories of my childhood home and images of its fading beauty began to resonate in my work.
My aim was to explore these emotions and imbue each piece with fragility, atmosphere and intrigue. The result is a response, so subtle in parts, that it is barely a breath or a touch.
