My house has been in turn, a warehouse, an ice house, various shops (including a grocers and a ladies’ dress shop) and an occasional gallery. It is tucked one street back from the seafront, directly behind the rooms where Rossetti stayed before his marriage to Lizzie Siddal in 1860. The former shop space is now my studio, which I open for exhibitions and events. The first, 'Wish You Were Here', September 2008, featured seven book artists, photographers and film-makers all presenting their work within a suitcase. The exhibition was opened by Iain Sinclair, with film-projections onto the back of The Cutter; a bibliotherapist on the stairs; a tombola; very special cakes and a book stall.
I have been an activities volunteer at a homeless shelter in Kings Cross, a education worker at London Zoo, an art & photography technician in a high school. I have worked in shops and doctors surgeries. I was asked to photograph Princess Anne for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. I played the Casio PT40 and sang in a noisy lo-fi band in London for ten years and once played the rear end of a pantomime horse.
When I was a child I wanted to illustrate children's books, or design bridal dresses.
For several years I was centre administrator at the Photography & the Archive Research Centre at London College of Communication, based on the 13th floor of the tower block overlooking the Elephant & Castle roundabout. Other than endlessly staring out of the window, I coordinated seminars, study days, conferences and events at places including Tate Modern, The Photographer's Gallery, London College of Fashion, the National Portrait Gallery & the University of Brighton. I worked with the MA Photography/ Photojournalism courses and on AHRC funded research projects, curated some independent exhibitions at LCC and worked on a series of publications called Fieldstudy. I was the editorial administrator for the first two issues of the Journal of Photography & Culture.
From 2009-15 I ran Coastal Currents arts festival in Hastings with my company Creative Coast, programming and coordinating a wide-range of visual and performing arts projects with local and international artists. We ran talks, professional practice sessions, workshops, parades, community events, exhibitions and coordinated open studios across the area.
We also ran a series of projects in empty shops and managed a programme of events in Stade Hall, Hastings for six months when it first opened.
In my pop-up space in Hastings Old Town I have curated a number of exhibitions:
Wish You Were Here - group show, seven artists from Hastings, London & Manchester.
Omiyage - an exchange project between Hastings and Japan.
Never Wash a Blanket in May - to tie-in with Jack in the Green, featuring East London Printmakers
+ regular open studios.
I have coordinated pop-up book fairs:
Pocket Pleasures, Todds Gallery Hastings
Artists' Book Fair, Walcotmart, Bath.
Publications:
Coastal Currents Open Studio Recommendations, Hastings Independent Press, September 2017.
Commission to hand-bind two limited edition photo books - Harvest and What Are You Wearing by photographer Hugo Rittson-Thomas, 2011.
Commission to provide illustrations for the Stade Education Project archival book, Hastings Borough Council, 2011.
Six commissioned illustrations for Bird Book I and II poetry books, published by Sidekick Press, 2011 and 2012.
Commission for online article 'Inspiring Children through Contemporary Art' for Culture24, 2010.
Article: 'Delicate Handling: Women in the Printing Industry', Blue Notebook book arts journal, 2009.
Proofreading & editing 20 artists' interviews for the Artists & the M11 Link Road Campaign project at LCC in 2008.
Thirty artist's biographies for the catalogue accompanying the exhibition 'How We Are: Photographing Britain' at Tate Modern in 2007.
Editing and proofreading the Coastal Currents arts festival brochure (30,000 copies per year) from 2009- present.
Talks/ workshops etc:
Introductory speech - Coastal Currents launch events, Jerwood Gallery/ St Mary in the Castle, Hastings, 2013/14
An introduction to artists’ books talk + leader of corresponding workshop, SoCo, Hastings, 2011
Session leader - Working with Cultural Organisations, Creative Partnerships, March 2011
Leader - day long bookmaking workshop, Hastings Museum & Art Gallery, November 2010
Leader- The Big Draw experimental family arts project, Hastings Museum & Art Gallery, October 2010
Speaker- 10 Slides 10 Minutes talk, Eat@Cafe, September 2010
Session artist- Storytelling & drawing workshop, Trinity Art Gallery, Tunbridge Wells, August 2010
Leader- Introduction to bookmaking workshop (for teachers) Hastings Museum, July 2010
Leader- The Big Draw drop-in workshop, Nomad Creative Space, October 2009
Speaker- Coastal Currents 2009, Festival directors’ Q&A, Claremont Studios, Hastings, September
2009
Speaker- The Bird Woman of Hastings, Talk About the Work, Claremont Studios, Hastings, April 2009
Speaker- Unbuttoned: My Grandmother’s Coat, talk to graduate certificate in book arts, LCC, 2007/ 2008
Leader- The Make Lounge, running regular bookmaking workshops, London, 2008- 2009
