For the figurative artist life drawing is a source of information, especially about the form and structure of the human body. It is also another form of making, which feeds ideas about the relationship between drawing and sculpture, between two and three dimensions.

My interest in this connection first emerged in the early works of the 1980s when my life drawings directly informed the construction of relief figures. Later some life drawings were torn and reconstructed into collages, connecting to the construction of slab-built clay objects. The most recent drawings from 2023 are informed directly from the life class where certain figures and characters are redrawn to create a narrative, exploring ideas of the fragmentary nature of existence, its story-telling and mythologies.

My interest in this gap between two and three dimensions stems from the experience of learning to draw from life many years ago, and I see it as a metaphor for the liminal spaces where change can take place.

Using ink wash, charcoal and pastel at large scale gives me the opportunity to explore movement and depth, which will in turn will inform new three dimensional sculptures.

Messums Curator Claudia Milburn writes:
“Overlaid, rubbed out, worked over and collaged together, creating pentimento effects, her drawn figures appear and disappear, pushing and pulling at the picture plane. In some images, figures are pared down, abstracted, and reduced to fragmentary shapes and traces, offering a sense of countless glimpses but denying the possibility of ultimate revelation. The figure may be part absent, but the essence of the figure’s presence is always retained. The work prompts questions – who are these seemingly connected but disconnected figures, caught in apparent existential moments?”