 About Me
"Music for the Eyes", at the Rugby Museum & Art
Gallery Floor One Gallery in January 2008 was my first exhibition since 1984.
In 1986 I burned my retinas in an accident, and
after 6 months with no clear vision I was sent to the RNIB’s Manor House in Torquay for rehabilitation and training. Gradually the sight of one eye improved, but not sufficiently for me to be able to see detail, and I was forced to take early retirement from my career in Art Education in 1990.
Frustrated at not being able to continue my
creative work, I sought alternative means of visual expression.
I had been a pioneer in the creative use of the
early BBC Acorn computers in Art Education, and
realised that computers, which allowed one to enlarge detail, could enable me to continue my work. In order to catch up with the enormous technical developments in computer graphics I enrolled on a M.A. course in Electronic Art at Coventry University, where I was introduced to Apple Macintoshes.
I graduated in 1994 and then spent 6 months teaching English at a Technical College in Hungary.
In 1999 I spent a further year of retraining at the
Queen Alexandra College for the Blind in Birmingham, where I taught myself to design and make shaker-style rocking chairs. I have now run out of grand- children for whom to make them!
Inspired by Matisse and Schwitters, I also started
working again in collage, which allows me to easily create and manipulate shapes, colours and textures, often recycling my old work.
These collages are then scanned into my Macs and developed into new works by digital manipulation.
My recent Work
I have always believed that Music, in its purest
form, is the most exemplary of all the Arts since it appeals directly to the subconscious, (the soul, if you like), without being filtered by our normal
perceptive need to understand or relate to reality. It has no survival function.
In a more mundane form Music can, of course, be inspired by natural phenomena - ‘Fingal’s Cave’, ‘A Night on a Bare Mountain’. It can be used to illustrate events such as ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ or the defeat of Napoleon in ‘1812‘. It can be used to accompany words. But, in its purest form, (Bach, Stockhausen, Cage etc), Music simply explores its own inherent qualities - pitch, tone, rhythm, harmony, discord, etc.
In the late 1970’s I researched synaesthetic links
between visual and aural perception, and the parallels between sound and light, seeking to apply musical theory to teaching colour relationship systems.
Although my ideas have moved on since then, I am still seeking to produce a pure Art which, like pure Music, is perceived directly by the subconscious.
I am NOT trying to emulate Music, and definitely not attempting to interpret or illustrate specific pieces of Music. A two dimensional Artwork can never imitate Music since there is no temporal element - Art is permanently present, whereas a piece of Music unfolds through time.
My intention, then, is simply to create a stimulus
which appeals directly to the subconscious - to
parallel aural experience with visual perception.
I hope the spectator will react directly to my work. As we are all unique individuals shaped by different life experiences, each viewer should find their own response and relationship to each of my pieces.
I lectured in Printmaking for 25 years and am
intrigued by the qualities of etching and aquatint
that can be simulated by digital manipulation. This work forms another minor addition to my work.
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Size: 9.00" x 15.00"
Price: £150.00
