Background
Caroline has lived and worked in West Dorset for the past 16 years.
She obtained a degree from Liverpool University in Ancient and Medieval History and Archaeology in 1977, and worked as a researcher, writer and illustrator of reports on artifacts and pottery from excavations in the south west of England and East Anglia during the late 70`s and 80`s. Painting at that time was a mostly private, rather secretive activity, illustrating aspects of her inner, visionary landscape. Realising that she needed to develop her own creative ideas she abandoned archaeology in the late1980`s and turned to horticulture and garden design, a period when her ideas about colour, shape and design began to emerge. In 1991 she obtained a place on the Foundation Course in Art and Design at Anglia Polytechnic in Cambridge, but for personal reasons was only able to complete one term. This led to her move to West Dorset in 1992, and to a commitment to developing her own work as an artist. It was here, drawing inspiration from the Dorset landscape in which she found herself, she began her explorations into colour, pattern and shape, developing along the way characteristic luminous images in watercolour and pastel.
In 1999 she began Bridport Open Studios in response to a growing number of artists living and working in the Bridport area and the relatively small number of galleries and opportunities to show work locally. This is now an annual event and a popular feature in the town`s cultural calandar.
In 2002 she moved into a space in a redundant rope and net making factory building on St Michael`s Trading Estate right in the heart of Bridport and with 2 other artists formed St Michael`s Studios. She now shares the studio with her partner David Brooke.
She has exhibited in many venues throughout the West Country and is a regular participant in open studio events. she undertakes commissions- her most recent including a CD cover for a local community choir. Her work has been accepted for display in hospitals, medical centres and alternative therapy centres where colour and subject matter are considered to be part of the therapeutic process.
"Her work expresses the richness of the experience we call life, urging the viewer to celebrate the wonders of the world in which we find ourselves and also those other worlds of which we may catch glimpses at different times in our lives. She urges us to be aware of magic, colour and mystery all around us, but often depicts us unaware and lost in our own thoughts and preoccupations" - Bridport Arts Centre Press Release 2001.
She continues to develop her work in new directions pushing the mediums she uses to their limits.
Currently she is making very vibrant, luminous still life drawings in soft pastel on black paper. These drawings examine the landscape in which objects find themselves placed and use everything visible in the area of vision in the composition, incuding, background, reflections, shadows and the objects themselves. Everything is reduced to the language of pattern, colour shape and line. The pastel on the black paper has a satisfying quality of luminosity and she uses the black paper to add drama and tension to the composition. She prefers to discover purely random groups to draw, rather than contrived studio arrangements, although these have their place in the work. New pieces incorporate elements of memory amongst the landscapes of the objects, as drawing as an activity ultimately encourages the mind to wander into pockets of memory and daydreams.
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