We found out more about how he established his practice and asked his advice for our students that will be taking the leap in to the creative industries this summer. Read on to find out more!

Images by Jeanie Finlay

CCAD FD Course 1991!

Tell us about your practice!

I’m a painter first and foremost. I’m trying to make the viewer look longer and harder, to have a one on relationship with landscape painting, to make them curious and find some joy. The places depicted in my work are partly an invention, combining memories and motifs of places I have lived or longingly imagined, an idea of a place and the melancholy of longing and wanting to belong. My recent work currently looks at specific sites on the East Cleveland coast and feeling homesick for the constantly changing landscape where I live. A unfashionable romanticism grounded in the act of painting.

You have an impressive biography with a number of solo shows can you tell us about them, is there one that stands out?

The solo show at The Auxiliary in Middlesbrough in 2020 meant a lot to me, like some kind of homecoming show, but also a chance to exhibit a large body of work together. I was turning 50 so it felt like a significant exhibition, not as some kind of retrospective, but more like a beginning. I’ve just had a solo show with Aleph Contemporary and there’s another solo show on the horizon in Middlesbrough.

We see you were featured in a Royal Academy Summer Show exhibition tell us about it, what work did you exhibit?

I’d never really considered applying for the Summer Show, but out of the blue I was invited to exhibit by one of the selectors, Stephen Chambers, in their curated room. The experience was very interesting and I enjoyed the pomp of it all, from the church service and procession to the Varnishing Day opening for artists. I was lucky enough to exhibit two pieces which both sold. I’ve been in it a couple of times more from open submission but also been rejected as well.

Tell us about your work with Aleph Contemporary!

Aleph started about 2018 as a online commercial agency representing artists and organising shows, both online and in galleries. They’ve recently opened a permanent space in Stroud. We agree which paintings I want to consign to them, so its not 100% exclusive but its a good working relationship.

Tell us about your connection the Contemporary British Painting Prize in 2016!

I was selected for the inaugural Contemporary British Painting Prize in 2016, which was pretty significant to me. I was asked to be a member and now I am on the Commitee. I was one of four selectors for the Prize last year and wrote about the selection process. CBP are an excellent advocate for painting in the UK, with exhibitions, prizes, essays and advice. In some way they led me back to Teesside, as my old tutor Phil Gatenby saw that prize show, invited me to exhibit in Conversations in Painting with artists like Deb Covell, who sent me a job description for Creative Factory in Middlesbrough, which I moved home for and worked there 2018-2020.

You studied Foundation at Middlesbrough. How was it? 

I definitely remember my time there fondly. I got there in a roundabout way in that I was studying engineering and that was not me at all, but tutor David Williams was very supportive of me then. I felt like I’d found my people in some way. We had a good bunch of people that year, including Jeanie Finlay and Ste McGregor, who I am still both friends with. More than anything, I just remember laughing a lot.

The course gave me a lot of confidence which led me to a degree in Cardiff, studying in America and an MA at Northumbria University.

Let us know about any exhibitions or projects you would like to share with us!

Other than exhibitions, I’ve recently moved into Creation Studios in Saltburn which is very productive. I’m doing a PHD with Loughborough University researching the East Cleveland coast which is very rewarding and very frustrating. Just like being an artist.

Do you have any advice for our students that are going to be taking their first steps into their career?

Without it sounding like a LIVE LAUGH LOVE poster, there will be many bumps in the road, you’ll be skint, anxious and lose all confidence at points. Keep going. You will laugh and have lots of rewarding good times. You have the benefit of time. Use it.

Interested in our Foundation Diploma in Art & Design? This diploma is for post A-Level (or equivalent) 18-year-old students, to provide a unique transitionary year between 6th form/college and creative degrees at university. Our diploma offers our students an intensive experience which enables them to develop their own individual creative identity. Find out more here.