A Bit About Me
I have always been a passionate forager / beachcomber, searching hedgerows and woodlands for berries, apples, mushrooms and other edibles, or scouring beaches for stones, driftwood, sea glass, pottery, fossils or other flotsam and jetsam. I have also always been a passionate Artist, initially gaining a Degree in Painting and Drawing from Gray's School of Art, Scotland in the mid 1980s. I have been making, creating and teaching Arts and Crafts for over 20 years and have explored and employed many different mediums. Yet it was only in 2015, when I was preapring for an exhibition, that it occurred to me, that I could combine these two passions and not only incorporate my beach combing finds into my Artwork, but these finds themselves could be the starting point or the inspiration for my Artwork.
A light had been switched on and it wasn't going to be switched off!
Since then, I have been experimenting and exploring with so many new materials: Driftwood, Sea Glass, Pottery, Slate and other Sea worn flotsam and jetsam. Responding to each find has challenged me to be much more flexible and creative in my approach and also encouraged me to develop new skills. I love the fact that I am recycling, upcycling, breathing new life into old, weathered and disused materials. I also love the fact that many of my finds – sea glass, pottery, ceramics, slate and bricks – link back to Scotland’s industrial and commercial past, so by recycling these I am helping to keep a little bit of our history alive.Other work
I have been an artist all my life and have dabbled in many mediums: painting and drawing onto canvas, paper and other surfaces; artwork using fabric as the medium; creating colourful, child friendly school playgrounds; working with children using magic, storytelling and art as a means of enhancing their creativity and hosting workshops. My art workshops have taken me to book, music and arts festivals across the UK and Ireland – from the Edinburgh International Book Festival to Cambridge Folk Festival, over to Clonmel Junction Festival in Ireland and up to the Shetland Isles. I have had the enjoyment of working collaboratively with storytellers, animators, musicians, heritage officers, graphic designers, photographers, scientists and teachers, and as a result have found my own work diversifying more and more as the years go by. You can find some of my other work here www.canndhu.com
