About Annie

I’m a visual artist based in Norfolk, UK. My fascination with home as a metaphor comes from childhood. I’m lucky that I had stability and one place to call home. Many people are robbed of, or never have, this opportunity - which I can’t ignore in my work. My art is rooted in everyday life: using overlooked materials and the importance of noticing the extraordinary within the ordinary.

Over a long and varied career, I have created commissions for the Tower of London and Chelsea & Westminster Hospital. I have work in several private collections and four drawings in the Arts for Health public collection. I’ve shown work in solo and group exhibitions across the UK and beyond.

Alongside my practice, I’ve worked as an artist-educator with the Sainsbury Centre and lecture at colleges and universities - sharing art as a way of building community.

After years of juggling family and work, I’m now returning to my practice with renewed energy. I plan to work at a larger scale and to start exhibiting again.

Artist Statement

Annie’s work explores belonging, family and the fragile idea of home. Growing up, she understood how precious a feeling of belonging and place is: her mother had moved multiple times throughout her early life, so the family home was never taken for granted. Equally, the weight of inheriting stuff accumulated to replace the loss her mother clearly felt can be suffocating. These strands of awareness run deeply through everything Annie makes.

Using modest often recycled materials, Annie reflects on how precarious life can feel - echoing a personal resonance as well as the wider uncertainty of migration and displacement. For Annie, the act of making is a way of holding these tensions: shelter and vulnerability, safety and smothering, comfort and loss.

Each piece becomes a kind of question - what does it mean to belong, and what do we carry with us when home is fragile and temporary, or stodgy and over-filled?

CV

Qualifications

2007        MA Fine Art; Norwich School of Art & Design - influenced by tutors Andrew Bick and Roger Ackling

1992        PGCE Art & Design; Distinction in Theory of Education

1987        BA in Fine Art (2:1); Commendation in General Theory

Awards and Grants

2011       Funding for Illustration course: Chelsea College of Arts, London

2005        AHRC Funding for Postgraduate Study

2004        Selected for AA2A; Intaglio printmaking; NSAD

2003        Developing Creative Practice with Young People award; Artists in Schools run by Creative Partnerships Norfolk, Arts Council England and Creative Arts East

Work in Collections

2015        Mixed Media on Textile; private collection, Norfolk

2014        Collage on paper; private collection, Spain

2013        Collage on paper; private collection, Norfolk 

2007       Labels Installation; private collection, Wales

1992        Four Drawings, public collection of Arts for Health, Manchester

1988        Gouache Sketches; public collection of Tower of London

Solo Exhibitions

2015        The Tea Lounge, Norwich

2014        Fragment; East Place Barn, Norfolk

2008 Solo Show at Hay Gallery, Colchester Institute

2007       Unseen; Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital

Selected Group Exhibitions

2017 Abstracted; Mannington Hall, with M Battye, R Davies, B Heriz, R Mallin

2016        Museu Thermalia, Barcelona; with N Colet & R Permanyer

2015        Marvellous in Ordinary; NNEC Cley15, curated by Meryl Donay

2015        Suite in 3Movements; Studio 20 with N Colet and R Permanyer

2015        Interaction; Fisher Theatre, with S Hirst, Bungay, Suffolk

2015        Breaking the Mould; Stew Gallery, Norwich

2014        Helena at Home; with R Mallin, Norwich

2013        Cornucopia; South Walsham Art Centre

2008        4Corners; Sheringham Little Theatre, North Norfolk

2007        MA Final Exhibition; Norwich School of Art & Design

2006        8th Norwich Fringe Festival exhibition, Norwich

2006        MA Interim Show; Norwich School of Art & Design

2006        Hobart Gallery, Blickling Hall, Norfolk

2005        Student Gallery, NSAD

2005        Hobart Gallery, Blickling Hall, Norfolk

2004        Baroque; Walsingham, North Norfolk

2003        Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, London

2003        Buckingham Galleries, Southwold

2002        Craftco, Southwold

1992        Summertime Blues; Workshop Gallery, Chepstow

1991        Llantarnam Grange, Cwmbran

1990        Ruthin Craft Centre, North Wales

Residencies and Workshops

2015        Forgotten Corners; drawing and collage workshop, Cley15

2015        Community Art Workshops; East Place Barn and Bungay, Suffolk

2014        InDesign and Photoshop workshops; Norwich

2014        Overlays Workshop with Michael Brennand-Wood, Smiths Row Gallery

2014        Visiting Lecturer; BA Fine Art, Colchester Institute

2014        Art Workshops; Norwich, Collage workshops; Bungay

2013        Pattern Repeats in Photoshop workshop; Norwich 

2013        Table-Top Print-making Workshop; South Walsham Arts Centre, Norfolk

2008+     Visiting Lecturer; BA Fine Art, Colchester Institute

2004        Artist Educator Residency; North Walsham High school, Norfolk

Commissions and Design Work

Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, London: x4 framed painted panels

Beauchamp Tower, Tower of London: x5 painted textile drapes

Textile Design; agent Indesign, London; clients included Macy’s, New York

Graphic Design; leaflets, exhibition flyers

Textile Design; agent Vanessa Calver, London