I was born in December 1945 in Glasgow. I started drawing and painting when I returned to live there at the age of 40. This was a revolution in my life, as I was brought up with the idea that women were incapable of being artists. I exhibited my paintings and oil pastels in Scotland for many years, in both group and solo shows. In 1996 I studied Abstract Art in Victoria, BC, where my work appeared in three exhibitions. In 2000 I became a member and trustee of Artesian, a group of Outsider artists in Edinburgh. I co-edited several issues of our international magazine, which encouraged outsider artists to write about their own art. This experience introduced me to a whole new world of art and completely changed my work. I started to make assemblages, art works which incorporate all kinds of materials, techniques and found objects.
As I write poetry as well as making art (I completed a Masters degree in Creative Writing at Glasgow University in 2005), I am always experimenting with new ways of exhibiting poetry and/or including poems in my art works. This has led to the current exhibition which has developed from the idea of making ‘hommages’ or tributes to people who have inspired me, many of whom are writers.
I moved to Kent in December 2010 when my husband retired, and discovered boot fairs, Mecca for any assemblage artist. I also get things from charity shops, antique fairs, Faversham market, and occasionally the Internet, preferring to buy things secondhand if possible. I love transforming broken, worn, unwanted items into things of beauty, and am particularly attracted to pieces that remind me of the world of my childhood.