North Carolina – A Journey of Place, Material & Memory

This summer I spent nine weeks in North Carolina, immersing myself in a different landscape, a different rhythm of life, and a new source of inspiration for my work.

I was fortunate to spend much of the residency living among the pine forests and natural landscape, walking, observing and collecting small fragments of the place around me. For the first time, I began working with local North Carolina clay, exploring its rich natural colour and texture alongside materials that have become such an important part of my practice.

            

I also began creating a series of small wooden panels, building layers from the landscape around me -including local clay, mica and other gathered elements. Rather than knowing exactly what these pieces would become, I allowed them to evolve as a visual record of my time there: a kind of tapestry of memories, with each small piece holding a fragment of the journey.

   

The residency also gave me the opportunity to spend time in New Orleans during the White Linen event, experiencing the extraordinary energy, colour and creative spirit of the city. It was a very different landscape from the quiet pine forests of North Carolina, but equally inspiring.

Throughout the nine weeks, I found myself thinking about how a sense of place becomes embedded in our memories – not simply through what we see, but through colour, texture, atmosphere and the materials beneath our feet.

       

Three finished pieces remained in North Carolina at the end of my residency. They felt intrinsically connected to the place where they were created, and I was happy for them to stay there, becoming part of the story of my time in America. 

           

I returned to Cornwall with new ideas, new materials and a collection of unfinished pieces that will continue to develop in the studio. Some of the work will become part of a new body of paintings inspired by my time in America, while other elements of the journey will perhaps reveal themselves much more slowly.

For me, travelling as an artist is not about leaving my practice behind. It is about allowing it to expand – to absorb new landscapes, materials and experiences, and to bring something of those places home.

North Carolina has become another layer in my story.