This was my degree show piece studying Creative Arts Practice at Bath Spa University, Tolle Lege, a full sized carving of St Augustine in bed made from Limewood, with a variety of incidental detail and a 315 page ledger.
I was awarded the Library Commission prize of £1000 for the above sculpture. I liaised with the staff in the library and proposed this work, Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven. This piece was carved in lime wood, featuring two monkeys and two hushbabies examining a copy of Mrs Beaton's Cookbook. It is now on permanent display in Bath Spa University Library entrance hall.
I was also asked if I would like to contribute anything to the Bath Spa University Locksbrook Road Campus' Permanent Collection. I made this piece, The Garden of Earthly Delights Cipher, featuring 26 hand painted characters taken from Hieronymous Bosch's painting and white laser cut acrylic letters and symbols on board. This is now on permanent display in that building.
I became a resident at Emerge the post-graduate networking and studio space attached to Bath Spa University. Through Emerge I was introduced to the Forest of Imagination, and commissioned to make a series of wooden owls for their installation in Entry Hill Golf Course.
This owl made a brief appearance on the local news.
I made a series of works in my home studio that would show the material qualities of lime wood while not physically taking up too much space. These landscapes were approximately 25cm square, cut by hand and glued on to a board. They each took one day to make.
After this, I made a more ambitious piece, St John Chrysostom, 40 x 24cm, with smaller pieces. This was selected to appear in a group exhibition at the 44AD Artspace in Bath.
I had been given one year as an Associate Member of 44AD Artspace. This piece, Medusa Later On, made from lime wood and then charred, added a birds nest and two 3D printed robins, appeared in their group show in January 2026.
In February, a film I had made was accepted to be shown at the Sleepy Eyes film festival in The Hague, where shop windows in the street were turned into cinema screens for the evening. There was a small fee for taking part, so I travelled to the Netherlands for the opening and to meet the organisers and some of the other artists.
In March I was selected to work on an elephant as part of the Trunks Across The Thames sculpture trail. My proposal was to cover the fibreglass base with 2 centimetre blocks of wood. A process which took 6 weeks. The trail went live in Windsor and Slough in July 2026.
Another relief piece I had made was selected to be part of a Molton Brown Art competition and went on display in their Bath store for a week in March 2026. This was limewood, which I charred with a blow torch, then filled with gold pigmented resin.
This piece, The Bones of Antediluvian Monsters and Lost Races of Man, made from painted pine, filler and lime wood was selected for the Summer Exhibition at the Sculpture Lounge in Holmfirth, Yorkshire.
In May, I performed at The Holburne Museum, Bath's most prestigious arts venue. I spoke about borrowing a painting from the museum and accidentally throwing it in the canal, and also the five cats that my mother all called "Chunky". I decided that presenting my ideas in the form of a presentation was something I should include more often in my practice.
In June I held an open studio as part of the Widcombe Art trail.
I decided I would not do anymore carpentry indoors, so moved my work to the garden studio, which was fine when the weather was not too hot, or too wet or too cold.
I had some pieces I wanted to finish before reaching the end of the year since I graduated. The largest relief piece, a version of Henri Bellechose's 1416 painting, The Martyrdom of St Denis (61 x 47cm).
I carved a series of animal paws for an assemblage in a vintage display case, "Wounded Animals"
Using pine wood sourced from Freecycle, I made The Assassination John F Kennedy bird table. The figures are carved in lime wood, the whole thing painting black and white and varnished.
St Christopher's Hand Bones, using lime wood in a vintage display case.
And finally, using lengths of pine I sourced from Freecycle from a garage clear out, an amphora shaped structure built from 33 octagonal forms adhered to each other, then charred with a blow torch and varnished.
This is the extent of my practice in the year since graduation. I hope to build upon these works and create new works further to the proposed research trips and studio time afforded by the DYCP grant.