My practice based doctoral research is focused on the legacy of Joseph Beuys and his ideas on materials and social sculpture. This has led to an exploration of both the physical and metaphorical dimension of everyday materials and objects and their ability to catalyse meaning through association and suggestion. Analogous to an alchemist, my practice experiments with the transmutation of common elements and everyday objects. It exploits the sediments of history and narrative embedded in materials to form layers of meaning in my work. This ‘back story’, inherent or invested, becomes important in the works interpretation and understanding and can be contained in the material, its history, or an action undertaken in producing the work. 

Over the last six years I have worked extensively in glass in all its forms, exploring its physical qualities and inherent dualities; hard and fragile, solid and transparent. I am interested in the liminal region between sculpture and glassmaking, challenging the boundaries of how the material can be used. Glassmaking for me is a process of experimentation. I often add natural elements or man-made substances to the process leading to unpredictable and unexpected outcomes. In my fine art practice I use the medium of glass as a vehicle to transport multi-layered messages and meaning moving away from the traditional and decorative possibilities of glass and defying its material boundaries. The resulting works are predominantly achromatic.