I am a contemporary visual artist living and working near the Humber in East Yorkshire. My post art college practice began in the 1970s with figurative work in collage and fine art enamelling, followed by tiny land and seascapes and the  experimentation in the MA years that resulted in the later abstract works. The new century threw up many  personal difficulties including health problems. Unable to achieve much practical art work during this time, it was the the pandemic and lockdown that enabled me to focus on developing my practice. I found a different art world - computers, social media, websites. I felt as if I'd come straight from the stone age! It's a new begining, exciting but scary! 

In September 2024, I was given the opportunity to become one of 25 artists participating in a very exciting project - to respond to an abandoned industrial building in Hull, 25 Francis Street, originally built in 1949 and used to manufacture parts for motor bikes it became an educational and lab furniture of some sort. it closed around 2012 for good and since then, has been gradually sinking into decay until a new visionary artist owner acquired it. He offered one of the floors to Hull Artists Research Initiative, director Sarah Pennington, to use as a temporary home in its existing state. A decision was made in July 2024, for 25 artists to be given access for 25 hours to the building and respond however they wanted. The results would then be available to the public from the 25th October 2024 to the 25th January 2025. twice a week, for limited hours. It was a huge success with a total of over 500 visitors during the that time. This, despite of no heat, limited light, and many broken boarded windows. The personality of the building in its decaying broken state won hearts and minds. How Sarah survived the conditions of cold and damp is a matter of wonder. Instructions to visitors - wear warm clothes and bring a torch.

            It was something of a shock finding the building was six years younger than me but I found the way it was decaying moving and beautiful. Coming into the project so late in September was challenging. If I had had had to start from scratch my contribution would have been meagre. As it was, I had some half started work on fragments from a plaster ceiling that had never been resolved but were perfect to repurpose. They became a base for seven images able to incorporate parts of the fabric of the building, like cracked chips of paint. It also allowed elements of material I would never normally use like shed snakeskin and grids of plastic mesh to echo the panes of metal cased windows from packs of food. Exploring through play and experimentation, old plastic bag strips, bits of metal. It encouraged inventiveness. I hadn't enjoyed myself so much since working for my MA exhibition and of course it was a continuation my interest in erosion recording the passage of time

            I had requested one of the small rooms, so images could be shown as a contained set. The room I was given was perfect, containing many of the fragmented red chips of old wall paint I utilised in the images. Over the three months, the extreme cold and damp made the MDF in the frames begin to react, a perfect unexpected response to the building and adding not detracting from the images. It was if they were hung on a garden trellis surrounded by paint chip Virginia creeper!

To have been a small part of the project, was an experience that excited and made me feel more alive than I have been for some time. Given my age it could well be my swan song but what a way to go! My thanks to all who made it possible.

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