Kay - artist and walker

I have been an artist and keen walker for a long time and have run workshops and art walks for art residencies, charities and as a self-employed guide. I get an endless source of inspiration from wild places across the UK but return to the Dartmoor landscape constantly, drawn by its wildness and drama, its atmosphere, and its layers of history. 

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‘My two passions are art and walking!  Moving through a landscape, or standing still and observing for a moment, whether that is to just look and feel the atmosphere of the place or to sketch, gives me great pleasure.  I can’t think of many things that can beat it. There is something about climbing a hill and the reward of a big sky, far-reaching views, and experiencing the weather ,or the closer observation of rocks, roots and streams, that I realise I am lucky to be able to experience. It always gives me a thrill.’  

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My art practice investigates landscape; the visual and perceptual responses to what we see and what we have altered, of language, movement, and layers. The relationships we create both intentionally and un-knowingly with the terrains we inhabit.  I research and experiment in a variety of landscapes in both a more literal geographical and physical sense and in the possibilities that arise when considering the delicate balance between control and chaos in the human condition and between nature and the managed landscape, whether it’s moorland, city, or industrial space.

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​I try to approach my art practice with playfulness and energy and an instinctive reaction to what I know about each place I am working in. It is predominantly drawing and painting, but I also look to create opportunities that invite audiences to take part, play games, walk new walks, read alternative maps and hopefully consider landscape in a different way.  All my work has a clear narrative and researched background and is consistently visually and physically strong.