Category: Events

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?“

These beautiful words, from Mary Oliver’s poem, ‘The Summer Day’, remind and inspire me. They remind me that, first and foremost, my life is entirely what I make of it.Students I taught often used to  worry that they didn’t know which career path they should be following. I worried about the word “should”. I would say, in jest, that I still didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up. We all grow and change with time.

For most of my life, I got so caught up in what the world thought I should be and tried to be that person, that I gave up on becoming the person I should have been and wanted to be. No regrets, though as it’s part of the process. This is my journey.

And here I am, doing the one thing I love and was banned from doing as a teenager: Art. It’s become my raison d’être in processing who I am and learning more about the world.
And here I am at the age of 70 with 15 other amazing Finalists for the Surrey Artist of the Year Exhibition! Such a wide range of practices from paper cuts, stained glass, sculpture to paintings. This feels very grown up!

This painting, “When Evening Falls” is used as part of the press release.

Visit the @newashgate exhibition in Farnham, Surrey if you can (its on until 6th November). It’s an amazing gallery space! Enjoy the breadth of talent, and vote for your favourite artist! The winner will be announced on October 22nd! The artwork is also available online on the Gallery’s website:

Very surreal to learn recently that following visitors to the recent Surrey Artists Open Studios, I have been shortlisted for Surrey Artist of the Year. Three artworks will be on exhibition at The New Ashgate in Farnham.

I have to confess that my initial response was shock and embarrassment. Never dreamed of being in a position like this!
What an honour!!

I was fortunate to be asked to be part of the “African and Caribbean Diaspora” exhibition at The Forge Artspace in Shere, Surrey. The work was curated by Rachel Oteng- Lartey of Wills Art Warehouse and the art space owner, Uthayla Bray. I am exhibiting alongside the above established artists.

Uthayla is very passionate about putting on this exhibition. As many of you are aware, the erasure of blacks and other minority cultures from art history has been demonstrated through a lack of presence in major auctions, museums, galleries and art history curricula. It encompasses not only an absence of minority figures in the art itself, but black artists as well. The issue isn’t that black art is rare or that black artists are less talented.

Regardless of the medium or subject matter, black art is almost always treated as a commentary on race. It’s almost as if, in order to be successful black artists, they must perpetually create art that speaks on black culture and racism. It’s not important for an artist’s race to be apparent just by looking at their work but, knowing that there are an increasing number of black artists being featured in museums and galleries, is important.

Although museums do seem to be making an effort to collect more work by black artists and promote them, the system is still clearly flawed. This exhibition is part of the drive to address that on a local level.

The Forge Artspace is a beautiful Lutyens designed building which until recently was a fully functioning forge. It has been sympathetically renovated to create a bright, airy space which lends itself to being an art gallery.