From City solicitor to eco-artivist
Ex-City solicitor, I always practiced art as a way of life. Whether selling my drawings on the street or collecting the wax from the candle trays in churches to re-melt and model as a child, drawing huge drapes with medieval life scenes for a medieval fair by using material and techniques of the time as a teenager or modelling clay as a solicitor, art has always played an essential role in my life. For some perverse misconception, I always thought that art came too easy and was too much fun to be a job. So, I chose what suited me the least instead, to make up for ’lacks’ in my character, and I became a City solicitor.
After a striking visit to the mosaics in Aquileia I finally gave in to my nature and made the leap to happiness, graduating with distinction in Mosaic and Fine Arts at the London School of Mosaic in 2019, where I also lectured the Mosaic Fabrication module in 2021/22.
I exhibited in over 100 venues, was published in over 60 articles and textbooks, and won over 2 dozen awards - at international level.
I am the founder of the Payment in Kind(ness)© initiative, whereby I accept eco-friendly actions as payment toward my artwork, and of ArtforTrash©, whereby I use the clients’ own waste to create artwork for residential, institutional and corporate settings internationally.
My eco-activism spontaneously came out progressively from my all-encompassing, eco-conscious upbringing, whereby - as an example - we would be guerrilla-planting our home-grown plants and trees at weekends.
I now run pro bono art projects with schools, individuals and organisations on eco-awareness and sustainability. To name a few, I collaborated with Living Streets, Salon Sustainability, Fernando Montaño, The Camden Clean Air Initiative on Earthfest 2024 and a few primary and secondary schools in London. My longest collaboration (March 2018 - April 2019) was A Breath of Fresh Air with the London International Gallery of Children’s Art (LIGCA), which involved 5 schools in London and Delhi and culminated in an exhibition at the Nehru Centre in Mayfair - along with a few workshops with primary and secondary school students (on links between nature and pollution through Sanskrit philosophy and chanting).
During the 2020 Lockdown I also delved into the realm of performance art, embracing the Getty challenge in recreating artworks with make-do props. They proved to be really popular, and positively helped to raise the spirits of our quarantine souls worldwide. Four of my recreations were also published by the Getty Museum in their Off the Walls book (the sales of which sponsored artists in need).
I am called to give inspirational talks and presentations to professional, corporate and institutional environments. You can find an example below, as a guest speaker of the British Association for Modern Mosaic (BAMM) at their yearly Forum in 2023, entitled Pushing the Boundaries. And indeed this is what I do, being unique both in the world of mosaic and in the fine arts, never quite fitting in any box and pioneering innovative initiatives and techniques.
I an currently collaborating with the Institute of Marine Sciences in Venice on Project Maelstrom, whereby I will create a permanent installation in loco during the Venice Boat Show 2024, by using both the waste recovered from the sea through their initiatives and that from their labs.
Testimonials
Exhibitions
On permanent exhibition at Halcyon Interiors, 120 Wigmore Street, London
EarthFest 2024, King’s Cross, London: making the Earthfest sign (10m), giving an inspirational talk to secondary schools on What a Load of Rubbish! on School Day Thursday, taking part to a panel talk hosted by Chloe Tuck from Enviral with Joel Tasche from CleanHub and Tessa Clarke from Olio on B2B Friday, and making ther Earthfest logo on site with the help of colleagues Bridget Kelly and Marie-Paule Pierson during the open weekend, 18-21 April 2024
EmpowerHER, CasildArt Gallery, London, 15 Mar-7 April 2024
Ephemeral Elegance: Women in Artistic Reflection, Cista Arts, March 2024
ArtGeminiPrize, The London Lighthouse Gallery, London, 2-10 March 2024
Sustainability in Practice, Meta Space Gallery, LJMU, Liverpool, Feb-March 2024
Our Earth, Art fron Heart, Espacio Gallery, London, Oct 2022
Flux 2022, C1, 1 Cripps Yard, SE10 0BQ, London, June 2022
The Environment, The Fronteer Gallery, Sheffield, Mar- Apr 2022
LICC 2021 official selection with the Art for Trash project with Adobe: Our Waste, Feb 2022
Old Red TV project: showing Adobe's Our Waste and Lockdown Arties videos in a collaborative anti-capitalist / surrealist TV station spotlighting up and coming video artists of all genres, The Old Red Bus Station, Leeds UK. 2022
The Glass Cathedral, ex chiesa di Santa Chiara, Fond. Manin, 1, Murano, Venice, Italy, 2016-21
Art and Sustainability in Dialogue, Staiy Atelier, December 2020
A Quiet Place, Annex Gallery, November 2019 (a quiet place)
London School of Mosaic, London, Sept 2019
CURATOR of All That Matter, BAMM, Redwing Gallery, Penzance, Apr-May 2019
Positive Emotions, Kunsthuis Gallery, Mill Green Farm, Crayke Apr - Oct 2019
A Breath of Fresh Air, Nehru Centre, London, March 2019
We Grow into the Forest, The Art Pavilion, Mile End Park, London, March 2019
La Settima Arte Riflessa, Jardines de la Buhaira, Seville, Spain, October 2018
I am a Woman and this is my Legacy Laura I. Gallery, London, October 18
CURATOR of Open Ended, BAMM Exhibition, London School of Mosaic, London, Sept-Oct 2018
Little Things (Re-Think, Re-Use, Re-Purpose), SOLO, Bridgeman House, London, May 2018. CENSORED as found too controversial
FLUX , Chelsea College of Art, London, April 2018
OureARTh, Kunsthuis Gallery, Mill Green Farm, Crayke, March 2018 – March 2019
Vibrant exhibition, the Old Biscuit Factory, London, March 2018
Threads, The Artists' Pool, Espacio Gallery, London, March 2018
BowWow Haus London: St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, London, March-April 2018. Profits to go to Blue Cross
Fe/Male at Air Gallery, Altrincham, Feb - March 2018
LVA Gallery, Sheraton Hotel, Heathrow, London, Jan – March 2018
United International Art Show, Gologorski Gallery, Krakow, Poland, Jan-Feb 2018
Codes Of Faith 2017, Laura I. Gallery, Ice House Court, London, Dec 2017
Find Me!, Vernice Contemporanea, Biennale Off. 57. Biennale d'Arte di Venezia, Venice, Oct 2017
Nasty Women UK , Stour Space, London, Sept 2017. Raising funds for End Violence Against Women
Now That's What I Call Art, Laura I. Art Gallery, Ice House Court, London,Sept 2017
First International Award "Arte Milano", Teatro Dal Verme, Milano, July 2017
Threads, Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh, July 2017
From Rome to London, Southbank Mosaics, St Lawrence Jewry Guildhall Yard, London, July - Sep 2017
FLUX, The Chelsea College of Art, London, 12-16 July 17. Featured as Artist In the Spotlight
SOLO exhibition on Light, Space & Time Online Art Gallery, May - June 2017
I'm In Heaven , Heaven Art Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ, May-June 17
Ode to Nature: 4 artists’ exhibition, Chelsea Fringe, Oxford House Gallery, London, May–June 2017. My project: Nature in its Nemesis
We Need to Talk about Clothes, Thread Counts, Hardwick Gallery, Cheltenham, April 2017
Artexpo 2017, Pier 94, NYC, April 2017
Biennale Peschiera del Garda, Caserma dell'Artiglieria, Peschiera del Garda, Italy, March–April 2017
Threads, The Artists' Pool, Espacio Gallery, London, March 2017
MeArt - Biennale Internazionale del Mediterraneo, Palermo, Italy, March 2017
Artwork selected as Header Image for Curator Space ("Materia 1, 2, 3"), Feb 2017
International Award "Galileo Galilei", Pisa, Italy, January 2017
Contemporary Venice, It’s LIQUID International Art Show, Palazzo Flangini, Venice, Italy, Dec 2016-Jan 2017
Spectrum 2016 with World Wide Art/Artavita, Booth 807, Miami, FL, Nov - Dec 2016
Oxygen - Fragmented Cities+Identities, Jorge Jurado Art Studio, Bogota', Colombia, Nov - Dec 2016
Art San Diego 2016, Balboa Park Activity Center, SD, CA, Nov 2016
Leave/Remain, Bank Street Arts, Sheffield, Oct 2016
Future Landscapes, Ca' Zanardi, Venice, Italy, Oct - Nov 2016
Frida Kahlo – Lust for Life, Menier Gallery, London, Aug 2016
Awards
Excellence award, Creative Quarterly 59
Artist of the Future award, Contemporary Art Curator Magazine
Artist of the month, Art from Heart
2021
2020
2020
2 x Saatchi Gallery favourites #recycling #SaatchiTakeover competition
2020
Honorable Mention , London International Creative Competition 2019: Art for Trash with Bluefield Partners
2020
Highly commended award, Fe/Male Exhibition, Air Gallery, Altrincham
2018
1st place, All Photography and Digital Media Exhibition, Contemporary Art Gallery Online
2018
2017
Uniqueness of Concept and Originality Award, Still Point IX, Still Point Art Gallery
2017
1st place, Eclectic Art, Bauhaus Prairie Art Gallery
2017
Contest Excellence Award, Circle Quarterly
3rd place, I'm In Heaven, Heaven Art Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
2017
1st place, Abstract Art, 3D Category, Light, Space and Time Gallery
2017
Overall winner, Spotlight Solo Art Contest, International Gallery of the Arts
2016