I grew up in Doncaster and graduated from Doncaster Art College with an A Level in Art and a portfolio to apply for a degree course on fine art.
Between 1983 and 1986 I studied art at De Montfort University Leicester, graduating with a Bachelor's degree in painting. During this time I studied one semester at the St. Joost Art Academy Breda in the Netherlands.
This was followed by a 4-year apprenticeship at Leicester Museums and Art Gallery, which I completed with a degree in Museum Studies from the University of Manchester (1987-1991).
In 1992 I moved to Germany.
In 1994 I became a member of the artist association 'Offene Ateliers Bielefeld' offeneateliers-bielefeld.de , where I still exhibit regularly. My first small studio in Gustav-Adolf-Str. was the beginning of an artist/working relationship with the current AlarmTheater e.V. alarmtheater.de, for which I have designed and produced stage sets and costumes since 1995 (from The Princess and the Golden Book in 1995 and Anne Frank in 1997 to "Ich habe da etwas" in 2015); about 20 productions and projects with high artistic and social integrative standards. Through this I have established myself in the field of stage design and costumes and today I work regularly for various clients such as: Musikschule Herford musikschule-herford.de (annual musicals and projects since 2003), Liz Mohn Foundation (project musicals with elementary schools and Kindergarten in Gütersloh), Musicus e.V. musicus-ev.de (music/theater plays and integrative music lessons) and at schools in NRW through culture and school projects.
Between1996 and 1999, as a member of the Shademakers Carneval Club, I was also involved in the founding of the Bielefeld Carnival of Cultures. I continue this costume and street performance art in design and implementation work for the Stelzentheaters Bielefeld stelzen-theater-bielefeld.de
Since 2005 I have been a member of the Produzentengalerie Bielefeld produzenten-galerie.de
I am one of 12 artists who work together to run the gallery. Since 2009 I have worked there once a year for a month exclusively with portrait painting. In this time I painted in public friends, passers-by and artist colleagues. This resulted in some commissioned work, which received a lot of positive feedback encouraging me to expand the portrait painting and professionalize.
The first step towards this is already done. Since January 2019, I rent a portrait studio in Rohrteichstrasse and aim to significantly expand the scope of this activity.
I decided to pursue a freelance career to give shape to my ideas and visions. Many of my projects involved voluntary work and served both cultural education and integration and social understanding. (In schools, music schools, kindergartens, retirement homes, theaters and galleries with children, youth, and citizens of different socio-cultural backgrounds). I have developed, through qualifications, work experience and networks in art, languages and music all of which flow together as creative veins in me. This experience and creative power I like to pass on to people through exhibitions, performances, project work and informal encounters of all kinds!