Pauline

Pauline has always lived and worked where she was born and bred: in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. She qualified as a nurse in 1988, and subsequently worked for many years as a mental health nurse in local hospitals and nursing homes.

However, she has always had a more quirky and creative side: interested in fashion, interior design, collecting, flower-arranging and window-dressing. In 2001 she embarked on five years of formal training in Art and Design, leading to a City and Guilds in Life Drawing and BA (Hons) in Fine Art For Design.

Since then she has had numerous Art Exhibitions and Commissions, has worked at Yorkshire Sculpture Park; West Bretton, Wakefield and has taught art part time at Calderdale College, Halifax. She has given many Art workshops in schools and elsewhere and was Environmental Artist at Pontefract Infant and Primary School, gaining favourable comments from OFSTED.

Pauline's son Bruce is currently working in the film industry having recently obtained a BA in TV and film production.

Natural forms, particularly trees with their sculptural appeal and individually patterned bark, have long been a source of fascination for me. Foraging too seems to have been a lifetime interest, picking up odd little roots that remind me of chicken's feet, or a piece of bark that resembles a parrot's bill. Collected plants often take on other imagined forms as they dry and shrivel up. Then there is my love of birds, from the tiny wren to the clumsy ostrich, with their many different colours, sizes and contrasts. It should be clear how the 'twig birds' evolved from these early inspirations.

Recycling and decay constantly figure in my work. We go through birth, growth and death, and our own components go toward feeding trees, which ironically outlive us by years. My twig birds encompass all these aspects: the materials are re-cycled and take on new forms of their own as they decay.

My main satisfaction lies in capturing the spirit of the bird with the natural found materials that are available. This is what I strive for in my art.

See Pauline's Art CV here.