BEYOND COLOURS FROM LIFE

THE ART COURT

XThe Art Court provides a welcoming way for people to collect art in the North of England. We believe art has the power to connect people, create communities and enrich lives. We curate exhibitions and work with clients interested in acquiring or commissioning art for both public and private spaces. Our bespoke services include personal art buying, curation, project management, and commissioning. For inquiries please contact us at curator@theartcourt.co.uk.

We are absolutely delighted to announce our collaboration with Rushbond,the Yorkshire-based property developers specialising in the restoration and redevelopment of heritage properties. We are particularly thrilled to showcase our latest exhibition in the breathtaking setting of the First White Cloth Hall in Leeds city center, graciously provided by Rushbond. The Grade II* listed building, which dates back to 1711, originally served as a covered marketplace for trading undyed (white) cloth. After years of neglect, the Rushbond Group undertook the monumental task of restoring this historic gem.

Presenting contemporary art and vibrant colors within a space steeped in history, once dedicated to the trade of white cloth, offers a captivating contrast. We look forward to welcoming you to experience this exciting blend of past and present.

OPENING HOURS

Thursday: 12-6pm

Friday: 12-6pm

Saturday: 12-6pm (or via appointment)

98-100 Kirkgate, Leeds LS2 7DJ WWW.THEARTCOURT.CO.UK

EXHIBITING

ARTISTS

HELEN DRYDEN

MICHELLE DUXBURY

ANDY EDWARDS

HONDARTZA FRAGA

FIONA GRADY

JONATHAN HOOPER

PHILL HOPKINS

LORNA JOHNSON

SARAH ROBERTS COURTNEY SPENCER

BEYOND COLOURS FROM LIFE

14 MAR - 20 APR 2024

Embark on a journey through hues and shades as we delve into the captivating world of color in our latest exhibition, building upon the success of our previous showcase, Colours From Life. Here, we explore the myriad ways in which artists harness color to convey emotions, observations, and narratives.

Sarah Roberts commands attention with her vibrant piece, Everything’s Mustard, adorning the front window. Bathed in golden tones, it speaks of dawn-lit moments spent sorting through memories within her mother’s bungalow. Yet, beneath the initial warmth lies a subtle unease, echoing consumerism, domesticity, and illness.

Adjacent, Jonathan Hooper’s urban landscapes use palettes chosen for emotional resonance. And Helen Dryden transports us to surreal realms ablaze with intense hues, where joy and disquiet dance amidst clashing colors.

Phill Hopkins invites us into his evocative Walking Ahead series, each canvas a symphony of seasonal tones and landscapes viewed through his distinct lens. With nods to Australian Aboriginal art, his use of washes and dots offer fresh perspectives on familiar scenes. My own work brings in some of his colors,

though in the form of natural pigments drawn from childhood memories of rural landscapes across Western Australia.

Andy Edwards transforms discarded fragments of the urban landscape into vibrant collages Michelle Duxbury’s bold use of red thread intertwines notions of femininity and power in her embroidery.

Conversely, Hondartza Fraga’s enigmatic prints emerge from an unconventional process, inverting drawings on vintage paper to reveal depths of inky blue. These are shown alongside her grayscale works exploring maritime history and the sea.

Fiona Grady’s geometric compositions manipulate color and form to impact well-being. Meanwhile, Lorna Johnson challenges perceptions of value, elevating the ordinary through embellishment and highlighting artificial landscapes.

As we navigate this kaleidoscope of color, we’re reminded of the subjective nature of color perception, influenced by personal, cultural, and physiological factors. This exhibition invites us to share our interpretations and thoughts, affirming that every viewer’s perspective is valid.

Courtney Spencer

The Art Court

HELEN DRYDEN

B.1977 MIDDLESBROUGH, UK

Helen Dryden is a painter whose artistic practice also involves curating, illustration, and photography. She is drawn to things that seem slightly strange and loves to explore how our emotions, experiences, and imagination affect our perception of reality.

Recently Helen has adopted an intuitive approach to painting, allowing the images to emerge spontaneously after periods of drawing and reflective thinking. She finds joy in the unknown, in not knowing what the final outcome will be.

Helen draws inspiration from everyday life and is influenced by science fiction, folk, horror, environmental concerns, a love of nature, pop culture, and dreams. Her latest body of work delves into

the concept of humans exploring new landscapes. At first glance, these vibrant landscapes appear cheerful and optimistic, but there is also a sense of unease that lurks beneath the surface.

“As a painter, I’ve learned to trust my instincts and let my inner self come to the surface. I have my own ideas about what is happening in the painting, and usually, it’s quite an involved story, but I don’t like to explain it as a fixed idea. I give clues with the titles, but I want the viewer to decide for themselves. I aim to create the impression of something wonderful yet unsettling happening.”

Helen Dryden

It started like any other recreational activity, I guess 2022

Acrylic on canvas

80 x 100 cm | 31.5 x 39.5 in £1,600

/ HELEN DRYDEN

The Official Commemorative Presidential Portrait with the first guys to piss on this dirt 2023

Acrylic and spray paint on canvas 80 x 100 cm 31.5 x 39.5 in £1,600

Summer Camp 2023

Acrylic on canvas

51 x 41 cm | 20 x 16 in £700

Golden Acre Palm 2023

Acrylic and spray paint on canvas

40 x 60 cm | 15.75 x 23.5 in £800

Step nearer the bushes, Joanne 2016

Acrylic on canvas

30 x 40 cm | 12 x 15.75 in £600

MICHELLE DUXBURY

B.1973 LEEDS, UK

Michelle Duxbury works across a range of media to explore how we exist in our bodies, spaces and places.

Drawing on her experience as a disabled, neurodivergent woman from a working class background, she offers a glimpse into her complex relationship with an outside world.

Her work considers an intrinsic link between landscape, body and identity, in individual and collective connection to landscape, and how this impacts on feelings of belonging/not belonging.

Her practice is informed by process based research and experimentation.

She is developing a more sustainable approach to creating artworks that contribute to more diverse and inclusive narratives around disability.

“I love embroidery, it has such a rich, and often subversive, feminist history.”

Michelle Duxbury

OPPOSITE PAGE

Detail of Untitled red thread I, 2022

Untitled red thread I 2022

Cotton thread on Japanese paper

42 x 42cm | 16.5 x 16.5in (incl. frame)

£600 (framed)

Untitled red thread II 2022

Cotton thread on Japanese paper

42 x 42cm | 16.5 x 16.5in (incl. frame)

£600 (framed)

Untitled red thread III 2022

Cotton thread on handmade paper 42 x 42cm | 16.5 x 16.5in (incl. frame) £600 (framed)

ANDY EDWARDS

B. 1962 MIDDLESEX, UK

Andy Edwards is an artist, graphic designer and until recently, was also a university lecturer. All aspects of his practice inform the other.

As a graphic designer he works with cultural organisations, public bodies and architects. Meanwhile, as an artist, he often uses materials that others have designed, produced, used, and discarded to create mixed media collages.

By elevating detritus and ephemera into artwork in this way, he challenges traditional hierarchies of materials and production values. He enjoys reimagining found material, and waste to find accidental juxtapositions that create new meaning within his work.

Andy makes collages in series and often works to a self-imposed brief. Whilst on a work trip to New York he made daily collages from discarded materials found on the streets. Emballage is a series where he worked with materials connected to a local cafe. He made playful works using delivery boxes and bits of pre-coloured packaging that reference the global supply chain.

“Collage has always been something I’ve made since I saw work by Kurt Schwitters, Hannah Hoch and Bob Rauschenburg in my teens. There’s a symbiosis between my art and graphic design, one informing the other. Order and accident, utility and futility, the found, the imperfect, re-used and reformed.”

Andy Edwards

2021

Mixed media collage

43 x 53 cm | 20.9 x 16.9 (incl. frame)

£300 (framed)

Thick Red Line 2022

Mixed media collage

43 x 53 cm | 16.9 x 20.9 in (incl. frame)

£300 (framed)

43 x 53 cm | 16.9 x 20.9 in (incl. frame)

£300 (framed)

Alpha 2022

Mixed media collage

HONDARTZA FRAGA

B.1982 A CORUÑA, SPAIN

Hondartza Fraga is a Spanish artist who works across a range of mediums including drawing, photography video and animation. Her work often reinterprets scientific imagery to explore alternative ways of meaning making.

She is fascinated by our relationship to extreme environments, from deep sea to deep space which are recurring themes she explores throughout her work.

Her work often explores the relationship between artistic and scientific processes and how scientific discoveries are represented and communicated via imagery that aids in attributing meaning. She is currently completing a practiceled PhD at the University of Leeds. Her research centres around making a new body of work using the archive of raw images from the space-research

Cassini mission to explore the similarities and differences between drawing and new technologies.

Her work is held in private and public collections in the UK and Europe. Her work is represented by Espacio Alexandra (Spain) and The Art Court (UK). She was featured in the book Vitamin D3: Today’s Best Contemporary Drawing published by Phaidon in 2022.

“Black dominates much of my work though sometimes a colour is used for a specific reason. The blue in the Incognito prints originates from digitally inverting the yellowing vintage paper I used for the drawings. The deep blues evoke traditional photographic techniques such as cyanotypes.”

Hondartza Fraga

OPPOSITE PAGE

Installation view Incognito prints with drawings on gallery wall.

Incognito 1

2019

Archival pigment print on Hahnemuhle photo rag

Signed edition of 3 + 1 AP + 1 exhibition copy

42 x 59.4cm | 16.5 x 23.5in

£350 (unframed)

60 x 80 cm | 23.6 x 31.5 in (incl. frame)

£500 (framed)

Incognito 2

2019

Archival pigment print on Hahnemuhle photo rag

Signed edition of 3 + 1 AP + 1 exhibition copy

42 x 59.4cm | 16.5 x 23.5in

£350 (unframed)

60 x 80 cm | 23.6 x 31.5 in (incl. frame)

£500 (framed)

Incognito 3

2019

Archival pigment print on Hahnemuhle photo rag

Signed edition of 3 + AP + 1 exhibition copy

42 x 59.4cm | 16.5 x 23.5in

£350 (unframed)

60 x 80 cm | 23.6 x 31.5 in (incl. frame)

£500 (framed)

Incognito 4

2019

Archival pigment print on Hahnemuhle photo rag

Signed edition Edition of 3 + 1 a/p + 1 exhibition copy

42 x 59.4cm | 16.5 x 23.5in

£350 (unframed)

60 x 80 cm | 23.6 x 31.5 in (incl. frame)

£500 (framed)

Incognito 5

2019

Archival pigment print on Hahnemuhle photo rag

Signed edition of 3 + 1 AP + 1 exhibition copy

42 x 59.4cm | 16.5 x 23.5in

£350 (unframed)

60 x 80 cm | 23.6 x 31.5 in (incl. frame)

£500 (framed)

Incognito 6

2019

Archival pigment print on Hahnemuhle photo rag

Signed edition of 3 + 1 AP + 1 exhibition copy

42 x 59.4cm | 16.5 x 23.5in

£350 (unframed)

60 x 80 cm | 23.6 x 31.5 in (incl. frame)

£500 (framed)

Incognito 7

2019

Archival pigment print on Hahnemuhle photo rag

Signed edition of 3 + 1 AP + 1 exhibition copy

42 x 59.4cm | 16.5 x 23.5in

£350 (unframed)

60 x 80 cm | 23.6 x 31.5 in (incl. frame)

£500 (framed)

Incognito 8

2019

Archival pigment print on Hahnemuhle photo rag

Signed edition of 3 + 1 AP + 1 exhibition copy

42 x 59.4cm | 16.5 x 23.5in

£350 (unframed)

60 x 80 cm | 23.6 x 31.5 in (incl. frame)

£500 (framed)

Seaward Bound I

2013

Limited edition of 3

Photograph on metallic paper

100 x 125cm | 39.4 x 49.2in (incl. frame)

£1,200

Seaward Bound II

2013

Limited edition of 3

Photograph on metallic paper

100 x 125cm | 39.4 x 49.2in (incl. frame)

£1,200

Seaward Bound III

2013

Limited edition of 3

Photograph on metallic paper

100 x 125cm | 39.4 x 49.2in (incl. frame)

£1,200

Books to Sea: Hull Whaling Relics

2013

Original artwork

Graphite rubbing on paper

60 x 48cm | 23.6 x 18.9in (incl. frame)

£700

Books to Sea: Ocean Passages for the World 2013

Original artwork

Graphite rubbing on paper

60 x 48cm | 23.6 x 18.9in (incl. frame)

£700

FIONA GRADY

B.1984 LEEDS, UK

Fiona Grady is an artist who explores colour and geomety using drawing, screenprinting, vinyle and glass. Her artworks range from smaller works on paper through to large-scale architectural interventions. These change with the light throughout the day, reflecting the passing of time, memory and experience to create ambient environments.

Born into a family of mathematicians she has always had a keen eye for balance using ratios of numbers, harmonious colours, and systematic approaches to intervene within a space.

Fiona has had solo exhibitions at venues including University of Brighton; Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff; and The Eye Sees, Arles, France. She has

been commissioned worldwide by organisations and institutions including: Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery, Canary Wharf Group, ITV, Heals London, Walthamstow Wetlands Visitor Centre, British Land, Watts Gallery Artists’ Village, Kensington +Chelsea Art Week, NHS Nightingale Projects, and Kensington and Chelsea Council. She was awarded the Mark Rothko Memorial Trust Bursary and has received grants from Arts Council England amongst other organisations.

Her works are held in public and private collections across Europe, North America, and as far as New Zealand. Including Bagri Collection, Linklaters, Paul Smith Ltd, and the Tim Sayer Collection bequeathed to Hepworth, Wakefield.

Afternoon Ratio I 1/5

2017

Screenprint in four colours on Somerset Satin 300gsm paper 60.5 x 43.5 cm | 23.8 x 17.1 in (incl frame)

£500

Afternoon Ratio

II 1/5

2017

Screenprint in four colours on Somerset Satin 300gsm paper

60.5 x 43.5 cm | 23.8 x 17.1 in (incl frame)

£500

Windows (Old Church Street) VII

2023

Screenprint on paper

38.5 x 30 cm | 15.2 x 11.8 in (incl frame)

£500

Windows (Old Church Street) IX

2023

Screenprint on paper

38.5 x 30 cm | 15.2 x 11.8 in (incl frame)

£500

JONATHAN HOOPER

B.1963 LONDON, UK

Jonathan Hooper is a painter who depicts the residential architecture of suburban Leeds, specifically the north-west areas including Headingley, Hyde Park, Burley, Kirkstall and Meanwood.

His work captures everyday scenes, highlighting the beauty and individuality of the built landscapes in his immediate surroundings.

He specifically focuses on houses because of their connection to the human: partly through the emotional associations of “home” and also the human scale of the buildings including their arrangement corresponds to a human face or body; how their outside

surfaces reveal their histories and inner lives; and the way their layout is rooted deeply in our memory.

He uses limited colour palettes for each series, which are chosen to create an emotional atmosphere that mirrors the character of the subject rather than imitating its visual appearance.

“The main function of colour in painting for me is to create atmosphere and emotion. I take colour from my memory of the subject, my imagination, and through improvising.”

Jonathan Hooper

OPPOSITE PAGE

Installation view of Shops in Headingley (Letting Agent; Fast Food), 2023 on gallery wall.

Street in Meanwood: looking down 2023

Oil on canvas

76 x 61 cm | 29.9 x 24 in £950 (unframed)

Street in Meanwood: looking up 2023

Oil on canvas

76 x 61 cm | 29.9 x 24 in £950 (unframed)

Beckett Park

2022

Oil on canvas 91 x 61 cm | 35 x 24 in £1,200 (framed)

Shops in Headingley (Letting agent; Fast food) 2023

Oil on cradled board

51 x 41 cm | 20 x 16.1 in £700 (framed)

Shops in Headingley (Barbers; Letting agent) 2023

Oil on cradled board

51 x 41 cm | 20 x 16.1 in £700 (framed)

2023

Oil on cradled board

51 x 61 cm | 20.01 x 24.02 in £800 (unframed)

Grandby Terrace, Headingley, Leeds (3)

Grandby Terrace, Headingley, Leeds (4) 2023

Oil on cradled board

51 x 61 cm | 20.01 x 24.02 in £800 (unframed)

PHILL HOPKINS

B. 1961 BRISTOL, UK

Phill Hopkins is a British contemporary artist with a versatile practice that is diverse, yet firmly rooted within a coherent artistic strategy.

He is predominantly a painter, who makes drawings, photographs and sculptures. He works with a range of media, from the traditional to the unconventional.

He grew up in a working-class family in Bristol where he found school difficult but he excelled at art. Though he didn’t experience the world of art beyond the classroom until he accidentally visited The Arnolfini Gallery when he was fifteen.

He went on to study at Goldsmiths College of Art in London where he developed his own visual language of

mark-making that can be seen in his work across the decades.

He has represented Britain at the Nanjing International Art Festival, China. He has exhibited at the Imperial War Museum, Kettles Yard, Hungarian Museum of Photography, Whitworth, Leeds Art Gallery and The Henry Moore Institute amongst many others.

His work is held in private collections in the UK, Europe, USA, China and Australia, and in public collections, including many of the institutions mentioned above.

“I get caught up and engrossed in the delicious markmaking, in a particular moment and nothing else matters.”

Phill Hopkins

Figure with a Wildflower Bouquet, St Ishmael (Walking Ahead) 2023

Acrylic on canvas 174 x 128 cm and 68.5 x 50.4 in £8,500

2022

Figure at the End of the Arbor (Walking Ahead)

Acrylic on canvas 180 x 130 cm | 70.8 x 51.1 in £9,000

Acrylic

180 x 130 cm | 70.8 x 51.1 in £9,000

Figure Beyond the Mud and Fallen Branches (Walking Ahead) 2022

on canvas

2023

180 x 130 cm |

70.8

Figure on a Muddy Path

Near the Quarry (Walking Ahead)

Acrylic on canvas

x 51.1 in £9,000

Nearing the Bend in the Road (Walking Ahead) 2023

Acrylic on canvas 180 x 130 cm | 70.8 x 51.1 in £9,000

Oak Coat Under an Oak Tree (Walking Ahead)

2021

Ink on paper

14.85 x 21 cm | 5.8 x 8.3 in

Signed on verso

£500 each (framed)

Bottle Green Fleece Walking Towards the River Wharfe (Walking Ahead)

2021

Ink on paper

14.85 x 21 cm | 5.8 x 8.3 in

Signed on verso

£500 each (framed)

Oak Coat Under Bough

Next to the River Aire (Walking Ahead)

2021

Ink on paper

14.85 x 21 cm | 5.8 x 8.3 in

Signed on verso

£500 each (framed)

Additional unframed works on paper from the Walking Ahead Series are available at £400.

Bottle Green Coat Ascending Steps At Scarborough (Walking Ahead)

2021

Ink on paper

59 x 41.5 cm | 23.2 x 16.3 in (incl. frame)

£1,800 (framed)

THE KNARESBOROUGH SERIES

The Knaresborough Series is a suite of paintings and limited edition prints made exclusively for the Art Court by Phill Hopkins.

The series captures some of the most iconic views of the market town of Knaresborough, along with some less obvious scenes. All expressed in bold colours, confident brushstrokes and an array of dots and dashes that give a lively depiction of this stunning setting by the River Nidd.

Archival pigment print on 315gsm cotton rag

14.85 x 21 cm | 5.8 x 8.3 in Signed edition of 10 (+ 2AP) £120 (unframed)

Springtime Viaduct

paper (signed on reverse)

14.85 x 21 cm | 5.8 x 8.3 in £400 (unframed)

(signed on reverse)

14.85 x 21 cm | 5.8 x 8.3 in £400 (unframed)

St John’s from the River

paper (signed on reverse)

14.85 x 21 cm | 5.8 x 8.3 in £400 (unframed)

Ink on

Viaduct at Sunset Ink on paper

Ink on

Boaters with Parasol Ink on paper

(signed on reverse)

14.85 x 21 cm | 5.8 x 8.3 in £400 (unframed)

Blue Boat on the River Ink on paper

(signed on reverse)

14.85 x 21 cm | 5.8 x 8.3 in £400 (unframed)

Autumnal Viaduct Ink on paper

(signed on reverse)

14.85 x 21 cm | 5.8 x 8.3 in £400 (unframed)

Bend in the River Ink on paper

(signed on reverse)

14.85 x 21 cm | 5.8 x 8.3 in £400 (unframed)

Walking from Mother Shipton’s Ink on paper

(signed on reverse)

14.85 x 21 cm | 5.8 x 8.3 in £400 (unframed)

Reflections in the River Ink on paper (signed on reverse)

14.85 x 21 cm | 5.8 x 8.3 in £400 (unframed)

LORNA JOHNSON

B.1982 LONDON, UK

Lorna Johnson is a visual artist who makes sculptural objects, installations, assemblages, collages and photography to explore aspects of heritage including her own lived experience and broader facets of heritage.

She is particularly interested in working with objects and materials that could be perceived as non-precious and uses these to explore associations with value.

These themes are central to the research she is currently doing towards a practiceled PhD at the University of Leeds which focuses on four archaeological hoards found in Yorkshire. Her work for the PhD has recently been included in exhibitions at Leeds City Museum and Leeds Art Gallery.

She has worked with the National Trust, The Churches Conservation and with private owners of heritage sites. She has been commissioned to make work in response to museum collections and to share the history of historic spaces.

She has exhibited in the UK, Europe and America. Her work is represented by The Art Court.

“I definitely see the materials as ingredients that I bring together to make the piece - all are needed and all bring their own individuality.”

Lorna Johnson

OPPOSITE PAGE

Installation view of Grotto 3 and Grotto 4 on a wall.

Grotto 1 2014

Photograph printed on metallic photographic paper

Limited edition of 5

60.5 x 60.5 cm | 24 x 24 in (incl. frame)

£600 (framed)

28.4 x 40.7 cm | 11.25 x 16 in £450 (unframed)

Grotto 2 2014

Photograph printed on metallic photographic paper

Limited edition of 5

60.5 x 60.5 cm | 24 x 24 in (incl. frame)

£600 (framed)

28.4 x 40.7 cm | 11.25 x 16 in £450 (unframed)

Grotto 3 2014

Photograph printed on metallic photographic paper

Limited edition of 5

60.5 x 60.5 cm | 24 x 24 in (incl. frame)

£600 (framed)

28.4 x 40.7 cm | 11.25 x 16 in £450 (unframed)

Grotto 4 2014

Photograph printed on metallic photographic paper

Limited edition of 5 60.5 x 60.5 cm | 24 x 24 in (incl. frame)

£600 (framed)

28.4 x 40.7 cm | 11.25 x 16 in £450 (unframed)

Scent Placement

2018

40 x 30 cm | 15.75 x 11.8 in

Found object, glass beads, thread, stone, clay and paint

£800

Portable Grotto (1)

2013

23 x 18 cm | 9 x 7.1 in

Found object, clay, ribbon, paper and plastic beads

£400

SARAH ROBERTS

B.1980 TYWYN, WALES

Sarah Roberts is a Welsh artist based in Leeds. She is interested in our capacity for momentary encounters with the world, primarily with visible surfaces of architecture, landscape and the body. Moments in which these surfaces are seen as collisions of form and colour that reverberate and invite us to reencounter an object and the power of visually driven connections to take us back to the past.

Sarah creates collage, written works and immersive installations using sculpture, large format print, found objects, textiles, sound, moving image, fragrance and whatever else she associates with the place or emotion she’s exploring.

She takes a tactile approach as she researches the place of provenance, this can include meticulously collecting the scent, the sensation and the hue of a suburban concrete driveway, a casino carpet or a cliff edge.

Alongside her practice, Sarah is an associate lecturer in fine art and the founder and curator at Hyde Park Art Club and SHELF.

“I use colour to create environments and objects that offer a still place for looking in a fast-paced material world.”

Sarah Roberts

Baggage - a love letter to all the houses I have lived in and all those that have been died in 2023

Mixed media collage and drawing on paper 60 x 85 cm | 23.6 x 33.5 in (incl. frame)

£800 (framed)

A2 print with hand drawn and collaged elements

Signed edition of 45 + 1 AP

£100 (unframed)

SARAH ROBERTS

No. 40 Sandilands Road 2023

Mixed media collage and drawing on paper

60 x 85 cm

23.6 x 33.5 in (incl. frame)

£800 (framed)

A2 print with hand drawn and collaged elements

Signed edition of 45 + 1 AP

£100 (unframed)

Everything’s STILL Mustard 2022

Archival pigment print on Hahnemuhle photo rag

Signed edition of 45 + 1 AP 17.3 cm x 22 cm | 6.8 x 8.7 in £40 (unframed)

COURTNEY SPENCER

B.1980 SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

Courtney Spencer is an Australian artist, curator and collaborator who has been based in Yorkshire since 2005. Her artistic practice explores aspects of her own identity. She is particularly interested in her primary school years when the family moved frequently across rural settings of Western Australia for her father’s job with the Bureau of Meteorology.

She often works with materials such as rocks, sand, dirt, and found objects sourced from locations from her childhood. Her work responds to the place and her associated feelings with the sense of place or the corresponding time from her childhood.

Her work takes an array of forms that can include sculpture, installation, drawing, photography and film.

She was the director of an arts venue in Leeds for five years, began the annual Leeds Summer Group Show in 2015, works as an independent curator and writes a monthly column for The State Of The Arts called Snooping Through Studios where she interviews artists in their studios.

“I find colour highly emotive so at the moment I prefer to keep colour combinations very simple in my work.”

Courtney Spencer

OPPOSITE PAGE

Installation view of Dirt Rubbings series with samples from across Western Australia.

Natural pigment on Fabriano watercolur paper

77 cm x 57 cm | 30.25 x 22.5 in (incl. frame)

£500 (framed)

Additional works on paper from the Dirt Rubbing Series are available at £350 (unframed).

Some of the pigments used in this series have been sourced from Wilgie Mia (Western Australia) with permission from Traditional Landowners. Wilgie Mia is one of the worlds oldest mining sites and is expected to have been in use for over 27,000 years.

Dirt Rubbing: Wilgie Mia Red Landscape (I) 2023

Dirt Rubbing: Yellow Landscape (I)

2023

Natural pigment on Fabriano watercolur paper

77 cm x 57 cm | 30.25 x 22.5 in (incl. frame)

£500 (framed)

Dirt Rubbing: 20cm Yellow Square (I)

2023

Natural pigment on Fabriano watercolur paper

45 cm x 33 cm | 17.7 x 13 in (incl. frame)

£200 (framed)

BEYOND COLOURS FROM LIFE OPENING HOURS

Thursday: 12-6pm

Friday: 12-6pm

Saturday: 12-6pm (or via appointment)

98-100 Kirkgate, Leeds LS2 7DJ

Our bespoke services include: personal art buying curation project management commissioning

For inquiries please contact us.

+44 (0)77 8618 1968

CURATOR@THEARTCOURT.CO.UK

WWW.THEARTCOURT.CO.UK