Boxes

A fascination for collecting objects and a desire to challenge the traditional way of presenting art led me to develop my boxes and three-dimensional works. I have always been attracted by the work of the American constructivist and box maker Joseph Cornell (1903-72). His boxes have been called ‘theatres of the mind’ – at once exotic and mysterious – their toy-like charm evoking some deep down memory from childhood. The ability Cornell had to invest ordinary, everyday objects with a magical presence is a characteristic with which I identify. This ‘sanctification of small objects’ has its roots in childhood; we have all come home from a seaside holiday with a treasured pebble or shell. In my early career in children’s books I learnt to cultivate nostalgia for vivid childhood experiences. Early life experience is primary, as Baudelaire wrote: “The child’s imagination is convinced by the reality it has made for itself … and a toy (or small object) is the child’s first initiation into art.”

Many of my early boxes are made from salvaged typographer’s cases, hence the rather rigid compartmentalisation. Unlike Cornell, whose compositions feature the seemingly random juxtaposition of ‘found objects’, I usually manufacture from scratch, or adapt objects as vehicles for individual artworks. These artworks provide opportunities for whimsical wordplay or visual puns. I use a variety of media, but work principally in pen, ink and watercolour.

Owners of boxes include Stanley Seeger, John Cleese and Eric Woolfson. Eric’s musical ‘Freudiana’ opened in Vienna in 1992, and was the inspiration for ‘The Freud Box’. Also represented is a box commissioned by the Cheltenham Literary Festival, featuring a portrait of Virginia Woolf in the centre panel.