ABOUT
Carole Stephens : painter and printmaker based in Reading, Berkshire.
PAST
A peripatetic childhood with stays at grandparents in rural Berkshire. A mother and grandmother passionate about plants, memories of a particularly special vicarage garden. A move to Sussex with views of the Downs in ever-changing moods, time spent living in Yorkshire with enormous skies to capture, and countless holidays in North Wales being a never ending source of delight, with stunning mountain views and dramatic sunsets. My own urban garden an ongoing source of inspiration.
WORK
I would work directly from life, using crayons, pastels, watercolour and inks to make images of flowers or still-life compositions, landscape and seascapes. At this time I also used monoprint, a simple but effective technique. Depth could be added using blocks of colour, or line drawing used to add detail, for instance to a garden scene or in the making of a series of historical portraits. Collage was another technique I employed, and continue to use to enhance or change compositions, particularly still-life.
NOW
Life becomes more complicated and as an artist the light and dark times are revealed. Perhaps the artwork is a diary of passing years? Now my drawings are developing over a prepared background, currently a cyanotype : plants, leaves, ferns, scraps of lace are laid on light sensitive paper revealing beautiful shapes which appear when the paper is exposed to light. I work into these using ink or watercolour and add decoration from medieval paintings, textiles, decorated ceramics. It’s fun, building up each composition in fanciful ways, resulting in something a bit mysterious, intriguing.
THEMED EXHIBITIONS
Physical changes to the town of Reading and a growing awareness of its historical past have made Reading a stimulus for art. Artists have been asked to be respond to these changes and to stimulate a greater awareness of Reading’s heritage and to create a greater appreciation of Reading’s heritage in the general public.
Thus a play about ‘King Henry 1’ and also about his daughter, ‘Empress Matilda’, a visual interpretation of ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’ by Oscar Wilde, and ‘Reading and its Rivers’, (the Thames, Loddon and Kennet) and a response to the history of ‘Huntley and Palmer’s’ the iconic Reading biscuit manufacturer, all provided stimulus for exhibitions in the town. Another idea was for us to produce make ‘Relics’, in whatever form, based on our personal and particular relationships to the town of Reading. Some surprising Relics resulted from this.
These subjects could prove testing but they provided me with the opportunity to think creatively and produce work differently to my usual practice of work on paper. I did respond to all the above themes.
TEACHING AND EXHIBITING
Working in art education with pupils young and old, in many varied places, (including special education, schools, adult education and therapeutic settings) made me very resourceful. It was continually thought-provoking, stimulating, engaging. Alongside which I tried to maintain my art practice. As exhibitions secretary for The Reading Guild of Artists over a long period from 2010, these skills continued to be put to good use.
I exhibit regularly in The Royal Berkshire Hospital, and with The Reading Guild of Artists.
Also on the Whiteknights Studio Trail, the Caversham Trail, and sometimes on the Henley Trail.