"Sylvia"
Mixed Media on Canvas
The pathos and patinas of Brodsworth Hall’s rapidly declining fortunes are expressed in this picture. The portrait is of Sylvia Grant-Dalton, the final and longest resident of the Hall.
Rumour has it that Charles Dickens based his book ‘Bleak House’ on the complicated and contested will which decreed that the Hall must remain in the Grant-Dalton family for five generations.
Brodsworth Hall is an English Heritage property close to Doncaster.
"On the Rampage"
Mixed Media on Canvas
There were several starting points for ‘On the Rampage’. One of them was the profusion of ornaments placed around Brodsworth Hall depicting utopian family life. Another influence was finding that Sylvia Grant-Dalton , the last owner and resident at Brodsworth Hall, wasn’t allowed to make any decisions about the furniture and ornaments in the Hall because of her gender. She was known to have said that she didn’t even know how to clean the marble statues which she hated and called ‘cold ladies’.
This painting is also of course, a nod to women of all generations who have felt the urge to break free from the confines of their domestic role.
Brodsworth Hall is an English Heritage property close to Doncaster.
"Bertha"
Mixed Media on Canvas
Magritte said: ’what one sees in an object is another hidden object”.
This piece of work was made in response to a tiny ‘frozen beauty’ porcelain figurine which sits on the mantelpiece in the billiard room at Brodsworth Hall. An English Herritage property near Doncaster. One of the stories I was told was that even as late as the early eighties Sylvia Grant-Dalton would not allow school parties into the room simply because of the unclothed figurine. ‘Bertha’ was also influenced by my memory of the battle which some of the members of the Stonegate Snooker Club in Thorne fought to allow women to join their partners for a drink in the club bar.
I decided that my figure should be grossly enlarged and unashamedly placed in the centre of the male domain defined by the billiard table, taking a full and active part in the game - somewhat reminiscent of Mr Rochester’s Bertha who occasionally escaped her confinement to roam the house at night.