Artist Statement

‘We are all born with two grasp reflexes – the Palmar reflex – the instinct that sees us seek to grasp or hold things with our hands – and the Plantar Reflex (or Babinski Reflex) that sees us seek to plant our feet. This primal connection between our bodies, the materials that surround us and the situation of our world lies at the core of my practice. This relationship might be imagined and/or physical, social and/or emotional, but it has as its foundation a desire to belong.

I see myself as mediator or material choreographer, assembler and disassembler, and through developing a practice of repetitive acts of (re)placing, (re)mixing, (re)combining, (de/re)constructing and (re)imagining I have found that new (and sometimes old) understandings of place can be found.’

Charlotte Chisholm spent many years teaching Art in secondary schools, where she developed a pedagogical approach which encouraged independence, invention and engagement with the material of making. Since retiring from teaching in 2022 she has completed an MA in Fine Art and now lives a quieter life, centred around her home, garden and studio, overlooking the Eden Valley in Cumbria.