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Christine Farmer in her studio, 2010
Born in Birmingham, I live and work in Stourbridge, England. I studied at Stourbridge College of Art, before following my passion for the physical remains of the past, and obtained a doctorate in Ancient History and Archaeology at the University of Birmingham, specialising in the human uses of caves as places of ritual and burial. After lecturing for some years, I now work full-time on my drawing and photography, the themes of which are grounded in ideas of memory, remains, and place.
As with my archaeological and historical research, in my art I aim to capture and ‘define’ things which seem to be waiting to be brought to light and examined: ideas and combinations of images which seem to me significant, and which would otherwise be lost or unknown. Certain ideas seem to press for attention, niggling at me, haunting my dreams until they are on paper. I feel it almost a necessity to record these ‘artefacts of the mind’, as if it were possible to capture a fleeting thought or emotion, pin it down and label it like a butterfly in a Victorian naturalist’s collection.
As an artist, I work primarily in pen and ink, in a realist drawing style. My drawings are composed of many thousands of dots of ink or stipples, and other small marks, and can take hundreds of hours to complete.
See examples of my work in the Galleries.
Latest news:
I’m currently working on a new pen and ink drawing, provisionally entitled ‘Dining Room Window and Chair’, a detail from which is shown below. To keep up to date with my latest drawings, take a look at my blog, or subscribe here.
