Lynda Marwood

The British mixed-media artist Lynda Marwood began her artistic training in 1987 at the Harrogate College of Arts and Technology before graduating with distinction in Fine Art in Painting and Art History at Loughborough School of Art in 1992. Teaching art has remained one of her lifelong passions, and Marwood teaches art privately from her locale; the Scottish Borders. Marwood has also exhibited nation-wide and her work is held in private collections in Sweden, Australia, Canada, Germany, France and the U.K.

Marwood’s work resides in the enigmatic space between abstraction and figuration or representation. Her assemblages, or mixed-media collages, often use mundane ingredients such as cardboard or craft putty, yet the geometries and their synchronicity sometimes remind one of a game of Tetris, orderly yet disordered due to the texture and relatively more roughshod nature of the mixed media chosen. Sometimes, the application can seem almost haphazard, but only upon closer viewing does it become clear that each element of the assemblage has been placed at the correct point for the viewer to infer some sort of meaning or understanding from its existence. For the viewer to exist in this nebulous space between abstraction and figuration is what Marwood hopes to achieve with her compositions.

As with many artists, Marwood’s creations are somewhat a translation from her own psyche and mind to ours – the world through her eyes is brought to life through the assemblages and the viewers are left ample room to construct a narrative or statement on the work and its significance. None of Marwood’s work is straight from the brain, nor are they direct copies of scenes she has visited. Rather, they represent a working process that combines contemplative observation, note-taking, daily practice in the art, improvisation, spontaneity and a continuous desire to explore new possibilities.

“I was inspired by the geography, geology, historical settlements, architecture, headlands, coastal cliffs, mythology and the magnificent cathedral of St Davids.

The early morning mists and diffused light influenced my palette, just as the inland heat-haze and intense afternoon sunlight over the coast heightened my use of colour and emboldened my gestures.

I deeply immersed myself into the peninsula by exploring, walking, sketching and interpreting the terrain. Once back in her studio a period of reflection ensued with the attendant feelings and memories being allowed to percolate and develop into the paintings. These paintings are reflective of my physical and emotional experience in the ancient landscape of St Davids.”