CHARLOTTE WARD

Ward is an artist concerned with the documenting of the transient and the passing of time. Exploring and questioning the relationship humans have with the land, her practice explores the imprints, traces and intangible marks exchanged between them.

She works primarily with the drawn, sculpted and photographed.  Constructing dynamic drawings in leather and paper that respond to their surroundings; the viewers physical presence and first-hand experience of simultaneously observing and moving around the work integral.

For the past 20 years Charlotte’s artistic practice has explored leather  - as a tactile, robust material it has a history; it sheds layers, it collects scars, it tells tales of a past life.  Using leather as a canvas for her sculptural drawings she builds upon its history.

'My work is rooted within the landscape - I'm interested in the imprints, the traces and the marks we leave upon the earth and each other'

Her textural mark making and manipulation techniques fundamentally change the structure of the surface; either by placing objects under the skin, embossing, cutting, burning, or by repetitive folding and creasing.  Using these slow, labour-intensive processes to narrate her concepts literally she invites the viewer to weave their own stories into her work. 

'Over time we gradually become layered with experiences and are shaped by the intangible imprints we leave on each other; imprints that make us who we are'.

After over a decade of living between London, Somerset and Kent, Charlotte now lives and works in Staffordshire, just three miles from where she was born in Walsall; internationally renowned for its history in leather trade.  She graduated with an MA in Fashion and Textiles from London’s Central Saint Martins’ School of Art and Design in 2006 and has shown work internationally since 2004.

She is a member of The Artists Information Company (a-n), Drawing Research Network and Walking Artists Network.