Mary Nugent - Artist

I have worked mainly with oils and collage materials so have always thought of myself as a painter. The last three years I studied and successfully completed a BA(Hons) degree in Creative Expressive Therapies at Derby University. The CET course resulted in a significant change in my style. It allowed me the opportunity and freedom to push and explore my artistic capabilities and experiment with different techniques and mediums. For two modules 'Image of Self' and 'Statement as Image', I felt painting was too restrictive to portray what I wanted so drew on other artists’ methods. I was strongly influenced in my second year by Annette Messagers’ work especially her photographic installations. Her piece Voeux (my wish) inspired my Image of Self work in which I created a photographic montage using a method of hanging individual photographs together to create one big artwork. This work was extremely challenging and exciting.

Finding a theme this year to represent the last three years at university initially was a struggle. My focus was on the cost to me, in terms of the time and money spent on my education. However I couldn’t think how to illustrate that. Eventually my focus shifted to increase in value rather than cost. I wanted to move on from the photomontage and experiment with other mediums still keeping my artwork as an installation and at a large scale. Using the coins allowed me to explore my identity as a commodity. Although I have enjoyed working at this size (5ft), with the challenges these pieces present there is a tendency for me to develop a love/hate relationship with my work although the sense of achievement once finished is a strong drive to the next project.

The last three years has been very important in terms of my personal development as an artist. I realize the previous circumstances of my life had limited my creative output. However with the love and support of those around me I have felt able to continually push and expand my parameters. I am constantly amazed by the changes in direction my art has taken me. I look forward to continuing the journey.