Johanna Mepham | Abstract contemporary art
Contemporary abstract artist working with watercolour and mixed media
JOHANNA MEPHAM MFA
CONTEMPORARY ABSTRACT ARTIST
Welcome to my website, it is a work in progress, which is kind of self evident! This page is a little information about me, please look around at my artwork, images of which are mainly on the Giclée Print page at the moment.
I am based on the North Kent Coast, near Faversham and work in my studio at the end of my long skinny garden. I studied Fine Art at Brighton, Hastings, West Surrey College of Art and Design, Farnham and the University of Reading from 1993 to 1995 graduating with a Masters Degree. (MFA with Distinction).
I spent many years doing myriad creative things; gardening, interior design, felt making, weaving, spinning, dying cloth, anything and everything but painting and drawing with any serious intent.
At heart I am a mark-maker and painter and since early 2016 and my discovery of Instagram and all the amazing creatives on there I have been working my way back to myself with paper, watercolours and ink. You can follow me there @johannamepham or via the linked buttons here. At present my work is mainly small to tiny abstract watercolour and mixed media pieces. I work intuitively and the relationships between widely varying elements are always at the core of what I do.
I was recently very fortunate to aquire a small etching press and have been experimenting with Collagraph printing and I hope there will be more of this to come along with some Relief printing and interdisciplinary work.
A while ago I learned to dye my marks onto cloth and that lead me to upholstery. Taking an old an unloved chair and reinventing it to take on a whole new life is very satisfying and you can see some of them here. Dying cloth is very labour intensive, the designs are hand drawn, painted or breakdown printed on to heavy linen fabric using thickened dye paint. Each cloth is an individual drawing / painting in it’s own right and will then be used to rework a particular chair, as such each chair becomes a unique one of a kind piece of furniture.
