May is a painter and printmaker based in the UK. She currently works in a studio in central Lewes, and runs printmaking courses across Sussex.
May studied Fine Art Painting (BA Hons), and discovered experimental printmaking techniques in her final year of study. This fuelled an interest to unify her practice as both a painter and printmaker and she continues to explore the relationship between print, paint, paper and ink.
Please use the contact form to arrange a studio visit or for any other enquiries.
Artist Statement
I am interested in surface residue, material absorbency and gestural marks: the impact of the incidental combined with printed marks and more considered collaged elements. My process often begins with ink drawings on semi-translucent paper: these direct responses are blotted, torn, stuck down and rearranged, leaving residual impressions that I develop with oil paint and mediums.
I work on several pieces and different formats at the same time and combine painting on wood panels with experimental printmaking and work on paper. I tend to work instinctively and discover the image whilst working, although recurring themes emerge: vessels, bodies, landscapes, gardens, foliage, fruit, window frames and archways, shift, dissolve and reappear through painterly abstraction. Calligraphic marks distort colour and mass as I explore the space or perhaps frictions between the visible and the invisible, permanence and something more ephemeral.
I keep notes on each painting and series of prints to help me document my influences and the time the work was made. These scribblings act as a kind of diary that capture the personal references and experiences that inform my work.
EXHIBITIONS
It Rose and It Fell, at Terrace Gallery in Lea Bridge Library, London E10 7HU, 29th May - 23rd June 2024, open daily 10-4
PAST
Irving Gallery Oxford: A Room of One’s Own 2nd March - 5th April 2024
PRESS+PLAY Festival of Print at the Phoenix Art Space, Brighton, 9th & 10th December 2023
The Sussex Contemporary at the Brighton i360, 7th - 21st October 2023
Paddock Art Studio, Lewes, ARTWAVE - September 2023
Atelier Open at Atelier By The Sea, Unit 165, Kings Road Arches, Brighton BN1 1NB. 14th July - 3rd September 2023
AOH Brighton at WRAP, venue 12 - May 2023
Lewes Creatives, St John Sub Castro, Abinger Place, Lewes. April 2023
Artists Open Studio WINTER, venue 5 Studio 28a, Westbourne Place, Hove - Nov/Dec 2022
The Sussex Contemporary, Brighton i360 - October 2022
The Maker’s Directory at Netwerks, Lewes, ARTWAVE - September 2022
Paddock Art Studio, Lewes, ARTWAVE - September 2022
The Depot, Lewes, ARTWAVE - September 2022
The Control Tower Gallery, Kings Hill, Kent, July - October 2022
Cripps, Tunbridge Wells, May - June 2022
Artists Open House: The Stanley Road Store POP UP, Brighton, May 2022
The Control Tower Gallery, Kings Hill, Kent, Oct 2019 – Feb 2020
AFTER HOURS, group exhibition, Brighton, July 2019
Brighton Festival: Artists Open Studio, Brighton, Dec 2018, May 2018, and Dec 2017
CHROMA, Four Painters - New Work, Brighton, June 2016
FLUX, The Old Truman Brewery, London, 2nd-6th Nov 2016
Brighton Festival Open Houses May 2015
Oxmarket Centre of Arts, Chichester, 31st March - 12th April 2015
SOLO show, Gallery40, Brighton, April 2014
AAF, WhiteWall Partners, Battersea Park, London. March 2010/11
AAF, WhiteWall Partners, Battersea Park, London. Oct 2006/07/08
Studio 247 POSTcard. August ~ September 2009
Studio 247 The Opening. May 2009
Studio 106 Brighton Festival Show. May 2006/07/08/09
Thebes Gallery, Artroom Summer Show, Lewes. August ~ Sept 2007
Degree Show, Brighton University. June 2005
Quod Art, Brighton, Farewell (the final show). December 2004
Quod Art, Brighton, Summer Show. August 2004
Small Mansions Art Centre, London. May 2004
Start Contemporary Gallery, Brighton, Universal Show. March 2003