It took me a long time to understand how the past can ground you or unmoor you in the present. I always thought my paintings, drawings and prints were simply about my response to places and their histories. I now realise just how much those responses have been shaped by memory and association, both real and imagined. We are the sum of the stories we tell ourselves, as well as those that others have told to or about us and we interpret the world around us through that filter.
Back in the early 1980s, I was studying Fine Art under the guidance of Graham Boyd at the Hertfordshire College of Art and Design (or St Albans Art College as everyone knew it at the time). As well as painting and drawing, I particularly enjoyed printmaking and sculpture; both occasionally make a reappearance in my practice. Following a move from Hertfordshire to Suffolk over 30 years ago, I re-trained as a Local Historian at the University of Oxford and wrote a couple of books about landscape history but returned to making and teaching in 2004 when I founded a community arts organization, West Suffolk Arts Centre CIC. Since then, I have led innumerable workshops, curated projects for Arts Council England, Suffolk County Council and delivered arts events of various sizes for a number of organisations.
In 2023 I was fortunate to have my first solo show of paintings in over forty years. The response was extremely encouraging. Being a member of Suffolk Open Studios for the past few years definitely helped to give me the confidence to accept the opportunity at the Angle Gallery in Bury St Edmunds when it was offered, and the SOS group shows are always amazing events to be part of.
Website – leighdriver.com
