Introducing Gilly McCadden

meadow lines • silk screen • 55cm x 33cm

wayside • silkscreen • 82cm x 40cm

wild clematis • silkscreen • 29cm x 30cm

Gilly McCadden was born in Belfast, where she began her formal art studies with a Foundation Course in Art and Design. She then went on to study BA (Hons) Fine Art at Brighton College of Art. Shortly after GIlly left college, she began working for a Fine Art silkscreen printer in Brighton and then spent many years working for a London based Fine Art publishing house as a colourist.  She later studied horticulture at Brinsbury College in West Sussex, which added a great love for wild plants into the mix! Gilly now lives and works from her studio in Binsted, near Arundel in West Sussex.

spring fern • silkscreen • 42cm x 41cm

bracken fronds I • silkscreen • 23cm x 24cm

cow parsley II • silkscreen • 23cm x 24cm

Her move to rural West Sussex in 1999 was the beginning of an enthusiasm for all things horticultural. The daunting task of having to create her garden from an acre of virtually barren land forced Gilly to pursue a long held wish to learn more about the science and cultivation of plants. This ultimately led to a fascination with the wild plants in the fields and hedgerows all around her. As her interest grew, she began photographing the Sussex landscape and particularly enjoyed watching the effects that the changing seasons brought. This was to become the inspiration for her limited edition screenprints.

poppy head • silkscreen • 30cm x 55cm

bracken fronds II • silkscreen • 23cm x 24cm

cow parsley I • silkscreen • 23cm x 24cm

Having spent years working commercially on complex, multi-layered screenprints Gilly had a desire to produce work, which simplified the silkscreen process and enhanced its intrinsic qualities ie; flat, non-tonal colour and strong graphic imagery. This purist approach to the technique was the perfect device with which to create highly stylised, deconstructed images of the amazing forms and random compositions of the wild plants that Gilly loves. All superfluous detail is stripped away leaving only their striking, enhanced forms.

The colours Gilly chooses evoke a mood, which often relate to the season or growing stage of the plants.

If you would like any further information on any of the pieces then please just contact us.