Charlotte Cornish
Charlotte Cornish is a painter and printmaker whose studio is at Whitehall Farm at Arrington in Cambridgeshire, near the National Trust's Wimpole Estate. She trained entirely in printmaking, taking a BA with honours in fine art at Brighton University, a postgraduate diploma in fine art at the Slade School of Fine Art in London, and advanced printmaking at Central St Martins College of Art and Design.
She makes colourful, abstract and dynamic paintings, prints and works on paper, and her work is grouped as available paintings, works on paper, original prints and a selected archive.
She exhibits widely. Her retrospective 'Landing, The First 30 Years' was shown at AKA contemporary in Cambridge in 2024, and she has had solo exhibitions including 'Ways Through' and 'Colours of the Mind', 'Journeys into Colour' at the Turner Barnes Gallery in Shenfield, 'In Wonder' at Studio 18 in Jersey, 'Taking Flight' at Bedford School, and a solo show at UCLH in London. She shows regularly with the Sarah Wiseman Gallery in Oxford and Byard Art in Cambridge. Since becoming an associate member of the Royal Society of Printmakers, she now regularly also exhibits at the Bankside Gallery in London. Earlier exhibitions that have shown her work include the Mall Galleries in 'Originals', Woolff Gallery and the Blackheath Gallery in London, and at the Affordable Art Fair in Melbourne.
Artist Statement
During my degree at Brighton University, UK, and postgraduate studies at The Slade School of Art and Central St Martins in London, I specialised in printmaking. My early interest and involvement with printmaking has informed my practice as a painter. I build my paintings using layers of paint, thinking of each layer, often poured, as a distinct element. Working with acrylic paint allows each of the layers to dry overnight. This gives me the opportunity to remove new painted layers or elements, without affecting the earlier work.
I have always made limited edition original prints, and more recently I have been making unique works on paper. These are made initially using a screen print monotype process, further developed with painted elements, creating images that combine the qualities of both of these mediums.
Inspiration for my work often comes from places I have visited and have significance to me. Taking photographs as a starting point, I then work on small studies. It is during this process that the images become abstracted. I am drawn to places full of intense atmosphere, colours, noises, smells, and I hope to capture something of these experiences in the work. I have always loved exploring the possibilities of colour and colour relationships and the infinite potential to create dynamic connections and reactions.