Teresa Lawton

Teresa Lawton was born in Poole, Dorset. She studied at Bournemouth college of Art and went on to receive a B.A.(Hons) Degree in Fine Art from Winchester in 1994, lecturing at The Arts Institute, Bournemouth University from 1998 to 2004. She has lived and worked in Greece, moving back to her native Dorset in 1982. Painting is her full time occupation.

After graduating she took a studio at Sandy Hill Workshops, in the historical village of Corfe Castle, alongside other local artists and craftsmen. In this idyllic setting by the side of the old railway station she set about establishing herself as a painter in the heart of the Isle of Purbeck on the south coast of England. She now works from her studio near Weymouth.

" Every day I walk the beach & every day it is different. The skyline falls into the sea dividing heaven and earth. The Dorset coastline is etched into my memory & there is no doubt that it fills my work, though I am not concerned with trying to re create it in any representational way.

Constructing areas of space & clean lines interrupted by colour is what I concern myself with in my paintings. So, much as the coast and the surrounding landscape supply me with endless ideas & inspiration, it is the actual process of painting that is the driving force behind much of my work. They may be just a collection of random shapes & colours either in harmony or conflict but those shapes & colours are most certainly having a conversation with one another.

For me abstraction gives me a unique & personal voice. It is all about the surface & the paint that I love to work with. Simplification through abstraction is my journey. Creating balance with shapes in tone & colour are my building blocks & the surfaces which I create by building up layers of paint give the work it’s life. It is a meditative process which I am entirely absorbed in. I have a tireless curiosity in the way in which I can create movement & balance with paint, making surfaces shimmer with life. By laying certain colours alongside one another & by adding transparent layers the work can have a kind of movement all of it’s own, paintings can sing! So much of myself goes into the work & often the journey is a mystery to me, there is much magic in the process of painting."

Teresa has been successfully exhibiting for over fifteen years. She is represented at the leading London Art Fairs by Shirley Crowther Contemporary Art and exhibits with Highgate Contemporary Art in London & The Belgrave Gallery, St Ives in Cornwall. She has also shown with the annual Art Loan Collection at Bournemouth University.

In 1997 she had her paintings selected by HRH the Prince of Wales for the Discerning Eye Exhibition in London. Her paintings are in private collections from Beijing to New York. Collectors of her work are the chief executive of Christie’s, London, award winning designer Dereck Birdsall, singer George Michael, and actors Emily Butterfield, Pipa Hayward, Aislin Mcguckin & Aidan McArdle. She has exhibited at The Royal Academy Summer Shows and at the New York Art Fair.