About

“Don’t make your picture like a picture, make it like nature. The result will be just the same, but it will be a new picture”.
The Art Spirit by Robert Henri

It all started when…

I have a lifelong love of making art and a fascination for finding the deeper narratives that connect a maker to their work. In my early career I was a fabric retailer and knitwear designer. I then studied fashion and textiles at UWE Bristol and taught fashion and textiles part-time. It was during this period I began to develop my practice in painting and mixed media.
For many years I have worked in acrylics, frequently adding other media including stitch, I have produced still life pieces, landscapes and seascapes - my pieces are often naive with no intention of being truly representational. For me my paintings have been more about my perception of places and objects as I try to capture the way I feel about a subject rather than express a visual reality. I am in love with birds, animals, trees, and nature in general - and this love of the natural world, often mixed with domestic paraphernalia and interiors and my emotional and internal view of life, is what inevitably has come out in my work over the years.
In 2018 I undertook a period of study which took my work to a deeper level where these influences became a vehicle for emotional expression based on a particular period in my life. Now, further on, my practice has developed to include abstract pieces based on landscapes and seascapes - often inspired by holidays my husband and I take in our caravan around the UK, to Devon, Cornwall, Yorkshire, Northumberland and Wales.
I’ve changed the name I work under too - so I’ve gone from my maiden name Mound, which my work has been known by for many years to my married name Hemmer - a gamble but feels more like the authentic me!
My home and studio are in the lovely Worcestershire Teme Valley, where I live with my husband John, our dear Airedale George, and Mabel our beautiful Romanian rescue dog.

C A R E E R   H I S T O R Y
2006 to date
Self-employed artist.
2007 to 2012
Part-time Textiles lecturer,  School of Art & Design, Worcester College of Technology
1998 to 2007
Lecturer in HND Costume and ND Textiles.
Tutor in Adult Education courses: Exploring Textile Art, Dressmaking and Soft Furnishing Workshops at Worcester College of Technology
1994
Spring knitwear collection for Mulberry
1984 to 1992
Knitwear Designer, trading as Gilly Moon, retailing in UK, Germany, Switzerland and Australia.
1979 to 1999
Partner in Just Sew, Malvern, trading in wool and dress fabrics - later  re-named Just So, trading in gifts and greetings cards.

E D U C A T I O N
2017 to 2018
MA in Contemporary Crafts, Hereford College of Arts
2004 to 2006
City & Guilds Certificate in Design and Craft (Embroidery)
1999 to 2000
City & Guilds Further Education & Adult Education Teachers’ Certificate
1992 to 1995
BA (Hons) Fashion & Textile Design, University of the West of England, Bristol
1991 to 1992
BTEC National Diploma in General Art & Design, The School of Art & Design, Barbourne, Worcester.