MARION SMYLIE

ARTIST

My interdisciplinary arts practice is concerned with ecology, highlighting loss of biodiversity and interconnectedness. I am fascinated by exploring interspecies relationships and their entanglements.

My practice is often site specific, working in a bio-inclusive way I connect to elements within a place and collaborate with dynamic agents - living materials and systems. My methodology includes fieldwork -connecting with plants, fungi and soil for example-and allowing the materials to guide me in a process of unfolding.

I am particularly interested in the cross-pollination of art and science and how this relationship might be useful in promoting change. Through a lens of curiosity and wonder, I address human relationships within the natural world and question outdated narratives, exploring what might happen when we investigate the ways we can engage with the world in a responsible, respectful and reciprocal way.

BIO

Telling stories is at the heart of my practice. I grew up in Manchester and initially trained in theatre, then went on to study BA Visual Performance at Dartington College of Art in Devon. In the years following, I primarily worked in schools and also as an illustrator, with several titles published by Green Books including Creating A Forest Garden and other titles by Martin Crawford. In 2020 I returned to education to study for a Masters Degree in Fine Art at Arts University Plymouth, graduating with Distinction in September 2022. I am based in Ceredigion, Wales.

Exhibitions and Awards

Oct 2023 UK Fungus Day Group Exhibition Exeter University

July 2023 Radiance, Rubrics & Rituals: So we are Held Sapphire Blue Collective Exhibition Make Tank Exeter

April 2023 Breaking Convention Conference Group Exhibition Exeter University

Nov 2022 Sprout Sapphire Blue Collective Exhibition Grow Plymouth

Oct 2022 UK Fungus Day Group exhibition Living Systems Institute, Exeter University

Sept 2022 CYFEST_14: Ferment Arts & Ecology Festival Dartington, Devon

Sept 2022 Matters Arising MA Graduate Show Arts University Plymouth

Feb 2022 Midstream MA Show Arts University Plymouth

Dec/Jan 21/22 Field Notes New Lion Community Brewery/Arts Space Dartington

Sept 2021 Crucible Leadworks Plymouth

Aug 2021 Petri Dish Project TEBBS Contemporary Art Gallery , Spitalfields, London

Jan 2023 KINSHIP Course Bursary awarded by advaya / Be the Earth Foundation

Sept 2022 Pro Vice Chancellor Award: Arts University Plymouth

Nov 2021 Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Award Funding research at National Botanic Garden of Wales

April 2021 Green Minds Permaculture Design Project Central Park Plymouth. Selected for the design team of this successful collaborative project to redesign Zoo Field, previously Plymouth Zoo.