Natalie Dowse

4th Award Winner
2007/2008
Theme: 'a sense of place'

About Natalie Dowse
Originally from Portsmouth, Natalie graduated in fine art from the Falmouth School of Art in Cornwall, then gained an MA in fine art from the University of Portsmouth.

Prior to accepting the Award, Natalie had completed a six-week residency in Riga, Latvia, focussing her work on the idea of displacement in unfamiliar surroundings. Natalie had also shown her work at the Vegas Gallery in London's Shoreditch, as well as in the Project Room at the Millais Gallery at Southampton Solent University.

Natalie's approach to the Award
Natalie began her residency by journeying around the city and county and documenting her travels through snapshot photography, movies, sketches and notebooks. Natalie explored the theme of a sense of place by initially focussing on what it means to be a stranger in a new place, where you can navigate from A to B using a map, but where you are also a stranger in the sense of not having a social network.

Her collection, 'Skimming the Surface' questions what it is to have a local identity. Some of her pieces quite clearly represent Derby and Derbyshire, such as 'Heights of Abraham' and 'Heaven's Above!' inspired by the cable cars at Matlock Bath, but other pieces have a more annonymous feel, such as 'Constellation' and the escalator animation. These pieces were based on images taken from the Westfield Shopping Centre, which was being developed in Derby during Natalie's residency.

University of Derby Teaching fellowship
Natalie's residency was the first to incorporate a teaching fellowship at the University of Derby Art Department. Natalie worked with degree level students throughout her residency, including running workshops, visits to her studio space (on the University Campus) and mentoring. University students also worked with Natalie in preparing and running the schools workshops.

Workshops
Natalie worked with four schools during her residency for the Award, Sinfin Community School and Noel Baker Community School in Derby, St Philip Howard RC School in Glossop and Anthony Gell School in Wirksworth. Natalie spent a day with each school, encouraging the students to use postcard images of Derbyshire to sketch and paint onto a small canvas. The resulting work, of over 80 students, was exhibited at the Derby Museum & Art Gallery and was entitled 'Mapping Landscapes'.

Natalie's Blog

'Skimming the Surface' exhibition catalogue