Chris Avery - Artist and Photographer

My work is an eclectic mixture of craft and photography that has evolved over the past few years for my own pleasure and amusement. On retirement, I decided to do the things I had always wanted to do and that is what I am doing now; making things and thoroughly enjoying myself.

I have no formal art training having studied Botany and Education at Bristol and Exeter universities and then embarked on a career as a science and photography teacher for 37 years finally becoming a Headteacher of a large comprehensive school.
The boats are all completely hand made and came about as a rainy day activity to amuse my granddaughter and were given away as gifts for friends and relatives. They are not intended to be accurate models but, hopefully, they have a flavour of the fishing boats that I saw in the harbour of the small Devonshire fishing village where I grew up.

They are still painted by me and my granddaughter
I love abstraction and many of my photographic images tend to be close-ups of things that most people would reject as obscure and not valid subject matter; ripped posters, cracks in roads, doorways, graffiti, signs and windows. Like Autolycus from Shakespeare’s ‘A Winter’s Tale’, I am a ‘Snapper up of unconsidered trifles’.

I produce single photographs but I much prefer the repetition and rhythm of images. I hand cut windows in large mounting boards and insert individually printed images to form photomontages. Increasingly I am moving away from colour and back to black and white.

I spent a long time mastering Polaroid image transfers and emulsion lifts, but with the demise of Polaroid I had to give it up, however, a new Fuji film has been released and I am now back working on Fuji and acrylic gel transfers.

You can find out more and order boat pictures at Chris Avery’s website: www.chrisaveryart.net