events:

Feb 2011 - Drawings by Tom Palmer - Oddest Chorlton, Manchester
Selection of new works including glass etching on display at this
vibrant Chorlton venue.

Sept 2010 - Drawing on Glass - Manchester Art Gallery
Drawing on glass with Tom Palmer and Dena Bagi. Two day workshop at Manchester Art Gallery.

March 2010 - South Yorkshire Open Art - Cooper Gallery, Barnsley
Multimedia exhibition showing contemporary art from Yorkshire artists.

November 2009 - Reflections in Glass - Cooper Gallery, Barnsley
Works by Fiaz Elson, Gillies Jones, Richard Wheater, Blair Cunningham and Tom Palmer are just a few of the artists taking part in this stunning, high quality exhibition of contemporary glass.

July 2005 - New Designers - Islington Design Centre, London

May 2005 - Transition - National Glass Centre, Sunderland

June 2004 - Dry Run - The Arts Factory, Sunderland

contact me:

email to: info@tepdesign.co.uk

based in: Manchester, UK

my practice: is rooted in the aesthetics of technological drawings and engineering: my father was a draughtsman. I am fascinated by the way that a draughtsman’s drawings offer an insight into the inner workings of a machine.

In my early practice I began to investigate the ‘human element of technology’; informed by my past enthusiasm for drawing from life and my fascination with the technological sketch. Using digital wire-frame modelling and animation software I started by manipulating digital human forms to create the ‘perfect’ image and then re-worked them to create the imperfect.

Using layers of transparent papers I would evolve the digital sketches by hand: the imperfections which appeared as a result reveal the role a human has played in its creation. By displaying ‘the human touch’ within a technological framework offers a challenge to our understanding of what is ‘hand-made’ in today’s world.

The viewer may at first glance see a mass produced wire frame figure i.e. something logically produced by a computer, but upon closer inspection it becomes clear it’s a hand drawn piece. My work naturally moved from paper onto glass. The use of this transparent material provides the opportunity to alter focus or accentuate the depth of field and shadow.

I had been practising traditional glass techniques, but it was the more contemporary glass technologies, borrowed from industry, that altered the focus of my practice by allowing me to explore new qualities in my work and subject.

The constant emergence of technology and the evolution of techno cultures drive my practice forward. More recently my interest in the ‘technological’ has moved into popular culture rather than the instruction of form: How does the World Wide Web shape us as a society? How it has come to Influence and inform a culture?

My practice explores the ‘21st century’ draughtsman’s drawings: coding languages and binary digits. These codes within a human form represent our persona within the virtual world of the World Wide Web.  What are when we are being transmitted? What’s the different between David Jones and Dave2364?