ABOUT GAIL

Gail Curry Artist

I am a mixed media artist working in the North East of England, with a studio in my home town of North Shields.

I changed my career in 2014 to become an artist to help me heal from some traumatic events in my life. Prior to that I had had careers in social work and photography

I began working with fibre and felt, added paper mache in 2015 and began to paint in 2017.

When I began to paint I rebelled against what I had been so badly taught at school. Ignoring brushes, colour wheels and all of that other rule laden paraphernalia, instead creating what felt right for me, intuitively in abstract using what ever I had to hand as tools. Brushes were not adopted until 2021.

In 2018 I lost my speech following a violent mugging. My painting developed into an alternative means of communication for me, not just with others but also with myself, as a richer more colourful form of inner dialogue.

As time has passed I still draw inspiration and create work based on my experience and feelings but I don’t limit myself to that. I love the natural world too and will seek opportunities to observe and embrace that.

A change of studio in August 2021 brought me to my current second home, the west wing of Pearey House, a centre for the visually impaired, nestled in Preston Park in North Shields. It is a very inspiring and restful place, where my view is one of wooded parkland and all the associated natural wildlife, some of whom I now know on first name terms.

I am a passionate advocate of the benefits of embracing creativity for the purpose of promoting, supporting and maintaining good mental health and wellbeing for everyone. To this end, I created a community art exhibition in 2021 which takes place in August each year. I am also a Trustee of the North Tyneside Art Studio, which aims to transform the lives of people experiencing mental health issues through the use of art.