I originally qualified as an architect and, based on Skye, have been exploring our evolving cultural engagement with the land and the natural world. My work is informed by scientific, archeological and cultural knowledge and I seek to highlight these deep roots, to make work of contemporary relevance and importance. Through exploring the relationship between our inner selves and the outer physical landscape I engage with people to value the unnoticed and the undervalued.
I have exhibited in many countries, most recently in 2023 in Scotland with ‘string / lines’ a project and exhibition working with archaeologists, archivists and poets, this received funding from Creative Scotland. I have just been awarded the Walmsley Bursary to work with The Highland Folk Museum in Newtonmore. Recent commissions include developing a series of nets and ropes for CLIMAVORE and developing a birch suit for Hanna Tuulikki as part of a performance.
My work is part of the publication ‘The Material Culture of Basketry’ Editors: S.Bunn and V.Mitchell by Bloomsbury.
Recent qualifications include a Certificate in Field Botany from the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh and an MA in Art and Social Practice from UHI with distinction in 2020.
I am interested in making work which celebrates the unsung plants around us. Mosses and liverworts are deeply fascinating for the ways they have evolved, quietly exist and develop surprising survival strategies, we have a lot to learn from them. I have done a lot of work with peat, compressed sphagnum, using this beautiful material as paint directly onto gallery walls and as ink for screen-prints.
STRING / LINES project blog and instagram: carolinedearstring.blogspot.com
Website: www.carolinedear.co.uk
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Published: 22 September 2023
