JOANNE TINKER
I am an artist who seeks to transform ordinary objects into something precious, something special. Metal bottle tops, acupuncture tubes, confectionary wrapping and aluminium cans have all featured as materials, although chocolate foil wrappings remain a constant in my work – not because of my love of chocolate – but my wholehearted appreciation of the material’s colour, texture, delicacy and strength. Simply, I unwrap one form and recreate another. My work is often categorised by forms of repetition, so my collections are characterised by the replication of multiples and miniatures, blending my childhood fascinations with deliberated uniformity.
Born in Nottingham (1969) but raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, and then Leeds, true to my family name Tinker I trained to work with metal, earning a first class degree in Silversmithing and Jewellery from Birmingham in 1992. After graduating I started my own business and worked out of a small studio in Harrogate before moving down to west London. I slowly built up a reputation as an artist working with recycled materials and my work sold successfully through a variety of galleries and art fairs.
Some of my early work is on permanent display at the Science Museum, London. Work has also appeared at London’s Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, at the New York Museum of Art and Design, and in the White Rabbit Collection, Sydney. My work is promoted internationally through the Woolf Gallery, London.
I now live and work in Ilkley, West Yorkshire.
Biographical Details