Fiona Fouhy’s practice covers broad themes of place, geology and history, celebrating the resilience of nature over millennia. Fouhy predominantly uses monotype techniques in her work using etching inks, extender, rags and large rollers to create fast, expressive images; processes, materials and chance inform and evolve her practice. She has developed a technique of layering ink to create a strong depth of field. Drawing and photography have been important to her practice - direct observation and the use of black to explore tone and depth. Through her drawing practice she has trained herself to work fast in order to produce her monotypes before the ink dries out.
Drawing and printing outdoors, she runs workshops on the coast and in woodland as an outworking of some of her ideas. One of her aims is to carry the viewer on a journey with her, to experience something themselves when they look at the work. Her outdoor workshops are a literal version of that - she is taking people on their own creative journey, along with and beside the artist, and they experience nature and working creatively in the same place together.
‘Woods have always been a place of in-betweenness - somewhere one might slip from one world to another or one time to a former’ (R.Macfarlane).
Fouhy is influenced by nature writers who open up ways of thinking about the stories, histories and science behind the seen and unseen world around us. Using monoprinting, Fouhy explores how to work by intuition and emotional reaction to the forest environment. For her, the forest experience symbolises states of lost-ness, bewilderment and fragility in the face of the unknown. Simultaneously the forest is a place of healing both for the individual and for the planet; a fertile place for the imagination.
Her work has been exhibited widely, including solo exhibitions. Her prints feature in public collections including the V&A Museum and is held in private collections across the UK, Europe and USA.
Fiona is a key holder at East London Printmakers since 2011, where she also teaches.