Deep Looking : Colour & Light Oxmarket Contemporary 2025

& Light
Consuelo Simpson
Dawn Langley
Janet McWilliam
Deep
Looking

Deep
Looking
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Colour and Light is a coming together of three artists who
thrive on experimentation, exploring how line, colour, texture,
repetition, and layering can shift our perceptions and provoke
new ways of thinking. The result is a rich, multidisciplinary mix
of works on paper, textile sculptures, book forms, paintings,
photographs, and prints - a thoughtful blend of abstract 2D
and 3D pieces that invite you to slow down and take a good
look.
At the heart of the exhibition is the idea of creating as a kind of
conversation between the artists and their materials, between
the artworks and the viewers. There is a sense of shared
experience running through it all, a recognition of the things
that connect us. The artists hope visitors will enjoy pausing,
reflecting, and maybe even discovering new associations or
perspectives through these intriguing visual dialogues.
It is not just about instant impact, but about spending time,
noticing the small things and enjoying the unexpected.
With such a broad and tactile range of work, there is
something here for everyone: lovers of contemporary art, fans
of traditional craft, and anyone with a curious eye.
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What draws you to your materials and techniques?
Consuelo Simpson
I am drawn to materials that speak back – natural
fibres with memory, found objects with stories,
paper that holds the trace of every fold. There
is something compelling about working with
materials that have attitude: they resist, respond
and reshape my intentions as I work.
Traditional craft techniques such as netmaking,
bookbinding and gilding allow me to engage with
the act of making as a conversation, as a slow,
deliberate and tactile dialogue where the hand
of the maker is always present. It is this physical
interchange with texture, weight and resistance
that grounds my practice. Each material has its
own language and I take real pleasure in listening
and responding.
What themes underpin your work?
My work is rooted in the history of craftsmanship,
knowledge of materials and of making, taking
inspiration from the ingenuity of humankind
and the quiet persistence of craft skills passed
down over generations. I am curious about the
lives of objects: how tools, string or rusted metal
can carry the memory of use, of place, of human
connections.
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Whether I am knotting nets from plant fibres or reimagining
a forgotten hand tool in a sculptural form, I am asking what
it means to make, to repair, to transform and why it matters.
My pieces are often in flux, never seeking perfection, always
holding the possibility of change and, most importantly, of
enchantment.
Has there been a moment that influenced your development
as an artist?
There has not been a single defining moment but rather an
ongoing succession of encounters. A recurring pleasure and
source of inspiration is seeing my work installed outside the
studio, in dialogue with new spaces and new people. That shift
in perspective, an opportunity to hear how others respond,
to share thoughts with fellow artists, opens new avenues and
suggests fresh ideas.
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These occasions underline the importance of showing up, of
being curious, of continuing to explore, of trusting the work
to reveal its own meaning in its own time. I have also found it
invaluable to be in conversation with fellow artists, where the
generosity and curiosity of others has helped me to grow and
sparked new paths to explore.
How does your environment shape the work you make?
Living in rural Hampshire, I walk every day, a quiet ritual that
feeds my practice. I gather materials as I go: twisted twigs,
bones, bits of wire, discarded tools. These fragments ground
the work in the landscape and connect my practice to a wider
sense of time and place. The rhythm of walking, making and
creating mirrors the rhythm of thinking and noticing as a kind
of slowness that invites attention. Being surrounded by fields,
hedgerows and old barns also reinforces the value of things
that are weathered, handmade and still useful in ways we
might not always expect.
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What themes underpin your work?
Dawn Langley
The overriding theme for me is how technology
is impacting our lives. As part of my digital
practice, I explore the collaborative relationship
between artist and technology, such as the
use of generative neural networks. My subject
matter is informed by the realisation of how
deeply embedded technology has become in
our everyday lives, which is altering the way we
communicate, interact and understand our world.
More recently I have become interested in notions
of appropriation and reproduction in the digital
age. My work is often concerned with past, present
and future. Using traditional still life forms I am
exploring interconnections and questioning the
relationship between artist and the machine.
“While complicated tools and technologies are
subject to rapid change, simple utensils obey a
slow, almost geological rhythm.”
(Bryson, 2013: 138)
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What draws you to your materials and techniques?
I guess the theme is a major driving force in that to explore
issues of our digital lives it follows that much of my practice
is based on technology and the use of machines. I have been
using generative adversarial networks (machine learning)
for some years. Although I know some coding I prefer to use
publicly available platforms. This allows me to see changes
in platforms over time i.e. the now widespread dominance
of text to image models. However, there is only so long I
can sit at the computer before I get itchy hands and I have
to pick up some paper and work with different book forms.
This interplay of old and new technologies and materials is
important to me.
Has there been a particular moment that influenced the
development of your work?
It’s hard to identify a single moment, two particular occasions
come immediately to mind. The first was the point when I
reached 55, the same age that my Dad died. When he died
he left no digital identity at all, some thirty years later my
footprint was extensive.
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That led me to exploring more about digital legacy and
afterlife. I also recall the first time I saw Anna Ridler’s “Myriad”
work. I was utterly entranced by both content and theme. My
other influences are drawn from 17th Century Dutch Still life
painting (specifically the work of the women of the era), 20th
Century Abstract Expressionism and post-digital art.
How does your environment shape the work you make?
The impact of my environment is multi-layered and very much
varies dependent on what I am working on. I can lose myself
for hours in front of the computer but can equally need to be
outdoors walking and thinking. I seldom make work outside
but find it important to step away from the environment I am
in to help change my perspective or solve a knotty problem.
The wider social, political and cultural environment is an
important factor in the kinds of work I make, particularly
contemporary debates around technology. Hence my current
interest in appropriation, originality and replicability.

Janet McWilliam
What themes underpin your work?
One of my main themes at the moment is that I
am exploring processes, roles and activities that
might operate within a ‘house/home’ and along
the way I am experimenting with how those
create the patina or the history of what we might
call ‘wear and tear’ within it.
So, for example, some of my work may attempt
to reveal a timeline through the way the paint is
applied; the dabbing on, the building up of layers
and then the scraping back for the reveal; the
history of the walls through years of applications.
Other pieces are focussed on how the paint is
applied using more unusual methods or tools but
rarely a brush.
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What draws you to your materials and techniques?
I am drawn to bold colour. I have at times worked with oil
paint and love the luscious depths of its hues. I have also
worked with watercolour and crayon but at the moment I
am loving acrylics because I am impatient, I think. Oils can
take a very long time to dry and I am driven to experiment
and express whatever is working up from my sketchbook or
journal. My pieces largely start in a journal as a mind map but
then what happens on the canvas is rarely planned. I work
with and alongside my materials. I enjoy the experimental, the
accidental and the collaboration of relevant or not so relevant
tools and materials, so cardboard, scraps of canvas, cards,
rollers and whatever comes to hand.
Has there been a particular moment that influenced the
development of the work?
This is a difficult question. I don’t know that I could pinpoint
just one moment. I think it is the act of looking – really looking
at the everyday things that maybe we take for granted that
can literally stop me in my tracks.
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It could be something simple like a flight of stone steps worn
down by the traffic of human feet, by nature, the environment
or simply time. Time does feature a lot in my work but so too
do the things that we look past and through, the edges of
things, the weeds that break through tarmac or designs and
wording that feature on utility casings, the list is endless.
How does your environment shape the work you make?
I particularly enjoy being in creative environments and I love
looking at architecture, listening to music and letting art
and design and nature that is all around me, wash into my
work. However, when I am working and focused, I become so
absorbed that I am then unaware of my environment. I will
work wherever I can and that has been outside in rain or shine
and inside on a table, a floor or an easel.
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About us...
Consuelo Simpson is a collector and forager of old tools
and intriguing objects and a champion of traditional craft.
Her work is steeped in history, celebrating time-honoured
skills like net-making, weaving, and bookbinding. She sees
printmaking as part of a long lineage of craftsmanship, a way
of continuing and reinterpreting those old stories through her
hands-on practice.
Dawn Langley brings a different kind of curiosity to her
practice. Her work often explores traces - what we leave
behind, how objects or images tell stories. She enjoys creating
unexpected combinations and has even collaborated with
machines to disrupt the usual order of things, giving familiar
scenes a strange new edge.
Janet McWilliam uses colour and texture in ways that feel
deeply connected to the rhythms of domestic life. Her work
carries echoes of the repeated actions that fill a home over
time -mopping, folding, rolling, painting - and she shares
a kind of dance with her materials, letting them guide the
process as much as she directs it.
Together, we intend to offer a thoughtful and refreshing take
on what it means to make, to notice, and to share. Colour and
Light is an invitation - to look closely, to linger, and maybe to
see the world a little differently.
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Biographies & References
Consuelo Simpson
I am a multi-disciplinary artist working in 2D and
3D, often bringing craft techniques into play. I am
drawn to materials with a long history: paper, string,
textiles and printmaking.
Dawn Langley
I am a mixed media artist, which allows me to
explore my interest in the impact our digital lives
are having on our social and cultural practices.
My influences include 17th century still life
painting, 20th century Abstract Expressionism and
contemporary post-digital art.
Janet McWilliam
I am a contemporary abstract painter. My work
investigates materiality and focuses on content
and storytelling. Chance and control are important
to my practice and I am constantly drawn to
experiment with colour theory as materials and
support come together.
Bryson, N. (2013). Looking at the overlooked: Four
essays on still life painting. Reaktion Books.
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Consuelo Simpson
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 15
Left - Hear What I am Saying, 2024, 5 x
(50x50x50cm)
Right - In Search of Possibilities, 2023,
17x37x37cm
Bound by Light I, 2024, 11x32x17cm
Left - Keeping in Touch, 2024, 17x37x37cm
Right - Spinning a Yarn, 2023, 15x28x28
Nothing is Lost, 2024, 220(var)x165x10cm
Dawn Langley
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 15
Traces of Rachel (I, II, & III), 2025, 63x47cm
Digital Blooming series, 2025, digital
Natura Machina series, 2024, 43x53cm
Digital Blooming, 2024, digital
Images
Janet McWilliam
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 15
Seen, 2023, 70x70cm
Left - Three Mops, 2023, 70 x 70cm
Right - Rolls - Multi, 2022, 80x100cm
Pot of Mops in Blue & Orange, 2023, 70x70cm
Tubes, 2019, 200 x 15cm dia
Page 2
Left to right: Dawn Langley, Janet Mcwilliam,
Consuelo Simpson
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Contact us
www.consuelosimpson.com
Instagram @consueloSimpson
hello@consuelosimpson.com
www.infinitecuriosity.studio
Instagram @dawnl_sketchbook
dawn@alchemy-photography.com
www.janetmcwilliam.co.uk
Instagram @mcwilliam.janet
janetmcwilliamart@gmail.com