Kit Surrey

All my work is intimately bound up with my interaction with the landscape. My starting point is nearly always through walking or climbing - whether on Dartmoor or on the cliff tops and moors of west Penwith: that unique part of Cornwall beyond St Ives to Lands End. Both are ancient landscapes shaped by our long usage of them.

Granite Faces IX graphite and conté

Granite Faces XIII graphite and conté

Some drawings that I’m currently working on are specifically concerned with where the land meets the sea: the sweeping granite and slate faces that form the Cornish coastline hold an irresistible fascination for me, both as a climber and for the paradox of apparently immutable rock inevitably succumbing to the relentless erosion of the sea: the perpetual collision of two worlds that carries such significance to us as an island people. The location of each drawing is identified very precisely by using not only the name given to the cliff by climbers, but also by the coast guard identity and by reference to a map and to its grid reference.

Kit Surrey October 2003

EDUCATION

Southampton College of Art
Wimbledon School of Art

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Freelance Theatre Designer and Fine Artist, who has worked extensively as a set and costume designer for many organisations, including:

The Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon and London.
Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmonds
Theatre Royal, York
The Open Air Theatre, Regents Park
Northcott theatre, Exeter
Old Vic Theatre, Bristol
Crucible Theatre, Sheffield

AWARDS

Best Designer, Barclays/TMA Awards for Queuing for Everest at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

SELECTED GROUP SHOWS