Zoe Duncan
How I got here
Initially trained in sculpture and drawing at the City and Guilds London Art School, exploration and experimentation led me on a path to watercolour and printmaking. I can still remember the feeling I got walking into the print room there, with its enormous, ancient press - and the thrill of lifting up your finished print to see the result.
I am drawn to the natural world and especially the parts that live and move in a different element - the air and the water. Capturing movement is something I come back to again and again, and which I find mesmerising in fluid watercolour. I enjoy the uncertainty of the finished result - what effects the drying paint will make as it swirls on the page. I paint in a loose, expressive style, and I am also hugely influenced by pared back Japanese art - in both my watercolour painting and my printmaking.
I am also fascinated by the nature within. I am striving to explore ideas such as belonging, loss, and what connects us to a time and place. The idea of Home, the idea of connection - so core to human nature.
Now and beyond
My studio is a beautiful little cottage in our garden - built originally as a music studio in the 1950s. I love the fact that it was purposely built for creative pursuits! There are views out over the garden, and roses climbing all around the big French doors out. It's a perfect place to relax, and get inspired.
I have taught art to adults and children for over 16 years, including as a tutor at Waterperry Gardens and at their incredible Art in Action summer festival - which is so sadly missed now. I now run workshops and classes from my own studio, and also through the fabulous Where Inspiration Blooms. I also have experience in teaching individual lessons supporting portfolio work for scholarship assessments, workshops within schools, and to local art groups in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. I hold a PGCE in Secondary education - and I genuinely love teaching! I would never stop running classes and workshops alongside my own practice - partly because I feel very passionate about helping people to find and nurture their own creative drive, but also because I learn so much myself from teaching others. It really is a 2-way experience.
My work has been sold through galleries in London, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, and my pieces are in collections around the world including the UK, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Australia and the USA.
When I'm not in my studio or running a workshop, I can usually be found cooking for my large family, walking though the gorgeous woods and fields around where I live, or reading (preferably with one of my cats curled up on my lap). I am also forever drawn to the coast, and the wild places.
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