Simon Woolham writes: 1st April 2026: ‘A journey from Macclesfield to Uffington and back again’
“We left Macclesfield at 1:30pm with a graphite pencil, paper, glue stick, scalpel, fixative, and a blank white flag. I had not met Kate before but knew she was an artist and a farmer. We travelled past Rudyard Lake, through the centre of Leek, past the edges of Ashbourne, Derby and Nottingham, through villages, over small hills, round the edges of Rutland Water, through the shining light stonework of Stamford and then on to Uffington. We parked outside Kate’s farmhouse, but we could not see any farm and we all needed the loo after a long(ish) journey so I called Kate (who was seeing to some sheep). After our quick toilet break I got straight onto taking graphite rubbings as the house, farmyard, village opened up, and I was instantly in a textural haven! After we all (myself, my wife Hannah and our children Ava and Lana) met Kate and her three sisters, everyone was super welcomed and brought into the farm rituals; feeding the lambs, watching chick’s being tended too with pipe-cleaners, we were at one with Kate’s place. I ventured to the church where I found textures from the fences, gates, tombstones, walls, architectural arches. From the textures of history from Kate’s extended home I made an artwork that fitted to the dimensions of the noticeboard and a flag, which I felt celebrated Kate’s place and its place in the village and beyond. Me and Kate had many conversations afterwards, with too many coincidences to mention, taking us to Wysing, Huddersfield, Leeds and back to Macclesfield………… “
Simon Woolham studied Fine Art at Manchester Metropolitan University followed by an MA from Chelsea College of Art in London (2000). Simon’s practice as an artist, curator and academic is centred around expanded drawing research and methodology and this was the focus of his practice-led PhD from 2012 and awarded in 2016 at Manchester Metropolitan University. The PhD explored walking (in the broadest sense) and narrative in physical, virtual, and psychological space, expanding on the notion of an artists’ residency of the mind. He was based at Wysing Art Centre between 2008 and 2012 and is currently based at Rogue Artists Studio.