Irene Belcher is a lifelong artist working with textiles, found items and mixed media. She is from South Yorkshire and studied commercial art at Doncaster College of Art in the 60s, and worked in Manchester and Leeds in advertising studios producing black and white advertisements and full colour illustration. This led to exhibitions and work with watercolour paintings of the natural world. In the 90s she chose to move into textiles and sculpture and with an HNC in Contemporary Art Practice she graduated with a BA Honours First Class in Fine Art at Chichester University in 2021. Her portfolio included sculpture and mixed media.
Her work is inspired by nature and by the legacy of our industrial past. She uses found items to create sculptural installations from an eclectic assortment of inspiration, from handbags to emaciated boats. Irene is artist in residence for regular canal trips on the working narrow boat Renfrew. She is influenced by the canals and waterways and the objects collected at our boatyard at Braunston.
Daisies grow profusely along the canals and motorways, and are a common part of our surroundings. The pine trees are grown in dense commercial plantations and the light attempts to pierce the gloom under the canopy.
