Carol Burns

I am a Scottish born Artist living in Wiltshire, England, who is best known for her unconventional abstracts.

I am interested in people (Every single individual on this planet is a multifaceted being comprising many different identities with no single one providing the ultimate key to unlocking their character) and I find our internal and external narratives captivating. After all, we dream in narrative, daydream in narrative, remember, anticipate, hope, despair, believe, doubt, plan, revise, criticise, construct, gossip, learn, and love by narrative. It enables us to share our internal world in a meaningful way and helps us make sense of the external world we inhabit. Finding a visual means of examining those narratives, and the abstract ideas contained within them, is endlessly fascinating to me and it's those inner landscapes that I aim to capture within my work.

My paintings are not designed to be representational. I start with an idea or concept which I then explore through the layering of paint, intuitive mark making and collage. My process is a constant balancing act between control, instinct, reacting to the accidental and deliberately adding elements to provide contrast and interest.The end result is a work which is rich...

Carol studied Art and Design at Glasgow Metropolitan College's School of Design, prior to embarking on a 3-year Fashion Design and Business Degree course at Glasgow Caledonian University in her native Scotland. Since then she has undertaken professional development courses in oil painting, collage and abstraction using acrylics. In 2018 she undertook a 6 month intensive painting course with the renowned artist and teacher Caroline Hulse and in 2021 she undertook a year long painting course with the distinguished artist Judy Woods.

Group Exhibitions:
- Royal Cambrian Academy of Art, Open Exhibition, 2022, 2023 & 2024
- ING Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, 2023
- Royal West of England Academy of Art, Open Exhibition, 2023
- CMAF, Open Exhibition, 2023
- The White Horse Gallery, Open Exhibition, 2023
- Contemporary Art Fair, Surrey, 2021, 2022 & 2023
- Contemporary Art Fair, Windsor. 2019
- Swindon Museum and Art Gallery, Swindon. 2018 & 2019
- Museum of The Mind, Swindon. 2016
- Parkinsons And Me, Brighton. 2015
- Cloud 9 Gallery, Horsham. 2014 & 2015
- Aye Inspired, 21 locations across Scotland. 2014.
- New Brewery Arts, Cirencester. 2013 & 2014
- Intel Offices, Swindon. 2011 & 2012
- RWE Npower Offices, Swindon, 2009 to 2013
- Malmesbury Town Hall, Malmesbury. 2009 to 2011
- Malmesbury Abbey, Malmesbury. 2009 to 2011

Solo Exhibitions:
- The Hop Inn, Swindon. 2023
- Magnum, Swindon. 2022
- Little Hop, Swindon. 2022
- Hop Inn, Swindon. 2015, 2016, 2019 & 2022
- 1801, Swindon. 2016
- British Library, London. 2012
- Second Life. 2009
- Pandora Gallery, Bangkok. 2008

Books:
- Graphic Novel. 2016 to 2018 (Currently going through the publication process)
- ‘Research and Evaluation for Busy Practitioners’ by Dr Helen Kara. Additional illustration for 2nd Edition. 2...