Harvey Steele

For as long as I can remember my living situation has been quite transient. Every place I’ve moved to has had its own cultures, accents and civil folklore that I draw from in my work. I’ve been living in Stroud for around 7 years now and I still recall my first week here, overhearing a little boy crying to his mum “but mummy I need focaccia”… I don’t think I knew what focaccia was until I was in my twenties.

I once lived in a room that was reminiscent of an old ship, there were ubiquitous paintings on the walls of idyllic English countrysides scenes. When I discovered Steve Powers and sign painting something clicked. I couldn’t help but remember every picture I’ve had on walls since being a child. I started buying antique frames and using the glass to work on, ripping out pictures of flowers and bunnies and writing my own thoughts and experiences.

Lettering has been the perfect vehicle for me to expand my practice and my mental health plays the biggest role in what to paint and why, contextualising my own folklore. Painting on the reverse side of glass is unlike anything else I’ve found before. The finish has a beautiful flat, untouchable quality, a quiet romantic melancholy mixed with a childlike innocence remembering things f...

Tresham College Kettering - National Diploma in Art and Design
.Tresham College Kettering - Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
Nottingham Trent University - BA (hons) Fine Art

2013 - Degree Show @ Nottingham Trent University
2013 - Soup Kitchen 1 @ Bohunk Institute Nottingham
2014 - Flavour @ Gallery 202 Northampnshire
2014 – ‘Home’ Gallery 202, Northampton
2015 – ‘Redemption at Middle Street’ The Pink Cabbage, Stroud
2016 - 'Affordable Art Fair' Battersea, London
2016 – 'Staff Only' Stroud
2017 - 'Off The Record' Stroud
2017 – ‘Affordable Art Fair’ Battersea, London
2017 – Nasty Women, Gloucestershire
2018 – Winter Blues, Cass Art, Islington, London
2019 – Summer Show, SVA Stroud
2019 – F.Y.I, London
2020 – Neo Humourism, Stratford upon Avon