PROFILE

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Pauline produces mainly two-dimensional work, including painting, mixed media, print and light-box images. Digital montages, up to large-format in scale, are created by combining drawing and print, photographs and micrographs. The work reflects upon the inter-dependence and inter-relationship of life forms on our planet and our place within this.

She studied painting and printmaking at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College, London, including postgraduate studies in printmaking. She followed with part-time teaching posts and a lectureship in BA Design, Anglia Polytechnic University. She lives and works in Suffolk, England.

During 2002-3 a research residency at the School of Biological Sciences, University of Cambridge funded by an Awards for Artists and a Six of the Best award [Arts Council East], enabled the development of work through microscopy and digital imaging, culminating in an exhibition of large-scale digital prints, light-box works and installations at the Cambridge University Botanic Garden, Bringing into Focus.

In 2004 Pauline began working on Cardio – Active, with the support of a grant from the Wellcome Trust, at the University of Cambridge in the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience. The project explores the form and structure of the human heart and changes that occur when normal function ceases, and the foxglove plant, which has been used for 250 years in the treatment of certain heart conditions. Works include digital montages, which combine the structures of both the heart and the foxglove, produced as large-scale prints and photographic images also digital animation and light-box works.

She is currently working on a further project that highlights the importance of medicinal plants and the need for their conservation worldwide. Plants in Mind – Memory Matters explores the relationship of the snowdrop plant and the brain. Galantamine, a chemical produced by the plant, is being used to restore the level of the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine, which is lost in those with memory failure. Works to date include prints of digital photomontages combining details of brain tissue and the flower of the snowdrop.

 

Solo & Small Group Exhibitions.

2016 Woman Working from Women: A Poetry Ekphrasis. South Dakota Art Museum. Brookings.SD, USA..
2016 Plants in Mind – Memory Matters (selected works). Department of Physiology,
Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge. (solo)
2015 Plants in Mind – Memory Matters (selected works). John Radcliffe Hospital NHS Trust. Oxford. (solo)
2014 – 2015 Plants in Mind – Memory Matters: Ciphers and Signifiers. Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge. (solo)
2013 – 2014 Plants in Mind – Memory Matters, THE SNOWDROP: Spring Hopes for the Ageing HUMAN BRAIN. Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University. (solo)
2011 Taking a Closer View. Gateway Gallery, The Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. (solo)
2011 Cardio – Active (selected works). Cardiology Department, Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Trust. (solo)
2010 – 2011 Cardio – Active. A Different View of Treating the Heart: Moving from Digitalis to Digital The International Centre for Life. Newcastle-upon-Tyne. (solo)
2010 Paintings, Prints and Sculpture 2000 – 2010. The Cut Arts Centre, Halesworth, Suffolk. (solo)
2009 Cardio – Active: The Heart and the Foxglove. BioCity Nottingham [Bioscience Centre]. (solo)
2009 Cardio – Active. Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Trust. (solo)
2009 Cardio – Active. Papworth Hospital NHS Trust, Cambridge. (solo)
2007 The Secret Life of Plants. Bedford Museum. Joint exhibition with Aimee Lax MA RCA Ceramics.
2006 – 2009 Cardio – Active (selected works). Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge. (solo)
2006 Microscience 2006. The Royal Microscopical Society. ExCel London. (solo)
2005 Angels in the Studio: The Women of the Slade. The Higgins, Bedford.
2004 – 2005 Looking Beyond the Visible BioCity Nottingham [Bioscience
Centre]. (solo)
2004 Modern British Abstracts. Galerie Last, Zurich, Switzerland.
2003 – 2004 Prints and Drawings. Papworth Hospital NHS Trust. (solo)
2003 Bringing into Focus. Cambridge University Botanic Garden. Cambridge. (solo)
2002 Modern British Abstracts. Galerie Last, Zurich, Switzerland.
2001 Pauline Aitken: Works made between 1998 to 2001. Hay Gallery, Colchester Institute,
2001 Blueten – Fragmente. Kultur-Spycher, Meikirch, Bern, Switzerland. (solo)
2000 Elm Hill Contemporary Art. Norwich. From 1999 to 2007, regular small group exhibitions.

 

Selected Group & Mixed Exhibitions.

 

2017 PRISM 8 Prism Print International. The IXth International Engraving
Exhibition, Cremona, Italy.
2016 Prism 7 Prism Print International The Spodki Gallery, Bialystok, Poland.(group)
2016 Prism Print International, Changsha Museum, Hunan, China.(group)
2016 Prism 6 Prism Print International Clifford Chance Gallery. Canary Wharf, London.(group)
2015 Distinct Impressions: Prism 5 London – Identity and the International Print Artist .The Embassy Tea Gallery, Bankside, London.(group)
2015 Impact 9 Conference Exhibition, Prism Print International China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China.
2012 Gainsborough’s House Printmakers. Gainsborough’s House, Sudbury, Suffolk.
2011 Crossing Centuries: Works by Women Artists 1830 – 2000. ACS Gallery, London.
2007/8/9 Jill Bishop Contemporary Art. Suffolk.
2007 Tradition Aside, The Strang Print Room, University College London.
2006 Too Much Photography, Madlab Gallery, Columbus, Ohio, U.S.
2004 Open Print Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy. Bristol.
2003 – 2004 Visions of Science, The Science Museum, London and The Royal Society, London and UK travelling exhibition. Sponsored by Novatis and The Daily Telegraph.
2003 – 2004 Art, Age & Gender Foundation for Women’s Art,UK travelling exhibition [including Usher Gallery, Lincoln; Corn Exchange, Newbury and The New Greenham Art Galleries.
2002 – 2003 Visions and Science, The Royal Society, London and UK travelling exhibition. Sponsored by Novartis and The Daily Telegraph
2002 Art, Age & Gender; Foundation for Women’s Art. Orleans House Gallery,London.
2002 The College Art Collections. Printmaking at the Slade 1960 – 1984. The Strang Print Room,University College London.
Exhibitions Related to the Year of the Artist Residency at Chasestead Ltd Letchworth.
2001 Chasestead Ltd. Letchworth Museum and Art Gallery. Spirella Building, Letchworth Business and Conference Centre.
2000 Buchanan Ingersoll, Tower 42, International Financial Centre, London.

Awards

2009 Grants for the Arts award, the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
2004 The Wellcome Trust, sciart Research and Development award.
2002 Novartis / The Daily Telegraph; Visions of Science Photographic Awards. Science as Art. 2nd prize.
2001 East England Arts / Anglia TV; ‘Six of the Best: Best New Idea.
2001 Arts & Business: ‘Small Business Initiative’.
2001 Commissions East and East England Arts: ‘Awards for Artists’.
2000 Arts Council England : ‘The Year of the Artist’. Residency at Chasestead Ltd, Prototype Engineering, Letchworth.

 

Collections.

 

Arts Council Great Britain.

Bradford City Art Gallery.

Christchurch Mansion Museum & Gallery, Ipswich.

Graphotek, Berlin.

Hangzhou Art Museum, China.

Norwich Castle Museum & Galleries.

Slade School of Fine Art.

South Dakota Art Museum, USA.

The Government Art Collection.

University College, London.

University of Southampton.

Victoria & Albert Museum.

Worcester College, Oxford.

 

corporate.

 

Anglian Water.

BioCity Nottingham.

Chasestead Ltd.

Papworth Hospital NHS Trust.

 

Bedfordshire, Nottingham and Suffolk Education Authorities, Dulwich, Greenwich and Newark Borough Councils and also University, School and Private Collections in the UK, Europe and USA.

A full CV listing exhibitions, awards, lectureships, residencies, consultancy work and course leaderships before 2000 is currently being compiled and can be sent on request.

Represented by Jill Bishop Contemporary Art, www.jillbishopcontemporaryart.co.uk