Artist Statement
The combination of art and science has been key to my life and work. Until 2022, I prioritised science and maintained art part-time. Having gained a master’s degree in physics, and scientific publishing experience, I pursued a PhD in neuroscience at the University of Bristol, before moving to Scotland to do postdoctoral work on neural development at the University of Edinburgh. In 2022, I left academia to make art my primary focus.
Figurative and representative drawing and painting form a large part of my artistic output. My practice asks questions about how the mind processes the world and the natural environment. Meticulous, analytical attention to detail and observation are recurring themes of my practice. Working primarily in traditional 2D materials, I’m inspired by natural forms, and the physical and biological principles that underpin their formation.
Previous work has explored the psychological effect of l’appel du vide, also known as ‘high place phenomenon’, a combination of botanical illustration with pharmacology, the experience of covid-anxiety, and number-colour synaesthesia. I am currently artist in residence for the University of Birmingham Centre for Systems Modelling in Quantitative Biomedicine, creating art in response to research into immunotherapy as a treatment for liver cancer.
Artist Bio
Felicity Inkpen is a self-taught artist who has exhibited across Edinburgh and Bristol. Trained in physics and neuroscience, she uses her previous career as a scientist to inform her work which explores all the strange ways in which we experience the world and the disconcerting ways in which the mind works.
Working in oils, acrylic, watercolour, ink, and collage, her paintings combine figurative elements with abstract colours. Birds, insects, and natural forms are frequently occurring imagery.
Originally from the Westcountry, Felicity lives in Leith, and has her studio at Out of the Blue Drill Hall.
