For the past twelve years Malcolm Martin and Gaynor Dowling have lived and worked in Stroud, Gloucestershire.

Malcolm trained in Fine Art at the Bath Academy of Art, before going on to complete an MA at the Royal College of Art in London. In 1993, he decided to pursue carving in wood full-time, leaving the Faculty of Art, Media and Design at the University of the West of England where he had taught since 1984.

In 1997 he joined with textile artist Gaynor Dowling to create the signature style for which they are internationally known: simple but sophisticated forms carved in white limewood and oak, or black scorched oak, presenting hand-worked surfaces that draw the eye and articulate the light. Beginning from simple parallel gouge marks, their textures have developed to use the subtlety and sophistication of which limewood is capable, and the ruggedly fibrous nature of oak. New finishes developed then—scorching on top of liming on oak, and the creative use of gilding—have transformed the possibilities of their carving. Since then their work has developed in scale and confidence, to show some of the fluidity and rhythm of textiles in this least fluid of mediums.

Martin and Dowling show in London with Sarah Myerscough Fine Art and Contemporary Applied Arts, and in Edinburgh with the Open Eye Gallery. Several of their garden pieces can normally be seen at the Hannah Peschar Sculpture Garden in Surrey.

For full exhibition details please see calendar.