Throughout history inventors, showmen and an untold number of eccentrics and charlatans have built mechanical contraptions who’s primary purpose was to deceive or entertain. The relationship between the perceived magic and the real mechanical ingenuity that animates these devices is something that has always fascinated Fi. It is this dichotomy that first triggered her interest in automata. 

Fi's figurative mechanical sculptures combine carved wood, old tins and found objects, with mechanisms engineered in brass and steel. This combination gives her great scope for improvisation and playfulness.
Her work typically depicts strange scenes and eccentric characters which mechanically re-enact fragments of dream-like narratives. Drawing upon folk tales and myth, Fi's automata merge the everyday with humour and menacing elements of absurdity. 

Increasingly she has been building electronic sound and lighting into her work in order to enhance its cinematic and theatrical qualities.

Fi has been making automata professionally since 2009, and her work is included in both national and international collections. She often accepts commissions and film set design work.

Exhibitions

• 2011  Kinetica Art Fair, Ambika P3 London
• 2012  Humour Humour, Galerie Automates, Brussels
• 2012 CMT Autumn Fair, the Space Station, East Dulwich, London
• 2012  Humming Birds for My Grandmother, The Poly, Falmouth
• 2013  Contemporary Crafts Fair, Bovey Tracey
• 2013 October Performing Objects Conference, Falmouth University
• 2013-2014 Rye Art Gallery
• 2013-2014 work included in Andrew Layon's “The Only Non-slip Dodo Mat in the World2015 Auomata Exhibition Rythin Craft Center
• 2016 ArtQuest Gallerie, Paimpol
• 2016 Solving Pattern, Sit Select Festival,Stroud
• Nov 2017 Lowton Farm exhibition
• 2018 Flmouth Art Gallery Summer Exhibition
• 2018 Compton Verney summer Exhibition
• November 2018 The Explorotorium, San Francisco,
• 2018 Spooner Ehibition, The First Gallery, Southampton
  

Crafts council exhibition - A Curious Turn:

• 18 Feb – 20 May 2017: Wolverhampton Art Gallery
• 8 July – 2 Sep 2017: Gallery Oldham
• 15 Sept – 19 Nov 2017: Derby Museum and Art Gallery
• 3 Dec – 25 Feb 2018: Inverness Museum & Art Gallery
• 10 Mar – 20 May 2018: Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Devon
• 26 May – 19 August 2018: William Heath Robinson Museum, West Pinner
• Sep – Oct 2018: Exhibition free, interest shown
• Dec – Jan 2019: National Craft Gallery, Kilkenny, Ireland2018/19 Blossom Street, York

Commissions

•  2009-2019 Various private commissions
• 2013 Automaton Clock for Penryn Town
• 2013 Automaton for 'Curiovan' a touring caravan of Victorian curiosities.
• 2014 Nefarious Bone Travelling Automated Theatre for So Festival, Skegness
• 2014 "ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS" - Absolem Productions
• 2015 Falmouth Gallery, Winifred Freeman automaton
• 2015 Wakefield museum, Charles Watterton automaton
• 2017 Hansel and Grettel for Cabaret Mechanical Theatre and the House of Fairytales
• 2017 The russian prince for Cabaret Mechanical theatre and The House of Fairytales
• 2017-18 Automata for the Pagoda in Kew Gardens, Historic Royal Palaces
• 2018 Girl in Wheelbarrow prop for the Bullzini Familly Highwire Walkers
• 2022 The Lady of Shalott - Falmouth Gallery
  

Education & Awards

BA Hons in Sculpture / Falmouth College of Arts.

Publications/ Articles

Arts Industry Magazine, “Stelarc, Ahead of the Game”, 04/01/2011“Seven Stars” by Sergio Pinese 2009

Teaching

See my Teaching page

Collections

• Richard Garriott Collection, Britannia Manor, Austin, Texas
  
• Falmouth Art Gallery, Falmouth Cornwall
• Penryn Museum, Penryn,Cornwall
• Historic Royal Palaces / Kew Gardens