Mary Kuper

"My work is figurative and detailed – I like the sense of spaces opening up through one another in quite a theatrical way, a set where a story is about to unfold. Sometimes this is quite literally a performance, as in my drawings of rehearsals at the English National Opera, sometimes, as in my location drawings around North Kensington where I live, people or animals drift into the picture frame and bring it to life.

"I work a lot in my sketchbooks – drawings of wherever I am, a jury waiting room or a night bus in Colombia. Sketching with a few portable materials on the road feeds into more considered and process driven work, painting, printmaking and computer manipulated.

"Liking a narrative, much of my experience has been as an illustrator, working for diverse clients including The Observer, The Times, The Folio Society, Pan Books, Methuen, Victor Gollancz, Oxford University Press, Radio Times, British Council, Reed Publications, Mitchell Beazley, Thomas Nelson, Longmans, Amnesty International, Marshall Cavendish, Element Books, United Distilleries, Kelly Hoppen, The National Trust, Slightly Foxed, Chaise Longue Press, Plantin Press, Marks and Spencer, design groups and advertising agencies. I also have taught at various art schools and am currently teaching at Camberwell."