Bobbie Seagroatt’s (b. 1953) first degree was in 1976 (Fashion and Textile Design) from Ravensbourne College of Art & Design in Kent.
Her enthusiasm for drawing, painting, fashion, design and photography started in childhood with the unspoken encouragement of her parents. Her father was a very competent artist, and her mother, a gamine beauty in the style of of Audrey Hepburn, was always at the sewing machine making clothes for herself and for Bobbie, and unusual furnishings for their family home.
Brought up in the north Kent suburbs of London, Bobbie is at home in the built environment of cities but also loves the countryside (where she now lives in north Oxfordshire), needing a fix of city life periodically.
To escape suburban uniformity and blandness, her childhood experiences included London visits to the theatre and West End stores with her mother, later teenage exploits to see band gigs, then joining a band herself as co singer, (Comus) at the age of sixteen, which toured Europe and the UK for three years.
An MA in Fine Art Painting at UAL Camberwell College of Arts in 2020, sealed these influences in her current work, and now Bobbie works from her own photographs for her painting, often including the female form with elements of clothing, fabrics or textile design in a semi abstract, graphic style.
As the years go by, the accumulation of possessions over many years, has resulted in some of these being incorporated into her artwork, as throwing away seems almost impossible. Worn or damaged clothing, handwritten letters, and discarded canvases are now used as the basis for new works….
