Born in New Zealand 1951.
Designed womens clothing for the Garb shop, Melbourne, Australia from 1980 - 1982
1983 - 1984 - continued designing clothing in New Zealand & wholesaled throughout the country
1985 to 1996 - established Philippa Riddiford accessories - importing ( from New York), designing, retailing & distributing fashion jewellery throughout New Zealand
1997 to 1998 - Worked for Karen Walker, Auckland as assistant store manager
1998 to 1999 - Worked for Collette Dinnigan, Melbourne as Store manager
2003 to present - Philippa Riddiford designs - designing,creating & producing original limited edition prints
Artist's Statement
Coming from a design and fashion background, my experimental approach to creating my work traverses the boundaries of traditional printmaking by combining a mixture of mediums.
I have developed a method of producing limited edition prints that involves digital processes as well as the traditional forms of painting, drawing and photography.
Having worked creatively for many years within design, fashion and consultancy I needed a new challenge.
This came in the form of a computer graphics program about which I knew nothing.
Teaching myself how to use it, I discovered it gave me a creative outlet beyond what I may have imagined – and I felt that having to experiment to learn how to use it was in itself a creatively freeing process.
Sometimes when I begin work on a new piece, I have no conscious forethought of where it is going. Then it is a process of discovery at it’s purest guided by intuition as the eye beholds the random created forms.
Often the combining of my drawing’s and painting’s with my layered abstract images, gives the final work a dreamlike translucent appearance sometimes reminiscent of a watercolour painting.
I have always loved working with colour and the computer allows me to produce a palette of extraordinary depth.
My computer is to me what a canvas is to a traditional painter.
www.philippariddiford.com
