Iona Stern

Iona Stern lives and works in London.  She has a BA Hons in Art & Design from Canterbury College of Art and worked for over 30 years as an advertising art director.

What inspires your work as an artist?
Much of my work is based in memory, an emotional response to place, time or event. Whether walking through Renoir’s garden in the South of France to time spent on the Cornish coast, I take inspiration from all around.

Who are your biggest influences?
My main influences are the artists of the post war era, in particular the St Ives group and the American Abstract Expressionists.

What does your work mean to you?
My work is a form of self-expression. Since my earliest age, I have drawn and painted and so not surprisingly I have always worked within the arts.

What techniques do you use?
I am a painter and printmaker. My colourist prints are monotype silkscreens. I paint directly onto the reverse of a screen and then print through onto the paper – building it up in stages. There is an energy to the process and there is always an element of surprise, which thrills me.