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Two years ago at the age of forty-three that Fiona decided to follow her life-long ambition of becoming an artist. Originally from Scotland she's spent much of her working life in Hertfordshire. Although leaving school with little in the way of formal qualifications, Fiona has worked as a secretary and later moved into Management Consultancy and Human Resources.

Moving to North Lincolnshire was a big decision for the family, Fiona's husband is originally from North London and worked in IT and both were looking for a slightly slower pace of life and eventually settled in Epworth. Fiona says they generally received a warm welcome from the local community but were also surprised to find so many people had already followed the path of 'downshifting' to North Lincolnshire and the village that was home to John Wesley.

Currently Fiona is taking Fine Art BA at the University of Lincoln and although not the oldest student in the class, she finds it refreshing, challenging and rewarding to be working alongside students in their early twenties. Although Fiona hasn't settled on one particular artistic discipline, preferring to keep her options open, she's already embracing art in all its forms.

Her photo is a snapshot of a portrait of her nephew, Ally. The portrait has already received recognition in a local competition and she's a little surprised as portraiture was something she'd never really embraced until just over a year ago.

Fiona hasn't forgotten her management skills entirely and is putting them to good use. She realised that having somewhere for artists to have their work seen was vitally important, but more often than not young artists didn't have the resources to show their work.

Recently Fiona became instrumental in putting together the Isle Arts Showcase. This was part of the Insight Open Studios project.听 This was an opportunity for artists to not only show their work but also to inform members of the public about what goes into producing a piece of art. She says few people understand the processes and research and says the event which took place at the end of September was a good experience for the visitors and artists taking part. You can find out more about the showcase by following the links on this page.

The Showcase is not the only thing Fiona's been involved with. The ArtsLinc Artists Network is Fiona's creation and once again is designed to give artists an opportunity to make members of the public aware of art that local artists are producing.

With a BA course in progress, organising arts exhibitions and events and bringing up a young son, Fiona is enjoying the challenge of pursuing her life's dream and enjoying it greatly.