Caroline Hands left school at 14, studied fashion in London in the 1960s but persuaded the principal to let her create her own mixed media courses, one of the first mixed media courses in London, which included 3d works, theatre design, photography and visual research. She later did a degree in fine art painting. Caroline ran community art projects and workshops in London, West Midlands and Herefordshire at events such as Hay on Wye Literature Festival. She also worked on many ‘Artist in Schools Projects’. She later became the festival director of The Three choirs fringe festivals across 12 years between 1988 to 2000, she curated workshops, exhibitions and performances that housed thousands of audiences in Hereford, promoting diverse and non-hierarchical approach in artmaking and environmental talks ahead of her time. She has worked and exhibited in China for seven years on and off and held her solo exhibition XYZ Gallery Beijing. In 2014 she returned to London where she has a studio in Woolwich. Caroline has exhibited in a large range of galleries including Ikon Gallery, Birmingham and XYZ Gallery Beijing.
In her large-scale canvases Caroline Hands works with vibrant colour and dynamic gesture to create joyful, exuberant paintings that celebrate life in all its diversity. Her subjects range from the abundance of nature, found in gardens and dream-like landscapes, to the resilience of the human spirit in touchingly direct portraits and expressive depictions of dancers and performers.
From childhood visits to the British Museum, Caroline developed a fascination with myths, legends and ancient civilisations which has fed her imagination ever since. Her interest in Asia led to extensive travel and extended visits to China, during which she produced a major body of paintings embracing the environments, histories and cultures she encountered there.
Caroline’s lifelong love of dance is a powerful presence as she captures dancers in action, from the bohemian clubs of 1960s London, to the stylised movements of traditional Chinese opera. Dance also informs Caroline’s approach to painting as she layers successive grounds and colour fields, using a range of strokes to build rhythms and patterns that interweave with a fluid almost impulsive energy.
As a practitioner of some 50 years, Caroline is a highly accomplished artist working at the height of her powers, yet she resists set techniques and methods and continually challenges herself. Her work retains a child-like immediacy and freshness, a sheer delight at being in and looking at the world, and a desire to share that uplifting vision with those around her.