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Born in the North in 1961. As boy he ran, watched birds, played in a punk band and wandered the suburbs looking for trees and streams.
Following a degree in Geography and a period as a school teacher Simon trained as a dancer at the Laban Centre London. He began to make work in 1992 under the live art umbrella of the working party in London. He received a number of commissions for peripatetic works performed in public spaces and buildings around the city .The collaborative multimedia works the assignment series were commissioned by and performed at the Serpentine gallery, the ICA and Chisenhale Dance Space.
He moved back to Wales in 1994, developing the performance work bodies of land with dancer Scott deLahunta in the Preseli hills and a solo work shed (from walking). These works were the beginnings of a practice profoundly shaped by living in the landscapes of rural Wales.
In 1995 he began a creative partnership with Barnaby Oliver, which continues to develop remotely between Wales and Melbourne, Australia.
An important strand of his performance practice has been the locator series; an ongoing body of research, artist residencies and events concerned with developing an approach to deep ecology through movement practice. So far, twelve forums have taken place; in rural residencies in Wales, and workshops in London, Nottingham, Singapore and Lancaster. The most recent, out of the woods (2003) took place in a fragile oak woodland in West Wales, this project also had a mediated public presence through the web and post (www.beherenow.org.uk/locator) and has resulted in a publication supported by Dance4 and the NOW festival. Contact Simon for copies.
In 1999 he was a recipient of the Bonnie Bird Award for Choreography from the Laban Centre for Movement and Dance, given to develop his movement research.
An important strand of his performance practice has been the locator series; an ongoing body of research, artist residencies and events concerned with developing an approach to deep ecology through movement practice. So far, 15 forums have taken place; mainly through rural residencies in Wales, but also workshops in London, Nottingham, Singapore and Lancaster and most recently in Northumberland, Conwy North Wales and Findhorn, Scotland. The locator project out of the woods (2003) took place in Tycanol in West Wales, this project had a mediated public presence through the web and post (www.beherenow.org.uk/locator) and has resulted in a publication supported by Dance4 and the NOW festival
In 2001 he co-founded ointment, a forum for performance and time-based work in response to rural and environmental change in west Wales. He hosted an artists Expedition project (Crwydro / Wander) in conjunction with ointment and Boreal (Quebec) artists in 2003 in west Wales and in February 2005 ointment visited the Quebec winter to continue this artist exchange as part of the project Marcheurs des Bois (see site).
In November 2004 he was invited artist on the itinerant research project ‘Rupture and Residue’, organised by performance company Bonemap. The project was a 2000 mile car and walking journey along the Queensland coast Australia, making interventions and presentations along the route.
Recently Simon has completed 2 projects funded by a Creative Wales Award from the Arts Council of Wales. A book Walking to Work, documenting his practice over the last 10 years and Walks to Illuminate, a series of nocturnal walks and events made in residence at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (2004-2006).
In 2006 he collaborated with Artist Stefhan Caddick on WALKING WALL. Responding to the relative invisibility of the border between Wales and England, both on the ground and in contemporary mapping, the artists created a 'mobile barrier' in order to explore the ways in which borders physically manifest. (www.borderingart.org.uk).
Commissioned by MADE and ISIS (the urban developers) in May 2007 he published the walking guide LOST IN LADYWOOD as part of Revealing the Loop, an urban neighborhood redevelopment project in Birmingham, UK.
Simon has just returned from the Anti Festival in Kuopio, Finland where he made the day- long performance BURN in collaboration with members of the public on Vasikkasaari Island.