Artist Statement 2026

Debbie Ayles completed her BA Hons in Art & Design in 2002.  In 2004 she was awarded The Wellcome Trust Sciart Award and won 1st prize in the Daily Telegraph/Novartis ‘Visions of Science Award’ category ‘Art meets Science’ in 2005. She has collaborated with scientists to produce research papers on aspects of visual perception.

In 2025 Canary Wharf Public Art Collection acquired her artwork ‘Every Window Tells a Story’ for permanent display in Crossrail Place Roof Garden, London. 

Exhibiting, locally, nationally and internationally she has been selected for numerous exhibitions including RA Summer Exhibition, Sunday Times Watercolour Competition, New English Art Club, Royal Watercolour Society, Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize, Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour, ING Discerning Eye and Society of Women Artists.

She chooses an urban landscape as her primary subject matter, but her paintings are not merely representations of inert structures.  She explores the different aspects of architectural and urban planning and their relationship with those who inhabit it.  Buildings and ‘scapes are reduced to the elements that form the scene – shape, colour and patterns come together to produce a unique visual experience.  Windows, sunlight, shadows the presence of people can occur in the work amidst a wealth of painterly effects.

2025

‘Every Window Tells a Story’ artwork acquired by Canary Wharf Public Art Collection

River Stories, The Granary, Flatford Mill, Suffolk

Our Family and Other Artists, The Minories Galleries, Essex

2024       

The Society of Women Artists , Mall Galleries, London

Metamorphic Architecture, Oasis, Frinton-on-Sea, Essex (solo)

2023

Colchester Art Society Winter Exhibition, The Minories Galleries, Colchester, Essex

Artists of Today & Tomorrow, Geedon Gallery, Fingringhoe,Essex

Pet Shop, Oasis, Frinton-on Sea, Essex

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition

Track Markers, Contemporary Sculpture at Fingringhoe, Fingringhoe Wick Nature Discovery Park, Essex

Colchester Art Society Spring Exhibition

2022

Christmas Present, Artspace, Woodbridge, Suffolk

Landscape & Suburbia, The Sentinel Gallery, Wivenhoe, Essex

Sculpture At Doddington Hall, Lincoln

Sculpture in the Walled Garden, Markshall Estate, Essex

Royal Watercolour Society Open 2022, Bankside Gallery, London

2021

Urban & Suburban, The Sentinel Gallery, Wivenhoe, Essex

2020

ING Discerning Eye 2020

Borders, Firstsite, Essex

Aldeburgh Contemporary Arts, Suffolk

2019

Marks Hall Sculpture 2019, Essex

Chroma City, The Gallery, Parndon Mill, Essex

Summer Exhibition, The Minories Galleries, Essex

2018

Installation of 3 aluminium panels at Colchester Railway Station (Solo)

Architectural Reflections, Westminster Reference Library, London (Solo)

Dynamic City: Reflections in Canary Wharf, presented by Canary Wharf Group as part of London Festival of Architecture 2018, Crossrail Place Roof Gardens, Canary Wharf, London (Solo)

Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours 206th Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London

Sunday Times Watercolour Competition, Guildford House Gallery, Surrey

2017

Sunday Times Watercolour Competition, Trowbridge Arts, Wiltshire

Sunday Times Watercolour Competition, Mall Galleries, London

Contemporary Masters from the East of England, The Cut, Suffolk

Reading Contemporary Art Fair

Seen in Wivenhoe, The Sentinel Gallery, Essex

2016

Watercolour Now, The Sentinel Gallery, Essex

PING, The Minories Galleries, Essex

Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, Mall Galleries, London

The Paint Collective Exhibition, Boat House Gallery, Suffolk

The Sentinel SELECT, The Sentinel Gallery, Essex

2015

Firstsite, Essex

Harwich Festival of Art

Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours Open Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London

2014

Eastern Open, King's Lynn Art Centre, Norfolk

Harwich Festival of Arts, Essex

Royal Institute of Painters In Water Colour Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London

Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize, Mall Galleries, London

Royal Watercolour Society Contemporary Watercolour Exhibition, Bankside Gallery, London

2013

East Contemporary Art: A Collection of 21st Century Practice, Waterfront Gallery, Suffolk

FANN13, Festival of Art and Architecture, Norfolk

Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours Open Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London

Royal Watercolour Society Contemporary Watercolour Exhibition, Bankside Gallery, London

2012

Norwich Castle Open Art Show, Norfolk

Highgate Gallery, Highgate, London

Mandells Gallery, Norwich, Norfolk

Visions of East Anglia, The Minories Galleries, Essex

Eastern Open, King's Lynn Art Centre, Norfolk

Royal Watercolour Society Contemporary Watercolour Exhibition, Bankside Gallery, London

AWARDS

2021   ‘Me and My Brain’ Art Competition Runner-Up, European Federation of Neurological Associations

2012   Creffield Medical Centre Art Competition: Prize winner

2010   Cuckoo Farm Residency, 6 week residency at Cuckoo Farm Studios, Colchester, Essex

2005   1st prize in the ‘Art meets Science’ award, Daily Telegraph/Novartis, ‘Vision of Science’ Photographic Award

2004   Granted ‘sciart Research and Development’ award by The Wellcome Trust to investigate ‘Aversion to Contemporary Art’, in collaboration with Professor Arnold Wilkins, Director of Visual Perception Unit, University of Essex