In November 2007 Stefanie Reichelt started ArtCell Gallery which is located in the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute (CRUK CRI), in the heart of the scientific community of Cambridge. The institute carries out world-class research to improve our understanding of cancer and find out how to prevent, diagnose and treat different kinds of cancer. The exhibitions at ArtCell aim to bring art into the institute for Stefanie's colleagues, patients at Addenbrookes Hospital as well as the general public.

I was born in Malta and spent my early childhood travelling to and from Malta and all over the UK. Finally, my family settled in Cornwall. I was lucky to grow up in Prussia Cove – a place of such wild beauty that it has continued to influence my work as a painter to this day, I attended Exeter College of Art and Design from 1979-81 where I achieved a degree in fine art and have been painting consistently ever since. I have lived and travelled throughout Europe; most extensively in Spain, which is where my ancestors come from. For most of the past 20 years I have lived in Cambridge and have had many local exhibitions and I have also exhibited in London, Spain and Scandinavia.

My passion has always been making marks and putting colours on a surface. For as long as I can remember this has been my way of understanding and celebrating life's experiences. The process is both passionate and meditative and involves sometimes vehemently tearing away, sometimes building and pasting – a slow build of layer upon layer. It also involves long periods of quiet contemplation, whilst waiting and watching till the right visual decision comes. I structure the picture, often working with straight edges and rectangles echoing the outside edges of the canvas. What interests me are the contrasts and contradictions between illusory space verses surface and texture. I find a constant source of inspiration in both the details of the world around me, for example the rhythm and patterns of raindrops in a puddle and the much larger view such as distant hills or mist on a mountain top. And then what really excites me is that point at which the painting takes on a life of its own and begins to flow of its own accord. Sometimes, whole areas of deliberate pouring spill into more defined areas – a new texture or colour makes its presence known

More information on Gail de Cordova's site.