Abstract painter and teacher, born in Sunderland. She studied at Sunderland Polytechnic and Syracuse University in America. Her awards included the Backhouse Drawing Prize, Syracuse University Scholarship and a Northern Arts Major Bursary and a Travel Award. Close was artist-in-residence with Northumbria Police, 1984–5. She taught in Britain and America, including Newcastle and Sunderland Polytechnics. Group appearances included New Contemporaries, at ICA, 1980; Spacex Gallery, Exeter, 1983; and the Newcastle Group show The Northern Lights, at DLI Museum & Arts Centre and tour, 1990. Later solo exhibitions included Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, 1988. Contemporary Art Society holds her work. Lived in Newcastle.