Tallscapes and Smallscapes

We have all had to embrace a different rhythm of life over recent months. For me, this time of year is usually filled with setting up, running and then clearing up after courses.  However, since it seems unlikely that any such intimate gatherings will be possible for quite some time, I have, instead, been enjoying gardening, cooking and wild swimming. In the afternoons, I have been rummaging through the piles of scrap collage materials stored in my studio, each one triggering a memory of its creative birth.

For quite some time, most of my work has been composed in a square format. So, to ring the changes and thereby create new narratives, I have decided to work long and narrow, combining these gems of old collage scraps from days gone by. I find that no sooner have I started to ‘resolve’ one, then the germ of an idea for another comes along. It is a rolling process, which means that there is a re-birth every day.

These tall and small ‘scapes’ are unframed and organic in shape, with the edges burned, fringed or left raw to the cut. They are backed with a piece of felt, with a hanging device already sewn in. I plan to post them fastened to hardboard, to keep them flat, and wrapped in bubblewrap, to keep them safe from damage. The finished works are now for sale on my re-vamped sales page and can be seen at Tallscapes and Smallscapes. I usually sell through galleries, but because those are few and far between this season, I intend to keep this sales gallery well-stocked, with new work uploaded every week. I always have several works ‘on the boil’, so this is a challenge that I relish. And every dip of my hand into a bag or box of cloths, brings new possibilities: there is just no way that I can run out of exciting combinations!

I hope this finds you safe and well and managing to stay positive during these strange times. And I hope you will be tempted to buy something from this selection, as a treat either to yourself or for a friend. Please look at the gallery regularly to see new work. For those of you who have attended my courses in the past, you might even spot a scrap of your own fabric, that you left behind unwanted, now sewn into a corner of one of these new creations.

All the best to you from beautiful Elphin.

Jan

PS  Any new work will be added to the gallery on a Friday.

Earthworks

In the course of this year's lockdown, there have been many opportunities for little moments of observation of the landscape and the flora and fauna to be found within and outwith my garden.  Indeed, the quiet roads and the slow rhythm to each day allowed me to go deeper into my connection with the natural world.  And as the weeks turned into months, a slow-simmering plan for a new body of work emerged.  Everything comes from the earth and returns to the earth. It is the larder that provides for all living beings. And, in one form or another, eventually holds all our secrets and memories.

This is a theme that I have touched upon many a time, but now that I have spent several years developing the use of plants, minerals and found materials to make marks on cloth, I feel that I have the tools, the medium and the imagery to create some work worthy of this theme. But it will be a slow process, in thought and deed.  I imagine that I might have a collection of work - visual and written - in around two year's time, just around my sixtieth birthday.  I plan to call this collection, and the accompanying book, Earthworks.

My use of new media is more or less limited to the updating of this website.  So, I have created a website page for this new project and will occasionally post an image or piece of writing, should you be interested to look.  But most of the work will be under wraps until I feel that it is ready to share with an audience.

I am very excited to be taking on such a big theme over such a long period of time and hope that I can do the theme justice.  But, there is only one way to find out!

Jan    

21 August 2020

New Card Designs

One by-product of making the work for my new on-line textile gallery, Tallscapes and Smallscapes, is that I am able to convert close-up photographs of some of the designs into greetings cards.  These little birds make for friendly designs that should cheer up anyone who receives one!

They are available to buy through my on-line card shop, at my studio during Open Studio days and at Ceard in Ullapool.  Why not nurture a love of nature by sending someone you love one of these distinctive cards?  Visit the Card Shop to see them for yourself.

 Open Studio 2020

Jan's Studio in Elphin is open to visitors between 18th of September and 18th of October by appointment only.

To arrange a private viewing please email Jan or telephone 01854 666279 to arrange a time.

See the Open Studio page for more details.

Hearth

Mairearad Green, renowned musician, composer, artist and long-time collaborator of mine, is about to release a series of limited edition vinyl records under the collective title of Hearth. They record and celebrate Mairearad’s forebears, the women of Coigach who have walked the same land she walks today.

Most of the lyrics were written by me in collaboration with Mairearad, or by me alone, so I am particularly excited to see this project come to fruition. Of course, the music is all Mairearad’s own, as are the sumptuously expressive paintings she has created for the vinyl sleeves.

Each record is individually numbered and is accompanied by a free booklet of lyrics and images. They are available to buy individually, or as a collection. Visually, the covers are rich and highly evocative of the Coigach landscape and the sound of each recording is ethereal and many-layered. What a privilege it has been for me to be involved, in a small way, in the making of such an immersive piece of art. To find out more, or to buy, please visit the shop page of Mairearad’s website.

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