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2021 Courses Continue!

It was a ragged start to the re-opening of society this spring, which meant that I had to cancel the first few scheduled courses of 2021. However, I did succeed in running five courses this spring and, even if I felt a bit out of practise, I think everyone enjoyed themselves and appreciated being able to meet in a group after all this time.

Some basic safety measures have been devised (See Covid Safety Guide) to help us move safely towards normal social mixing, including my fabulous tea tent, where we will take all our refreshments, allowing for the studio to get a regular airing. Groups numbers are smaller for the  courses of this year, thanks to inevitable cancellations, so that will also take the pressure off us as we adapt to the new arrangements. Small is beautiful.

Good weather and a surprising lack of midges has meant that it has been a pleasure to spend most of the course time out of doors.  Let us hope that such wonderful conditions continue into the autumn run of courses. 

If this has whetted your appetite for some group therapy, then have a look at next year's calendar of courses and come along and join us!

Jan

Open Studio 2021

It is with great pleasure that I am opening the studio up to visitors this year. Sanitizer and face masks aside, it should feel almost normal, having people around to talk about my work and about life in this part of the Highlands. I am always impressed by how far folk travel to visit this area of Scotland and how far, on occasion, they travel to visit me in particular!

Jan's Studio in Elphin is open to visitors from 30th June until 31st October on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays 10am - 4.pm, whenever government Covid guidelines permit.

If travelling a distance to visit, it might be a good idea to check in advance that the studio is open.

Private viewings are available at other times all through the year. Please email Jan or telephone 01854 666279 to arrange a time.

See the Open Studio page for more details.

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.

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 limited to Instagram and 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

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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