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Sail Away

 Over the years my work has often been inspired by the glorious seascapes surrounding Ullapool, Ardmair, Achiltibuie and the Summer Isles.  So this year I am celebrating this connection by producing a new greetings card design.  It is in a commanding A5 format and features a close-up image of a wee boat made of driftwood and a feather.  It was part of a little wooden votive cupboard that I made for a friend, a number of years ago.  The text scribbled in the background is from a George Mackay Brown poem called "A Work for Poets", and this poem is inscribed on his tombstone.  The card is available in packs of six from my on-line card shop.

 

If this image has made you come over all sentimental for the seaside, then why not come to these lovely shores and combine your visit with making your own sea-inspired work.  There are still two places left on my "A Sea of Stitches" course, which runs from 3rd to the 7th of October.

 

Jan

13th May 2022

 

Oak Tree Poem

I have spent some time over this winter making this large textile panel of an ancient oak tree, in response to a poem by Mandy Haggith.

oaks

 

eggcups propping up the pastry sky

 

now you're gone

 

there's nothing

to prevent

the clouds caving in

 

nothing to stop the fields flapping

 

This work is a bit of a departure for me, in that I used only recycled wool blankets, which had been bound up with leaves, boiled up in a huge pot over the bonfire and then overstitched.  I enhanced the dye marks on the tree surface by using a soldering iron.

This mighty oak panel stands at 1.5 metres by 1.5 metres and will be on display, along with work by other artists using a wide range of mediums, at Inverewe Gardens in the spring, and then at Dundee Botanics in the summer.  For more information, go to the Inverewe Gallery website page.

February 6th 2022

 

Earthworks Exhibition

 

Easter is now upon us and for me it signifies the beginning of Open Studio Days and a long run of courses to plan and deliver.  And so, I now have to split my time, energy and concentration between these concerns and the finishing of the many Earthworks panels that I have been working on over the winter.  Of course, I knew this time would come, so I have tried to get beyond the conceptual stage for each piece so that the finishing off, which can be quite time-consuming when it involves stitching, is more of a repetitive and soothing process, providing a balance to the busy teaching activities.  One disappointment carried over from my winter endeavours is that I did not manage to settle to working on a book of images and words to accompany this exhibition.  A book is still in my mind, but in order to do it justice, I think I will be aiming for a christmas publication rather than rushing it to be finished for August.

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 an exhibition of textile works drawn from the earth, in terms of methods, materials and imagery.  In fact, some of the cloth has even lain buried in the peat for months on end!

The show will take place at the Ceilidh Place, Ullapool, between August 19th and October 30th 2022.The larger works will be on display in the Green Room (dining room towards the rear of the cafe), whilst smaller works can be seen in the cafe and bar areas.

Jan

7th April 2022

 

Alliteration

The Covid lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 were, for me, a time of profound isolation and intense creative development. As I worked away on textile pieces on the theme of “Earthworks”, and all the connotations that word implies, I found myself drawn more and more to the incidental and repeat marks that I found in the cloth, much of which had been boiled up on the bonfire or buried in the peat. There were so many variations and rhythms of marks such as a circles and lines that I felt myself drifting away from making representational images of the natural world and drawn towards celebrating the patterns and shapes that are common to all life forms.

Some of these shapes are almost calligraphy and call to mind the ancient Celtic language of Ogham, or Nordic runic inscriptions, or the symbols that are found in pre-historic art. The term “alliteration” is often used to describe a series of words that have a similar starting sound, eg she sells sea shells, but a different ending from each other. I find great joy in the fact that, in nature, once one looks beyond the obvious repetition, there is an enormous variation in form to be found. This gallery represents my first steps in making work in this direction.

This image is of "Night Vigil I", one of the earliest examples of this work.  It is available as a greetings card and can be purchased via my on-line card shop .

 

Open Studio 2022

 

 

Jan's Studio in Elphin is open to visitors from 4th May until 12th October, most Wednesdays, between 10.00 am and 4.00 pm.

 

If travelling a distance to visit, it might be a good idea to check in advance that the studio is open and that I am not running a course that week.

 

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

 

See the Open Studio page for more details.

 

 

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