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Early Bird News

 

This little bird is more than a bit early for spring but, like me, is scratching around, looking for the signs anyway.

I’ve been having a bit of a ‘sort’ in my studio and have found quite a few small pieces of work to put up for sale on my website. To have a look, go to the Smallscapes Gallery. And I have made a start on a large panel in response to a poem called “Oaks”, by Mandy Haggith, taken from her collection “A B Tree”. This textile panel will join work by artists working in a wide range of mediums, all of whom have made work in response to Mandy’s tree poems. These visual works will sit alongside Mandy’s words to form an exhibition at Inverewe Gardens in late spring 2022. This will then go on to be shown at Dundee Botanics in the summer.

Other than that, I’ve been working on “Earthworks”, a series of small and large mixed media works, which are to be exhibited at the Ceilidh Place, Ullapool, in the autumn. I hope to produce a book of images and words to accompany the work, but this is still in its early stages. It used to be that I wrote the words before I made the images, but it seems the other way around just now. So, I’m learning a lot about myself through the creative process and, such is the shift, I have a feeling that my work may well move into another medium altogether after this project. And I didn’t even know that was how I felt until just now, when I wrote down those words. Wow!

I am not running so many courses in 2022, but there are still a few places available. If you are interested, have a look at the Course Calendar for this year. In particular, I am looking forward to running a new book-making course alongside Jan Breckenridge, to be called “Undercover Books”.

Well, that is all I have to say at the beginning of this new year, except lang may yer lum reek!

Jan

7th January 2022

Unearthing the Work

 

My long-term project – to produce a body of work on the theme of the earth – has been on hold since the spring, because the last few months have been all about teaching and re-connecting with friends and former students. Meeting up with my family was also put on hold but, now that I am no longer tied to the studio, I can get down south and visit them too.

Meanwhile, I am pulling out of storage all the part-developed cloth that I have been amassing and looking for a direction for each piece. My last teaching group was small, so I have already made a wee bit of a start by stitching alongside them and last week I actually completed my first piece for exhibition. This image is a detail from “The Midas Sun”.

And so “Earthworks” is now top of my creative agenda once again. I look forward, as autumn takes hold, of finding a way to realise my yearning to make this work. I have less than a year in which to do it. I know that sounds a lot, but life does get in the way and I think I will be very pleased if I can make this deadline. Here we go …

 

Jan

 

Open Studio 2022

 

 

Jan's Studio in Elphin is open to visitors from 13th April 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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