Danebury: Past and Present Footsteps Exhibition

An exhibition at Andover Museum and Museum of the Iron Age in Hampshire inspired by the beautiful and historic Danebury Hillfort, near Stockbridge in Hampshire.

I was invited by Sarah Maddison to take part in the exhibition, over the course of a few months I visited the site to photograph the landscape with specific focus on the trees. I returned and painted en plein air while also taking in the rich atmosphere of the environment. Danebury was once an Iron Age Hillfort, the site is perched high on a hill with commanding views over the Hampshire countryside. I made some loose ink drawings inspired by the light in the wooded part of the site but for my exhibition pieces I decided to make two detailed pen drawings in the style of my woodland studies series.

The exhibition ran from 9th June 2022 until 17th July 2022 and was varied, with large abstract paintings, embroidered art work, watercolour, textiles, ceramics, printmaking, jewellery and a sound installation. The artists that took part: Jo Arkell, Kate Bennett, Kenton Clarke-Williams, Emma Cooper, Joel Davies, Annette Hobbs, Claire Leach, Marta Lichocinska, Sarah Maddison, Rebecca Maynard, Teresa Munn, Keith Pattison, Rebecca Perdue, Jo Richardson, Trudy Slade and Rosie Wesley.

The exhibition was supported by Hampshire Cultural Trust, my thanks to Andover Museum, Hampshire Cultural Trust and Sarah Maddison for organising such an interesting show.

If you enjoyed reading then please click the heart at the bottom, share or better still leave me a comment, I love reading them. ❤️

Artist Interview: Sherrie-Leigh Jones

I'm a curious type; I like to know what informs an artist. Who or what do they look to for inspiration? How do they work? Each month I will be asking an artist I admire a few questions, this month is Sherrie-Leigh Jones.

Falls at Dusk, 38.5cm x 28.5cm, hand finished screenprint with graphite powder and ink

Sherrie-Leigh, your landscape, travel and nature inspired prints are enchanting. I’m curious to know how you came to print making as your primary method of art making? 

When I left art college, I actually started a degree in illustration but didn’t stay on the course that long as it wasn’t what I thought it was going to be, and I felt a bit pigeon holed working to briefs. A while after, I moved to Brighton to start a foundation degree in fine art where I experimented with different ways of working and printmaking again, particularly screenprinting as I really enjoyed the process - that’s when I really got into printmaking more and it became my chosen method of creating.

What is your favourite print making method?
Through experimenting, I naturally became drawn to screenprinting for the way in which I create my work. 

Moon Over The Plain, 38cm x 28.5cm, screenprint with graphite powder and ink

Midsummer Moon, 38cm x 28.5cm, screenprint with graphite powder and ink

I particularly love your Chinese and Japanese inspired work, what first prompted you to create a series inspired by Chinese and Japanese art forms?

You can easily get lost looking at all the different elements and tiny details in the landscapes, the different qualities of techniques with painting and printmaking from the softness of the brush strokes bringing a calmness. I think for me, they create that sense of escapism that I hope my work brings to people.

Are there other print techniques, materials or ways of working that you’d like to try? 

I’ve experimented with photo etching, mono printing, cyanotypes and other print techniques but always end up coming back to screenprint. Last year I played around more with the idea of chine collé, which I think I’ll come back to at some point and I’d also like to try risograph printing, as well as printing on wood again and perhaps also bringing an element of embossing back to some prints - I just never seem to have enough time for all my ideas!

Calm White River, 102cm x 68cm, cellulose transfer print on Japanese paper

You studied BA (Hons) Fine Art Printmaking at University of Brighton, what drew you to study at Brighton and how did the course affect your practice? 

The foundation degree was for two years, after which you could transfer to a BA to top it up. There aren’t that many specialist printmaking degrees in the UK and Brighton’s such a vibrant and diverse city by the sea, full of creativity that I loved, so I decided to stay as the University is one of the few that offers a printmaking course. As I’d already grown a love for screenprinting, I mainly stuck to that which I combined with digital print and collage. The course allowed me time to experiment even more with the possibilities of screenprint and the materials I could use. It’s also where I really developed the idea of creating imagined environments and landscapes. 

Take us through a ‘day in the life’ - what does a typical day involve? 

It depends what I have going on, no two days are generally the same, but I do try and have some sort of routine. Most days I’ll get up and workout, sort myself out and then head in the studio or to the print studio. Usually I’ll check emails first in the morning and reply to any that need a response sooner. I’ll then go to the post office or drop any prints off at the couriers. I try and do some collaging for a good few hours before I stop and do anymore admin late afternoon - emails, ordering materials and packaging, updating my website etc. and I try and remember to post on social media during the day as well. I’ll then pack any prints up before I finish for the day and try and go for a walk. If I’m at the print studio, I’ll be stripping, coating and exposing screens before sorting paper, mixing inks and printing my collages. Then I’ll come back later on and reply to emails, pack prints, arrange couriers etc. Some days and weeks are more creative than others, some just end up being more admin heavy.

Emerald Mount, 20.5cm x 25.5cm, cellulose print on Japanese paper

Emerald Mount (West), 20.5cm x 25.5cm, cellulose print on Japanese paper

What artists (living or dead) inspire you?

So many, but to name a few… Hasui Kawase and Koho Shoda, probably my favourite of the Shin-Hanga artists… Katie Paterson, James Turrell and Raqib Shaw. I also love romanticism, so people like Caspar David Friedrich and The Hudson River School artists.

Tell me about your studio or creative space.

I work between my home studio, which at the moment I share with my husband, and at North Star Printmaking studio in Brighton. l'm always gathering imagery and taking photographs on my travels, walks and when I'm just out and about if something catches my eye. I then use analogue and digital collage, which I work on in my home studio before taking them into the print studio to screenprint. It's nice to have a balance of working in my own space and then sometimes being around other printmakers in the print studio… and I also feel so lucky to have the sea on my doorstep if I get a bit of a block to go for a walk or just need a break from screens.

What aspirations do you have for your practice?

I hope to create some larger pieces again soon and I’d love to travel to do a residency at some point.

River by Dawn (after Koho Shoda), approx 34.5cm x 21.5cm, screenprint with graphite powder and ink on Japanese paper

River by Moonlight (after Koho Shoda), approx 34.5cm x 21.5cm, screenprint with graphite powder and ink on Japanese paper

I love learning random facts about people, tell me three things about yourself. 

• I love music, especially metal/hardcore but I don’t really share about it that much, as I don’t think it really goes with the calming sense of my work haha and I know it isn’t everyones cup of tea.

• I also love interior design and architecture - I have a real love for minimal, simple living and modern design..at one point I did consider doing interior design instead.

• I have a twin sister who’s also an artist as well as two other sisters.
  

Finally, where can people follow your work online?

My website www.sherrieleighjones.com where you can subscribe to my mailing list for a bit more insight to my practice, Instagram @sherrieleighjonesart and Twitter @SherrieLJones

Thank you so much to Sherrie-Leigh for giving us an insight into her wonderful printmaking processes. You can really feel Sherrie-Leigh’s passion for screen printing. Her work really speaks to me as a lover of landscape art in particular, I always feel transported back to places from my travels when I see her prints. They have an idealised and calming quality to them with a wonderfully reduced colour palette so you can focus on the details and the simple forms in nature. Sherrie-Leigh sells her prints on her website, her work has been exhibited extensively including at The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 2021.

If you enjoyed reading then please click the heart at the bottom, share or better still leave me a comment, I love reading them. ❤️

Dream Art Destinations

Me and Water Lilies by Claude Monet at Museum of Modern Art, New York in 2017

This week on Instagram, Kate Bryan the art historian and judge on Portrait Artist of the Year gave a round up of her five dream art destinations, places she would transport herself to if she could to visit notable art works. It got me thinking about where my dream art destinations would be. Where in the world would I transport myself to if money were no object, covid-19 were not in existence and I had no responsibilities at home?

1. Monet’s Water Lily triptych in MoMA, New York. The one that started it all. I’ve spoken about this painting before, many times in fact. I first saw the painting on an A-Level college trip in 2005. I was taking Ceramics and Photography AS-Levels at the time and thought I might do photography at university because although I wasn’t particularly good at photography I really enjoyed it and liked the processes involved. It was a short trip and my first time going to the United States. We crammed a lot of art in to the time, visits to multiple Chelsea galleries, the Met and Whitney. What stuck with me most and set me off on a different path was the Monet in the MoMA. I’d never seen an impressionist painting as big before. The dreamy colours, the brush strokes. It pulled me in and mesmerised me. I’ve been back to see it twice since then, each time sitting with it for ages, hypnotised. I would book a plane ticket to New York just to sit in front of it again.

2. Monet at Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris. Following on from the Monet at the MoMA, a gallery that I would love to see inside is Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris. Home to eight of Monet’s huge water lily landscape paintings, hung one after another in two oval shaped rooms so that the viewer is completely surrounded by beautiful compositions inspired by Monet’s garden in Giverny. I visited Paris on my art and design foundation year but wasn’t able to see inside l’Orangerie or Le Museé d’Orsay which is one of my regrets, within reach but just missed due to a tight schedule.

3. Tracey Emin and Egon Schiele at The Leopold, Vienna. One I’d need a time machine for would be ‘Where I Want To Go’ which took place in the summer of 2015 at The Leopold in Vienna. I’ve been extremely fortunate in that I have visited The Leopold before and I have seen Schiele’s incredible work close up. To see his intimate drawings alongside Tracey Emin’s work would be wonderful. I’ve seen Emin’s work in various places, at several Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions and at her solo show ‘The Last Great Adventure Is You’ at White Cube Gallery. Emin draws inspiration from her personal experiences, themes of love and loss. Her ways of working span painting and drawing, neon, sculpture, writing - as the saying goes ‘a jack of all trades’ - I’d go so far as saying she’s a master of them too. There are parallels in Emin and Schiele’s work which would be fascinating to witness in person.

4. Michelangelo at The Sistine Chapel, Vatican City. This one is lifted directly from Kate’s list because the more she spoke about it the more bereft I felt for not seeing it. I find it quite inconceivable that Michelangelo was able to produce such an incredible piece of work, quite frankly the scale and detail blows my mind and I haven’t even seen it in person. My art history knowledge is quite lacking really. Despite having Fine Art BA and MA degrees I have trouble retaining art history knowledge especially if it’s pre-19th century. I feel like seeing the Sistine Chapel would ignite a passion for art of the Renaissance period. Aside from seeing The Sistine Chapel I would also just love to visit Rome as I have never been and it does feel strange to have visited so many places on my travels but to have not been somewhere so culturally significant.

5. Cy Twombly at Tate Modern. Again I’d have to jump into a time machine for this one but I really wish I could have seen the Cycles and Seasons exhibition by Cy Twombly at Tate Modern in the summer of 2008. I have the catalogue which I picked up from Waterstones one day when I was fairly unfamiliar with Twombly’s work. The photographs of the expressive and scratchy paintings inside the book really spoke to me and I’ve had a passion for his work ever since. I have seen Twombly’s work in person before but I would love to see a whole collection of his work in one space so that I might be completely absorbed by it, with eyes tracing the deep lines scratched into the surface, trying to make out the writing scrawl.

So, there are five places that I would love to go to see beautiful art. Of course there are countless more museums that I’d love to revisit or see for the first time and I hope one day I will get to go. Alongside a regular ‘bucket list’ I have an art ‘bucket list’ and I feel extremely fortunate in that many places I have already been to (mostly on college and university art trips). The more art you see in person the more your life is enriched in my opinion. Where would you love to go to or revisit to see art?

If you enjoyed reading then please click the heart at the bottom, share or better still leave me a comment, I love reading them. ❤️