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"Merged
Clones" digital image
by Jean Walcot
Artists
Statement:
"My works
are of images created originally from the body seen with an
eye to the abstract. I am firstly an abstract painter but
the distortion of those images that stimulate me is what attracts
my attention. It has always been my desire to instil truth
in my paintings but rarely do I reproduce reality as I feel
that the camera can do this much better.
My chief interests have always been vibrant and dissonant
colours, mark making and form. Content also plays its part
and this is where drawing and photography provide the stimulus.
For the past three years the digital camera and the following
quotation have changed the direction of my work."
Jean
Walcott (December
2001)
"A
radical is a man with both feet firmly planted in the air."
President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1888-1945)
Broadcast address to Forum on Current Problems
(26th Oct. 1939)
A developmental
body of work related to the body
and particularly the foot. Paintings vary in size from
approximately 2ft high x 1ft wide to 8ft high x 6ft wide.
"Roma"
1997
by Jean Walcot
"I
have been painting for more than thirty-five years, but domestic
responsibilities (i.e. three children and an infirm mother-in-law)
restricted my opportunities and activities initially. I was
able, however, to attend courses at the University of Cardiff
in the then Extra-Mural Department, and, on a regular basis,
the Summer School held in Barry, where I specialised in watercolours
and metallic scuplture. I graduated in the middle eighties
with an honours degree from the Open University, where I focused
mainly upon Art History. I continued with my Extra-Mural work
passing, for examople, the Diploma in French course.
More
recently it has been possible for me to devote myself full-time
to the fine arts, and so I took and passed with distinction
in 1996 the Foundation Year at UWIC (University of Wales Institute,
Cardiff). In many ways 1996 saw the fulfilment of much I had
undertaken in previous years: one of my landscapes was chosen
to appear as an illustration in the UWIC prospectus for the
Foundation Course and I held my first One-person exhibition
at the Woodstock Gallery in Penarth and sold my first picture.
One of my paintings appears on as an illustration in the brochure
'Arts from Wales' issued jointly by the Arts Council of Wales
and the British Council.
1997
was the year that I deceided to take advantage of the opportunity
of taking part in the ISEP Exchange for students and to study
in the USA. I went to Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana
from January to May 1998. Whilst there I took courses in four
disciplines, painting, photography, printmaking and anthropology.
Three of these courses were strong disciplines in that they
were studio courses. It seemed that I only left the building
to return to my apartment to sleep. Despite this I enjoyed
the experience enormously.
Abstraction
has always been my main interest and my inspiration has been
fired by landscape, and nature and natural formation. It is
the elements of nature, its force and the energy it engenders,
which has captured my imagination.
Colour
and the mark are crucial to my work. This interest has directly
resulted in my obsessions: I take great pleasure in distorting
the image in various ways and because of this I have spent
many hours on the beaches and in the docks drawing, collecting,
and photographing waste materials for my paintings. In London
and abroad people are seen ogling at my antics when drawing
and photographing reflections in church windows and waterways.
The scale of my work is basically very large and the smallest
things then become monumental. The photographic image is another
obsession of mine and now that I possess a digital camera,
the logical development has been the distorted image through
the computer.
"Ouch!"
by Jean Walcot. 1998 4ft x 6ft oil & wax on canvas.
Price £1,200
From 1996 to 1999 I took a second
degree, this time in the Fine Arts Faculty of the University
of Wales Institute, graduating with an upper second in 1999."
Untitled
by
Jean Walcot
"Cramped"
by Jean Walcot 1998 8ftx6ft oil on canvas. Price £1,200
You
can contact the artist directly by sending an E-mail to: jean@walcot.co.uk
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"Body
and Sole" An Exhibiton by Jean Walcot
Jean Walcot
is the former secretary of the
WELSH GROUP.
Art is an obsession for her. For the last six years Jean
Walcot has balanced her family life with the busy schedule
of searching out venues for exhibitions for the Welsh Group
and herself, whilst also studying for a second B.A. degree.
"In
Repose" 1998 8ftx6ft oil & wax on canvas Price £2,000
ABOUT 'BODY
& SOLE'
"Distortion has
always held a fascination for me and most of my work originates
from drawings but with the advent of the digital camera
these drawings have had to compete with distortion through
the use of a computer. These distotions have added a new
dimension to my way of thinking and presenting my work.
"Colour always
predominates. At times the colours are quite tonal and on
other occasions I yeard for clean, clear surfaces, somewhat
minimal in appearance. Where the foot is concerned, I demand
a presence. So many artists are afraid of the foot and the
hands. I thrust the foot in the viewers' faces. They are
grossly oversized but sensitively painted."
Jean Walcot
CURRICULUM
VITAE:
1996 -
Elected a member of The Welsh Group. Later became
secretary with responsibility for organising exhibitions
in the Principality, Glasgow and the Parliament Building,
Strasbourg.
1997 - Touring Exhibitions arranged at the Brecknock
Museum, Brecon.
1998 - Moved Exhibition to St.David's Hall, Cardiff.
1998 - Art Bizarre Bazaar (Ball State University,
Indiana) Over 200 entrants and submissions for staff and
students.
1999 - One-person show - Llanover Hall, Cardiff.
1999 - B.A. (2:1) Fine Arts, UWIC, Cardiff.
1999 - Elected Vice-Chair, Permanent Waves,
Cardiff.
2000 (May) - Received grant towards attending a study
programme at Vermont Arts Centre, USA (1 month).
2001- Elected Vice-Chair, The Welsh Group.
2001 - Feature Artist of the Month
on website www.artcymru.co.uk. Reviewed
in Art Review, October issue.
2001 - Exhibiting
with The Welsh Group in their Annual Show. Theatr Clwyd,
Mold, Flintshire.
2001 - Touring Exhibition of The Welsh Group. Dec' starting
"Looking Out" commincing at the
John Frost Gallery, Newport Museum.
One-person
Shows
1999 - January - One-person show American
Experience at Llanover Hall, Cardiff.
1997 - May to Dec - One-person show Woodstock
Gallery, Penarth.
Undergraduate Shows
1999 - May - Degree Show Cardiff
College of Art.
1997 - Nov - Drawing Exhibition, Cardiff College
of Art, Student Show.
Group Shows
2001 Touring Exhibition of the Welsh Group
'Looking Out'
Dec - John Frost Gallery, Newport Museum, South Wales.
2000 - July Knighton Art Festival.
May - Granted residency Vermont Studio Centre, Johnson,
Vermont, USA.
March - Permanent Waves, Cardiff.
1999-2000 Tour Contemporary 50th Anniversary Exhibition
of the Welsh Group.
2000 - Oct - Denbigh, North Wales.
Jan - Tig Fili Gallery, Cork, Eire.
1999 - Dec - St. John's Art Centre, Listowel,
Eire.
Oct - Bank of Ireland Arts Centre, Dublin, Ireland.
June - Oriel Plas Glyn-y-Weddw.
May - National Museum of Wales, Cardiff.
Annual Group Shows with the Welsh Group.
1998 - April - St.David's Hall, Cardiff.
1997-8 - Dec - Brecknock Museum, Brecon.
1998 Exhibitions
while in Indiana, USA.
April - Fine Arts League Ball State Theatre, Muncie,
Indiana;
Student Show, Muncie.
Art Bizarre Bazaar, Muncie - Two Major works exhibited.
Fine Arts League Exhibition at International House, Muncie.
March - Selected by female faculty members at Muncie
to exhibit during Women's Week.
Fine Arts League - Emens Hall, Muncie.
January - Selected for inclusion in the Postcard
Exchange, Muncie/Brazil.
Motivation
& Interest: "Art and my family are crucially important
to me. Art is an obsession whether viewing other's work
or painting canvasses. For six years I have worked to find
venues for exhibitions for the Welsh Group, studying for
a second B.A. degree in Fine Art and working through ideas.
For instance, although an abstract painter, the body, whether
drawn or photographed, inspires my work through distortion
using camera and computer.
The foot, a relatively
small appendage of the body, and often ignored is thrust
in the viewer's face and grossly oversized and distorted.
Clean colours and form are essential.
My aim is to promote art in Wales and my dream is to see
a gallery for Contemporary Art in Wales which also houses
my paintings."
Material
Available for exhibition:
Forthcoming
Exhibitions:
Welsh
Group Tour - Commencing Newport Museum in Dec' 2001;
*Brecon Museum 2002 & Tenby Museum 2003.
2003 - Autumn. One person show "Body and
Sole," running concurrently in Brecknock Museum,
Brecon and Theatr Brycheiniog, Brecon, Wales.
2002 - June-July. Exhibiting with the Welsh Group in
their Annual Show running concurrently in Brecknock Museum
and the Theatr Brycheiniog, Brecon.
2002 - April. Continuing tour "Looking Out"
at the Turner House Gallery, National Museum and galleries
of Wales, Cardiff, South Wales.
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JEAN WALCOT
