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Janet French
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| Artist/Printmaker |
| Artist's
Statement |
My work explores the fragile symbiotic relationship between man and the natural environment. I aim to create work that implies a sense of being part of, and not ownership over, the land. Themes of humanity’s fascination with manipulating nature, and the meditative state created by the wonder of nature’s power and beauty, inform my work.
Relying on the available resources of my local environment I work in tune with the seasons to create work that is testimony to my interaction with materials, conditions, seasons, weather. The activity of harvesting and preparing the material is a contemplative and labour intensive process and this engagement is central to my interaction with the environment. I aim to integrate nature and culture through drawing and printmaking processes.
For my recent work I have chosen to explore the relationship of the urban landscape to the underlying earth through a series of reduction woodblock prints on to beech leaves. I collected the leaves in a rural location and transformed them into paper before imposing the woodcut image. The images are drawn from the new perspective we are given of urban areas through satellite imagery where areas of land visible that are not covered by buildings and tarmac are covered by plant life. The shiny artificial colours aim to reflect the random and harsh nature of urban colour against the more restrained colour and texture of the organic. I hope to convey a sense of the fragility of the natural landscape suppressed beneath the urban landscape.
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| Biography |
Janet French gained a BA (Hons) Art & Design – Fine Art at Colchester School of Art & Design in 2006. She is a member of Gainsborough’s House Print Workshop and also of Nine Artists, a collaborative group of London and East Anglian artists whose exhibition ‘Down to Earth’ is currently touring in London and East Anglia. Originally from London, Janet has lived in Essex for twenty five years. Her work stems from her passion for gardening and wildlife.
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| Recent Exhibitions |
2006
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06 Degree Show, Colchester School Art & Design, Colchester
‘Fuse’, Free Range Festival, Dray Walk Gallery, London
‘Individual Perspectives in Drawing Practice’, Hay Gallery, Colchester
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2007
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Artist in Residence, Fingringhoe Nature Reserve, Fingringhoe, Essex
‘Down to Earth’, Nine Artists, Oh Art, Oxford House, Bethnal Green, London
Gainsborough’s House Print Fair, Pond Gallery, Snape, Suffolk
Photographic exhibition of work produced during residency and workshops - Fingringhoe Nature Reserve, Essex
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| Exhibitions in 2008 |
‘Down to Earth’, Nine Artists, Hay Gallery, Colchester
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| Contact Details |
Hodgkyns
Brook Road
Aldham
Essex
CO6 3RW
Tel: 01206 213991
Email: frenchpack@aol.com
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Colchester Institute,
Reduction woodcut on beech leaves, 55x56 cm
Bethnal Green,
Reduction woodcut on beech leaves, 55x56 cm
Townscape III,
Reduction woodcut on beech leaves, 53x51 cm
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