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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:
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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
