As Oxfordshire Artweeks virtual festival heads to the coast this bank holiday Monday, giving visitors the chance to dip their toes in an on-line sea, Esther Lafferty talks to artist Jane Strother (www.artweeks.org/galleries/2020/jane-strother-oas) about the latest paintings in her ‘Fragile Habitats’ series which focus on the Atlantic Coast on the West coast of Ireland, a little piece of Mayo eroding faster than expected. “We arrived towards the tail end of Hurricane Dorian last year with nothing between us and the devastated Bahamas,” she explains. “Poking about on an exposed, rocky beach we had time to delight in the extraordinary colour of the rock pools and came back the following day with sketchbooks, only to find that the wind had strengthened overnight and the outgoing tide had whipped away anything that wasn’t fixed. My paintings, drawings and prints record the rather elusive sea creatures and correspondingly abundant sea weed species. They are informed by quick sketchbook drawings made at the time and many photographs, recording the look, feel and energy at the edge of these waters.” Jane’s work captures the depth of the pools, the wateriness, the fluidity, the quality of the vegetation, an underlying story told through in careful composition, colour and mark-making.
Above is a video for Jane Strother’s virtual exhibition For another view of the sea, click here: https://www.oxmag.co.uk/articles/claire-christie-sadler/
For more, visit: https://www.artweeks.org/festival/theme/trip-coast
