Bio
Born in Co. Tyrone, studied and worked in England from 1979-2017, Janet now lives in Northwest Connemara. Her work is inspired by the rugged, mountainous west of Ireland landscape. As well being drawn to its visual and physical properties, she has a strong emotional pull to this landscape - its wild openness, imposing mountain landscape, bogland, rocky shorelines along with the traces of human history and settlement.
Since returning to live in Ireland, she has exhibited regularly in various venues across Ireland, and completed several artist residencies at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Co. Monaghan, Cill Rialaig, Co Kerry and Lodestar residency in France.
Statement
My work explores the highly sculptural forms of the Connemara landscape, both natural and man-made. I like working with those structural elements, and conveying my experience of the landscape: awe, solitude, sadness and loss. The traces and impact of famine and emigration are still present.
The landscape is a palimpsest of natural and human history. I build and erase layers of charcoal/graphite, distilling the essence of what I see. Carving is akin to archaeology, removing material to define the final forms. Working with clay feels more geological, accruing material, and carving into it, creating new structures and forms – as glaciers scoured and shaped the landscape.
MA 20th Century Art and Design History - Winchester School of Art - 1993
BA Hons Fine Art (sculpture) 2:1- -Loughborough College of Art & Design - 1982
Foundation Diploma in Art & Design - Ulster Polytechnic - 1979
Selected Solo Exhibitions
Sep 2024 - Home Turf, Clifden Arts Festival, Galway – invited artist
March-April 2023 - Between the Sea and the Sky, Birr Theatre and Arts Centre
April 2021 - Solo exhibition, Hambly & Hambly online
Forthcoming Group Exhibitions
April 2025 - Scratching the Surface, Two person exhibition with Isabelle Gaborit at the Courthouse for Arts, Tinahley, Co Wicklow
Selected Group Exhibitions
July 2024 - Cairde Visual, Hamilton Gallery, Sligo
June 2024 - Endless Horizons, Oughterard Courthouse, Galway
June 2024 - ArtsFest, Belfast
Mar-Jun 2024 - Spring Exhibition, Athena Gallery, Longford
January 2024 - Rural Irish Artists, National Museum of Country Life, Castlebar
November 2023 - Winter Exhibition, Echo Echo Dance Theatre, Derry
July 2023 - Cairde Visual, Hamilton Gallery. Sligo
July 2023 - Terra Firma, Oughterard Courthouse
November 2022 - Echo, Echo Echo Dance Theatre, Derry
October 2022 - The Other Way, Westival Arts Festival, Westport
September 2022 - Between a rock and a hard place, with Isabelle Gaborit at the Connemara National Park
September 2022 - Traces, with Isabelle Gaborit at Clifden Arts Festival
June 2022 - Rural Irish Artists, Ballyhaunis Festival
February 2022 - Art in your Pocket, Ardhowen Theatre, Enniskillen
Oct-Nov 2021 - Yield, Westival Arts Festival, Westport
Aug-Oct 2020 - Artists Unlocked/Imagine Together, Hambly & Hambly, Enniskillen
August 2020 - Celebrating 40 years of Connemara National Park, Connemara National Park
December 2019 - Inishlacken Project, Pollen Studios and Gallery, Belfast
November 2019 - Landscape Twenty20, Clifden, Galway 2020