Jacqueline Glanvile , ECLECTIC COLLECTION
3rd April to 27th April 2011
I enjoy portraying my Caribbean and English backgrounds and find inspiration from the countryside, seascape, flora and everyday activities. I find the challenge of working on and interpreting different subjects, through a twist of abstraction and realism, satisfying.
I spent my childhood immersed in Jamaica’s uniquely sensual blend of sights and sounds. That tropical vibrancy, as expressed through art, song and dance, not to mention the lush natural environment of Jamaica, has stayed with me since those early years, and is readily seen in the bright colours, sense of movement and swirling figures which characterise my work.
The creative process is a highly intimate and personal experience. My work is perhaps best seen as a dialogue between my own experiences and memories, and objective reality. Dramatic and daring, it is poised between abstraction and a more orthodox sense of representation.
A key part of that process is exaggeration. My art is based on a heightened reality, which invites the viewer to engage in a process of interpretation and active participation in creating meaning. I also want the viewer to visualise the physical process and the medium involved, to see close-up the end of that brushstroke and the movement of the palette knife that lend my work its own spontaneity.
I work primarily in oil and acrylic, and also in watercolour, ink and bleach. I particularly love the texture, feel and character of oil and acrylic on canvas, which help to keep the work loosely painted. As such, the end result may be far removed from what I envisaged at the start of the process, adding to the joie de vivre that is present in all of my work.
My Caribbean upbringing is perhaps best seen in my tropical floral paintings. Anthuriums and bird of paradise were abundant in the garden of my family home in Jamaica and I use the flora of the island as a source of inspiration; flowers, in particular, bring us back to nature, give us a comforting sense of place and time, and can help to establish an idea of certainty and equilibrium. For similar reasons, I enjoy depicting the English countryside, and my work investigates the diversity of these two, very different, settings.
My work is, in many ways, autobiographical, and one of my intentions is to convey powerful and fresh emotions from my subject matter to the viewer. By working on several canvasses at once, I am able to achieve my aim, as all of my works are in a constant state of development.
My work is often the result of a process of experimentation and exploration. Often I will respond to the painting as much as the work itself responds to me; I enjoy the challenge of answering the needs of the work and forming solutions to the technical and interpretative issues that it raises. I work with layers of colour, washed or scumbled over a textured surface. Lines are straight, curved or gestural; surfaces are wiped, dripped and spattered. And so the work becomes an accumulation of techniques with a contemporary feel, something with gives me huge satisfaction.
My art is self-consciously flamboyant, since I see art in my daily surroundings; in particular, colour is something that speaks to me, and my work is therefore a satisfying vehicle for communication and self-expression.
I started painting in 2003, and I have displayed my work in group exhibitions at the Mick Jagger Centre and St Julian’s Club. I have also shown my work in solo exhibitions at The Ripley Art Centre in Bromley, The Tabernacle Art Gallery in Notting Hill and on a regular basis in Farnborough, Kent. My paintings and articles appear regularly in local magazines, and my work has been bought by collectors around the world.
As well as spending pleasurable hours painting in my garden studio, I was a trained nurse and lectured in anatomy and physiology. I previously ran my own beauty and holistic therapy business. I have worked in the fashion industry and have designed and made evening dresses as well as being involved in interior design. I am an active member of my church, where I host events for other parishioners and I have been chair of the social committee. Family and friends are very important to me; I help to run the family financial planning business and, most of all, I adore spending quality time with my husband and children.