My art practice predominantly considers our contingent dynamic with the more-than-human-world, often probing the space between the lived and the mediated experience. Adopting variant, layered, and sometimes collaborative modes of enquiry, I attempt to produce nuanced responses to generate dialogue around and fresh insight into this relationship, not least to help me find my own place in this world.
While always rooted in sculpture, outputs are diverse and often playful, sometimes resolved through working across and fusing plastic, time based or relational art forms.
Enduring interests include the influence of language on our embodied knowing of the world, and the agency of non-human creatures & matter.
5 years ago my life changed, when, following a marriage break up, I found myself responsible for a small livestock farm in Cornwall. There are now no livestock, though a lot of wildlife, and I am doing my best to look after the land, based on permaculture principles. My art practice changed too, and is, I hope, more integrated in everyday life.
However, at the start of 2023, I have returned to observational drawing, but have no plans as yet to exhibit these.
Recently I was invited to become a trustee for Gwithian Chapel charity. A thatched methodist chapel, in my local village, it is now being run as a multi-use community space, and i am very much looking forward to being part of this new chapter of the chapel's life.
Solo exhibitions
2012 - Holding Movements III: imagining the farm. Helston Folk Museum, Cornwall.
2012 - Holding Movements II: archiving the farm. Cornish Studies Centre, Redruth. Cornwall
2011 - Holding Movements: describing the farm. Helston Museum Cornwall
2010 - Farland. Left Bank Gallery, Tarland, Aberdeenshire
2007 - Grounded.The Front Room, Salt Gallery, Hayle, Cornwall
2004 - And now for something completely different. Gallery Heinzel, Aberdeen
2000 - Candacraig Garden. Aberdeenshire
1999 - Stone. Pheonix Gallery. Aboyne, Aberdeenshire.
Selected Group exhibitions
2021 - present. Work installed in Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, Cornwall.
2021 - Past, Present, Future, 125 years of NSA. The Gallery, Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, Cornwall.
2020 - Edge of Dark. NSA . The Gallery, Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, Cornwall.
2019 - Ex Libris. NSA. The Gallery Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, Cornwall.
2018 - The Drawing Show. NSA. The Gallery Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, Cornwall.
2017 - Borders: NSA group show. The Gallery Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens. Cornwall.
2016 - Picture This. Penwith Galllery, St Ives, Cornwall.
2016 - On St. Michael's Way. 12 Star Gallery London & Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, Cornwall
2016 - Atelier und Galerienrundgang. Künstlerlnnenhaus Apostelhof, Vienna
2016 - Diskhuda. Truro, Cornwall.
2016 - Lost for Words. Falmouth University Project Space, Cornwall
2015 - A Game of Consequences. Exchange Gallery, Penzance, Cornwall
2015 - Cinestar Artist's Film Programme. Cornwall Film Festival
2014 - INNterval. Halsetown Inn, St Ives, Cornwall
2013 - The Dark Rooms. The Cast Institute. Helston, Cornwall
2013 - Art for Amnesty. The Fish Factory, Falmouth, Cornwall
2013 - We Are Petrified. Helston Folk Museum, Cornwall
2013 - AIR PRESSURE. Academy of Research and Innovation, Falmouth University.
2012 - New Visions. CMR, Redruth, Cornwall.
2012 - Xmas Albums. Woodend Barn, Banchory Scotland
2011 - Abundance. Kestle Barton Arts Centre, Cornwall.
2011 - Calendar Variations. The Woodend Barn. Banchory, Scotland (with On the Edge, RGU)
2011 - Aberdeen Artists Annual Exhibition.
2010 - Unexpected Variations. Orpheus Institute. Ghent. Belgium
2010 - ArdoTreasure 2010. Ardo House, Aberdeenshire
2010 - ART75 Penzance Cornwall
2009 - Travelling Alone. Waterside Contemporary, London
2006 - Normalife Unlimited. Neals Yard, London
2005 - Aberdeen Artists Society Annual Exhibition
2005 - Society of Scottish Artists Annual Exhibition. RSA, Edinburgh
2005 - Talking Handbags. Aberdeen Arts Centre
2004 - Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition, Edinburgh
2004 - Aberdeen Artists Annual Exhibition
2004 - Fresh. Gallery Heinzel, Aberdeen
2003 - The Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition. Edinburgh
2003 - The Scottish Gallery Summer Show. Edinburgh.
2003 - Pitmeddan Gardens Sculpture Exhibition, Aberdeenshire
2002 - Aberdeen Artists Annual Exhibition
2002 - Sea, Ships and Stones: Gallery Heinzel, Aberdeen
2001 - 3 Women Drawing: Woodend Barn Arts Centre, Aberdeenshire
2001 - Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition, Edinburgh
2001 - Aberdeen Artists Annual Exhibition
2000 - Aberdeen Artists Annual Exhibition
Curation
2016 - On St. Michael's Way. 12 Star Gallery, London & Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, Cornwall.
2013 - My A Wra Leverel (I Say What I See) Helston Folk Museum. Cornwall.
2013 - Gaslighting. Co-curated with Magda Tyzlik Carver. CMR, Redruth, Cornwall.
2013 - March Fourth. CMR, Redruth, Cornwall.
2012 - 4 weeks 33 hours. CMR. Redruth, Cornwall.
2011 - The Redsuit Project Who’s Who. The Woodend Barn. Banchory, Scotland.
Commissions
2015 - Dulse - The Farm. Mara Seaweed, Scotland.
2014 - Gathering Dirt Falmouth 14. Soil Culture Forum. Falmouth University.
2013 - Second Bite Art Trail. Hayle, Cornwall.
2013 - Three Points of Contact Collaborative Project Commission.
2012 - The Edible Landscape. Rothamsted Research, North Wyke Devon.
2011 - Oldmeldrum Public Art Project
2010 - Banchory Alcohol Project, Aberdeenshire. Lead Artist.
2009 - A Giant Leap, Cornwall. Lead Artist.
2009 - This Weekend: Bosarts, Cornwall.
2008/9 - Created Space. Shetland. Lead Artist.
2007/8 - Arts in Primary Care. (Arts For Health) based in St Ives, Cornwall. Lead Artist.
2005 - Peterhead Arts and Regeneration Project. Support Artist.
2004 - Landfull. Moray Wastebusters, Forres Museum, Morayshire. Lead Artist.
2003 - Waste not Want not: Woodend Arts Centre, Aberdeenshire. Lead Artist.
2002 - Landfull. Marr Area Partnership/ Aberdeenshire Council. Commissioned Artist.
2001 - Millennium Sculpture.Tarland, Aberdeenshire.
Residencies
2013 - Transitions10. Newlyn Gallery. Cornwall.
2012 - Back Lane West. Redruth, Cornwall.
2009 - Khoj Bihar 09 International Artists Workshop. Bihar, India.
Research Projects
2012 - DACS OPEN Workshops. Arnolfini, Bristol.
2012 - These will attend you may. Kurator curating & research. Cornwall..
2012 - Rural Connective. UCF/Aberdeen University
2011 - Calendar Variations. On the Edge, RGU, Aberdeen
Awards
2012 - Aberdeenshire Design Award for Public Art.
2006 - Creative Skills Professional Development Grant
2003 - Ottilie Helen Wallace Scholarship prize. Royal Scottish Academy.
J a n e t M c E w a n
Holding Movements:Archiving the Farm 2012
Current member of Newlyn Society of Artists.
Exchange Gallery Penzance 2013
Image: Richard Ballinger
(click to enlarge)