LOOKING AHEAD
Former teacher Jane Richmond has never looked back since turning professional as an artist and sculptor
Artist and sculptor Jane Richmond was recently seen by more than a million viewers on a BBC1 TV programme.
Home is Where the Art is, presented by Nick Knowles, saw Jane compete against two other northern artists, to make a piece of art for an ‘anonymous’ homeowner.
“I saw a small advert on social media asking for artists to put themselves forward for the programme,” recalls Jane, who works from her garden studio. I sent in my CV and totally forgot about it. Then someone from the BBC rang me for a chat. At the end of the chat, he said, ‘Okay you’ve passed the telephone interview, someone will be doing a casting call via Skype!’”
The format of the programme, invites three artists, specialising in different mediums, to ‘snoop’ around someone’s home while the owner is out.
“The house we were invited to was a modern semi-detached home. The decor was very simple which formed the perfect backdrop for some beautiful pieces of art and glasswork. There was an eclectic mix. In the brief the owner said they loved Art Deco and Art Nouveau and bold colours. They certainly didn’t want beige, bland and boring! They wanted a piece to celebrate new beginnings as they had recently changed careers, lost their mum and divorced.”
“From the clues around the house, I felt it was easy to deduce that the homeowner was a woman, similar in many ways to myself,” says Lancashire-born Jane.
Also, in the house was art and posters referencing travel and strong women, including the Empress Tarot Card, Emmeline Pankhurst and Josephine Baker, an entertainer and French Resistance agent known as the Black Pearl.
“I did lots of research,” says Jane, who decided to sculpt a stylised woman’s head, with black pearl earrings, in Art Deco style with Japanese influences.”
“There is a lot of symbolism in the piece including apple blossom, which is the Japanese symbol for new beginnings, a tiny butterfly, a symbol of change and flames to signify a Phoenix rising from the ashes. I also included a tiny Manchester bee as there was a connection there too.”
When the time came to pitch their ideas to the homeowner, Jane and the two other artists, stone-carver Andrew Vickers and glassmaker Emma Woods, it was Jane and Emma who were named as the finalists.
“My aim was to produce a contemporary piece, but we only had two-and-a-half weeks to do it! The process of making a sculpture like this is quite time consuming as I sculpt the solid piece that has to be cut into pieces with a cheese wire, hollowed out, reassembled, then I re-work the surface. It then has to be left to dry out completely.”
“There is a danger of it collapsing and if there is any moisture left in the clay it can explode in the kiln.”
“The aim of the programme was to demonstrate the processes involved, the time and the hard work that goes into making a piece of art.”
Taking into consideration all the things that could have gone wrong, Jane made two sculptures: “They each took 12 hours to fire in the kiln then they have to cool down.”
On many of her sculptures Jane uses a two-tone iridescent finish. On the piece featured on TV she selected a shimmering purple, green and cobalt blue for the sculpted head and a plinth of pale light oak.
When it came to both artists presenting their works of art for the owner to choose, Jane admits she was nervous.
“Emma’s piece was beautiful,” she says. “But after quite lengthy deliberation the homeowner decided on my sculpture. We both cried, it was so emotional! I knew then that we had obviously connected and that I had interpreted things correctly and made the right choices.”
“I also thought it was brilliant that someone loved my work so much – it was a joy. In many ways it felt like an affirmation of my decision to change careers,” says Jane, who lived in London during the 1980s.
She changed from her career in education, as Teacher Advisor for Cohesion and Diversity, to become a full-time professional artist five years ago.
Her work is now featured in collections all over the UK and worldwide including Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, America and London, where she recently delivered two sculptures.
“I don’t like to be pigeon-holed as an artist and like to change and develop my style and move with the times. I had my doubts when I turned professional, but I have never looked back!”
Jane’s work will feature alongside that of other artists from the programme in a Home is Where the Art is exhibition at Buffalo Studio, Accrington, from 2nd – 28th August 2019
Jane, Emma and Andrew will also be exhibiting together in Andrew’s woodland in Sheffield on July 7th and 8th 2019
