Richmond BC, Canada #richmondartgallerybc
Collecting debris from beaches is something I have always done…I position them intuitively, allowing the forms to suggest their own arrangements. I have tried to acknowledge the powerful sense of time and place which resides in these fragments.
– Jane Wolsak
In Port San Juan, Jane Wolsak explores the relationship between natural objects and their inherent narratives. The artist composes seemingly disparate objects — driftwood in varying shapes and sizes, stones polished by the ocean, fragments of shells and animal bones — and renders them hyper-realistically to form one harmonious assemblage. The consideration of the innate characteristics of each object and their original contexts guides Wolsak’s compositions, and emphasizes her awareness of the temporal and spatial dimensions embedded within these fragments, creating a strong sense of place in her work.
Wolsak, whose diverse artistic practice includes years of still life drawing and working as a courtroom illustrator, is adept at capturing a narrative. Her rendering of disparate forms with great attention to detail and dimension give this work on paper an almost sculptural element. Regarding her technique and approach, she observes,“I’m glad of the unfashionable skill in draughtsmanship, and the almost meditative examination needed to make these paintings.”
Jane Wolsak is a Vancouver-based artist. Originally from England, she attended Saint Martin’s School of Art in London, where she studied painting. In the 1960s, she moved to Canada, where she worked as a high school art teacher and later as a courtroom illustrator. In 1995, the Richmond Art Gallery featured her painting Port San Juan in an exhibition titled Combing the Tides. Her second solo exhibition at RAG was in 2006, where she presented her courtroom drawings.
The presentation of this painting in the Gallery’s Art Lounge is part of a new initiative called Collection Close-up wherein we highlight a work from the Collection, which has a formal or thematic link to the featured exhibition(s).
Port San Juan is connected to the exhibition Dear Plastic through Wolsak’s practice of walking the shores and utilizing found objects from various beaches in Hawaii, Newfoundland, and Vancouver Island in the 1990s as the subject of her artwork. She views these objects as the “natural detritus of life cycles,” offering insight into specific times and places.
– Maria Filipina Palad
