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Arctic Impressions by Jo Haskins
Monday, 20 March, 2023 — Painting, Drawing & Printmaking graduate and current MA Painting student Jo Haskins is the subject of a new exhibition, Arctic Impressions, in The Brownston Gallery, Devon.
<p dir="ltr">Artist and alumni <a href="https://johaskins.co.uk/">Jo Haskins</a> is the subject of a new exhibition, Arctic Impressions, in <a href="http://www.brownstonart.com/">The Brownston Gallery</a>, Devon.</p>
<p dir="ltr">A painter and artist with a First Class degree in <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/ba-hons-painting-drawing-printmaking">BA (Hons) Painting, Drawing & Printmaking</a> from Arts University Plymouth in 2022, Jo recently returned to study <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/ma-painting">MA Painting</a> with us.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Winner of the Brownston Gallery Fresh Talent Award in 2022, Jo divides her time between Devon, England and Embrun in the Southern Alps of France. She has always been inspired by the natural environment and created the paintings currently on show in The Brownston Gallery after spending time in Svalbard in the Arctic. The exhibition runs until 31 March 2022.<br /></p>
Floating IV - Oil on canvas, 90 x 100cm
<p dir="ltr">Jo said: “I am inspired by the experience of a space in a landscape. I aim to portray my memories of the discovery of a place in the natural environment, through colour, shape and composition. At the moment that place is Svalbard in the high Arctic, an area I have visited regularly and where I become totally immersed in the Arctic landscape.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Camping on the land and exploring the icy waters in sea kayaks and boats, circling icebergs and approaching glaciers, Jo became fascinated with the amazing colours and intensity of the Arctic landscape.<br /></p>
Floating III - Oil on canvas 90 x 100cm
<p dir="ltr">Jo said: “The incredible blues, turquoise and purple greys, especially on cloudy days, the shapes of the icebergs to the reflections of light on the ice and sea, the atmosphere and sounds of being totally surrounded by the ice, the feeling of the constantly moving and changing environment; the Arctic is so beautiful on occasions and yet hostile, dangerous and life threatening on others. Every place visited has moved and changed when revisited due to the movement of the ice and the light.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Since graduating in 2022, Jo was one of eight artists selected from South West universities for Plymouth’s inaugural Platform Graduate Award exhibition, a prestigious national platform for recent graduates led by CVAN South East (Contemporary Visual Arts Network South East) as a partnership between: Aspex in Portsmouth; MK Gallery in Milton Keynes; <a href="https://mirrorplymouth.com/">MIRROR</a> at Arts University Plymouth; Modern Art Oxford, Phoenix Art Space in Brighton; and <a href="https://turnercontemporary.org/">Turner Contemporary</a> in Margate.</p>
Towering - Oil on canvas 90 x 100cm
<p dir="ltr">Jo originally studied Fine Art Painting at City and Guilds of London Art School, where she received tuition from Humphrey Ocean among others, and has continued to draw and paint on a regular basis ever since. Jo is particularly interested in the process of printmaking and how that can inform her painting, allowing the techniques of painting and printmaking to inform each other. Fluent in French, she has spent many years living in the Southern Alps of France where she has participated in numerous exhibitions and art fairs. <br /></p>
