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FACT
FILE - JANE GRISEWOOD
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Born in Otaki, New Zealand; travelled extensively in the Pacific
Islands, Australia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe,
Russia, North and
Central America; now resident in the UK - in Suffolk
After working as a publisher in Children's Multimedia for
Kingfisher Books, took a break to study Fine Art at the University
of East Anglia
Graduated as an MA Fine Art at Central Saint Martins in London
in 2002
Solo exhibitions include 'Transition', at North House Gallery
in Manningtree, Essex in March 2003 and 'Aftermath' at the
Ensign Gallery, London in June 2003
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THE SHOW AND THE GALLERY
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'Aftermath' brings together many of Jane Grisewood's experiences
and journeys marking time in wax, plaster, paint and canvas.
Th
exhibition runs until Friday 4 July at the Ensign Gallery,
18 Ensign Street, London E1.
Opening
hours 11 - 6pm. Admission is free and on Tuesday 24 June,
to mark Midsummer's Day, the Ensign is hosting a free evening
party until 10pm
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 My
love affair with London began in my childhood growing up in New
Zealand.
As
an avid reader, I devoured everything I could on London and 'overseas',
and the allure and the excitement of these faraway places attracted
me like a moth to light.
As
soon as I'd graduated and saved enough money from cleaning motel
rooms and waitressing, I travelled to 'swinging' London.
Arriving
in the capital was near to heaven and as I walked - yes walked -
from Putney to Trafalgar Square, I savoured and marvelled at the
images that were now actually there before my eyes.
favourite
bus
After
spending the requisite time - for an Antipodean - travelling on
the back of a motorbike around Europe, I landed a wonderful job
in London at a book publishers.
I soon
became an art editor and then a publishing director, involved in
the formation of Kingfisher Books, both in London and New York.
And living in Islington I would take my favourite bus, the number
73, to work in central London every day - this continued for 20
years!
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'Transition 1' in wax, plaster
and acrylic on canvas (6 x 6ft) by Jane Grisewood
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Life
in London was fun, exhilarating, exhausting, and everything I'd
ever dreamt of.
All
the important events of my life have happened in the capital - meeting
my husband, the birth of my daughter, buying my first home, getting
my first job AND starting my life as an artist. I've always felt
that anything is possible in London. It gave me what I craved: a
huge sense of freedom.
associated
memories
I can
never give up my affair with the capital and even though I now live
50 miles northeast, I still need my weekly London fix - the people,
the river, the smells, the noise, the congestion, the contrasts.
But
having said that, I still need to revisit my Southern Hemisphere
homeland too!
For
me, it becomes increasingly about associated memories, of time passing
in a land, a city, a place - not so much where it is but the experience
of it - the effect, which can influence the present.
And
that's what fuels my art practice now: a bank of memories, a bank
of experiences, which exist despite the location or the distances...
See
more of Jane Grisewood's art
in
Part 2
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Listen live
Click
through amazing shots of London from high up in a helicopter!