Janette Kerr

“Janette Kerr, in my estimation, is the best painter of the sea in these islands… one of her greatest assets is the quality of her brushwork, … it is dynamic and suggestive, and has an organic life of its own.” Brian Fallon, 2012, Chief Critic of the Irish Times and Literary Editor, 1977-1988

An established and successful artist and experienced practitioner, Janette Kerr PPRWA has a long-standing history of showing work, exhibiting regularly across the UK and abroad; her work is held in national and international collections. Elected a Royal West of England Academy Academician in 2003, and RWA President (2011-16) she is also an Honorary Royal Scottish Academician and a Visiting Research Fellow in Fine Art, UWE Bristol.

A foul weather painter, drawn to the periphery of the land, the far edges of a place - margins between land and sea that blur with the ebb and flow of tides. Since 2010 she has been working with the sea and landscape on Shetland. Her paintings and drawings push at the boundaries between representation and abstraction. In 2017 she worked on a collaborative project - Confusing Shadow with Substance – a video and sound installation for Shetland Museum, funded by Creative Scotland: https://confusingshadowwithsubstanceproject.wordpress.com/

“Making work en-plein-air is integral to my working process - immersive experiences of observing and experiencing changing land/seas, extremes, physical and meteorological shifts. I draw whilst out in boats with waves washing over the deck, crouched with my sketchbook and paints on rocks by the sea, in snow painting with freezing fingers; blown across hills by gusts of wind, drenched by spray and sleet, going home with salt-encrusted hair and skin. This is all part of how I work. My paintings, especially those made en-plein-air, move beyond representational and passive - beyond the detached objective world of topographical features - to become active engagements with landscape; they are about movement and rhythm of sea and wind, swelling and breaking waves, merging of spray with air, advancing rain and mist, glancing sunlight, elements that refer to something intangible. They are also tempered always by knowledge of nature, a profound understanding of its power and resilience. My images acknowledge the legacy of 18thC Romantic Sublime, confrontations with nature in its most elemental state”.

​https://confusingshadowwithsubstanceproject.wordpress.com/

http://extremewavetheory.blogspot.com

http://www.cadogancontemporary.com/artists/KERJ/

http://land2.leeds.ac.uk/people/kerr/

http://somersetartworks.org.uk/artists/JanetteKerr/

https://www.janettekerr.co.uk/