Jane Francis
- Work
- Biography
Jane Francis is a painter and visual artist based on the coast of Fife. Her work ranges across abstract, conceptual and figurative forms, and she predominantly uses water based materials such as watercolour, gouache and inks, some of which she makes herself with foraged botanic materials. She often uses the water based materials in an intuitive and and loose way, pursuing moments of ‘flooding’ and allowing for unexpected and self-resolved surface effects, while controlling the overall process and making moment to moment decisions. The work is built in layers over several sessions, and sometimes includes references to the human figure and plant forms.
She sees her work as one way of being in constant dialogue between her inner world of sensing and processing and the more-than-human-world. A flow like reminder of being part of an entangled ecosystem. She often listens to music while she paints, following the rhythm of the painting and attuning to the tempo - she is aware of trying to capture in visual form how music makes her feel.
Jane also often includes text in her work, using wax underwriting from poetry which she reads before beginning work to bring her mind to a place outside herself.
She sees her work as one way of being in constant dialogue between her inner world of sensing and processing and the more-than-human-world. A flow like reminder of being part of an entangled ecosystem. She often listens to music while she paints, following the rhythm of the painting and attuning to the tempo - she is aware of trying to capture in visual form how music makes her feel.
Jane also often includes text in her work, using wax underwriting from poetry which she reads before beginning work to bring her mind to a place outside herself.
Jane went to Edinburgh College of Art after High School in 1989, but only remained for 1 year due to undiagnosed neurodivergence and mental health problems. She then took a long break from art making, thinking 'I guess I'm not an artist then'. Since 2013 she has been attending numerous classes and workshops at establishments such as Leith School of Art, to fill in her art education. As the director of an arts CIC she was lead artist in four participatory community art projects and loved developing methodologies for supporting diverse emerging artists. She has had two solo exhibitions, one in 2019 entitled 'Eye of the Storm' and one in 2023 entitled 'Across Their Many Islands', this title being based on writings by Edouard Glissant. She has taken part in two joint exhibitions, 'Neuk Perspectives' and 'Out of Sight Out of Mind', both in 2024. In 2022 she was awarded a grant from Creative Scotland for a 15 months reflective research project, for which she received mentoring from contemporary artist Becky Beasley, and in 2024 a VACMA grant from Creative Scotland via Fife Contemporary for developing her practice with reference to writing, attending a writing group with Rebecca Sharp and receiving mentoring from Brigid Collins. She has an MA Hons in English Literature from Edinburgh University, and a postgraduate diploma in information studies from Strathclyde University.
Jane has been visually impaired since 2016, and is always working on ways to accommodate and integrate her disability into her art practice.
Jane has been visually impaired since 2016, and is always working on ways to accommodate and integrate her disability into her art practice.
- Jane Francis
- Neuropond 1
- Mixed Media
- Jane Francis
- Neuropond 2
- Mixed Media
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