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05 November 2024
Jane is a trustee of the Antarctic Heritage Trust and explained the journey to her fascination with Antarctica. A freelance textile artist since 2007, after she left her work in museums, where there were no textiles, she is now working at Bevere Gallery as their resident artist.
The start of her passion for Antarctica began with the history of Antarctic exploration in 1900’s and what it took to survive in extreme conditions there. Inspired by Scott and Shackleton, her first visit to Antarctica in 2002 was life changing and she recorded her emotional response to the landscape and her feelings about the trip.
On her second visit in 2020, she prepared by taking a length of material to use as her textile diary. She stitched into the material, while on the journey and collaged onto it once home.
She described Decepcion Island, with an underlying active volcano and large safe natural harbour, where there used to be a whaling station. Now a popular tourist spot with 13000-15000 visitors a year. Port Lockroy in the 1940s was a research station monitoring shipping and weather. It has a bay forming a natural harbour. The former British research base is now a visitor attraction and includes the most southerly operational post office in the world, the Penguin Post Office. Apart from the history of Antarctica and its incredible stark beauty in her images, she told us about the different names of ice, such as growlers, bergy bits. Growlers are small chunks of less than 2m across, medium sized up to 5m across are bergy bits and icebergs are greater than 5m across.
An informative hour, about a fascinating place that inspires Jane.
MW
Our November 2024 gallery
