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A celebrated printmaker with a penchant for the mythical has been selected as this year's judge of a prestigious annual island art competition.
And those that wish to enter - whether aspiring to become one of the island’s leading artists or simply content to see one of their pictures hanging in a public exhibition - need to get their skates on.
There’s less than two weeks left to enter this year’s J.J. Fox Open Art Competition – entries must be submitted on 11 or 12 September.
The competition, which has been run by the Jersey Arts Centre since it opened back in 1982, has established an enviable record over the years. It numbers some of the Island’s leading artists - including Kevin Pallot, Jason Butler and Ian Rolls – among its past winners.
Pictured: A prize of £1,000 is on offer for the winning artist.
A prize of £1,000 is on offer for the winning artist and £500 for the winner of the Jock Russell Award for the best work by an artist aged 12-18. Entrants must be resident in Jersey and aged 12 and above, and up to two works which have not previously been shown at the Arts Centre may be entered.
This year’s judge is the celebrated printmaker and lithographer Flora McLachlan who works from her studio in West Wales.
A selection of her own work will be on display in the Arts Centre’s Berni Gallery from Monday 16 September to Saturday 12 October, and the artist will be giving a talk about the work at the Arts Centre at 6.30 pm on the opening evening of the exhibition.
Inspired by fairy tales and quests from medieval romance poetry, her work presents an ancient landscape, celebrating the natural and mythological world in equal measure.
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Her printmaking is delicately lit with areas of shadow, alluding to a darker, wilder woodland.
Using a wide variety of printmaking techniques, each image is layered with time-worn textures, reflecting her aim to make work that is reminiscent of an ancient relic, briefly brought back to life.
Flora McLachlan studied English Literature at Brasenose College Oxford, before completing a diploma in Illustration at West Herts College where she made her first etchings. She became a member of the Oxford Printmaker’s Cooperative where she continued to develop her work, exhibiting nationally.
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She was elected an associate member of the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers in 2008, becoming a fellow in 2013.
As judge for the J.J. Fox Competition, she has the responsibility not only of picking the prize-winners but also of choosing the best work submitted to hang in an exhibition which opens immediately after her own closes.
The work chosen will be on show in the Berni Gallery from 14 October to 9 November.
Pictured: Chosen work will be exhibited in the Arts Centre's Berni Gallery.
Entry forms for the competition, with further details, are available from the Arts Centre or on their website.
Pictured top: Flora McLachlan, who creates fairytale-like prints from her studio in Wales, will judge the competition, as well as exhibiting and doing a talk. (@FloraMcLachlan/Instagram)
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