Over a decade after sharing a classroom at Beaulieu Convent School as teacher and student respectively, Dawn Burrows and Stephanie Rondel will be sharing an exhibition space this month.
Between Monday and Thursday 28 July, they will be presenting ‘Light and Land’, a collection of seascapes, at Jersey Museum’s Link Gallery.
Coming ‘full circle’
Pat Robson, founder of the Art in the Frame charity and Harbour Gallery and Dawn’s former teacher, will open the exhibition, bringing together three generations of art teachers – Stephanie also qualified as a teacher and now teaches at JCG – in a lovely ‘full circle’ moment.
“We always talked about having an exhibition one day,” Dawn said. “We both love painting landscapes and we thought it would be nice.
Pictured: Between Monday and Thursday 28th July, they will be presenting their work at Jersey Museum’s Link Gallery
“Stephanie is now a friend and colleague, it’s a lovely shift in dynamic. She is an amazing teacher, and she has kept at her own work. You can get swamped down with teaching, so you need to be very driven to make sure you keep your practice going.”
“For me it’s a real achievement point to be having an exhibition with my former teacher, and having produced a body of work, it’s a real mark of achievement,” Stephanie added.
Sea-spiration
While they both find their inspiration by the sea, Dawn and Stephanie approach their subject differently.
“We are both really inspired by the tidal range of Jersey and the fluidity of it. No scene is ever the same when you get to the beach, there’s a constant flow and change,” Dawn said. “My work is a little bit more abstract. I use mixed media, oil paints and water-based paints and I let them resist each other, like the tide and the sand in nature.”
“The work featuring is mainly oil paintings and there will be some small encaustic paintings,” Stephanie adds. “In my work, I look at reflection, the merging between sky and sea, rockpools, etc… I am really interested in the idea of stillness, but I like creating movement at the same time, through brush work, and adding iconic landmarks in the painting.
Both are passionate about their art with Dawn saying being an artist is important for her wellbeing, while Stephanie cannot think any other way than with a brush in hand.
Pictured: Both Stephanie and Dawn are inspired by Jersey’s tidal range
“It’s all consuming,” she says. “It’s what you think about when you get up. On my day off, I will be painting at 06:00, it’s really where the passion shows.”
“My favourite thing about painting is that it has become a discipline,” Dawn adds. “Like anything you want to get better at, you have to keep at it, and you have to do it even when you do not feel like it. The minute I start painting, I forget everything else. I am so absorbed by the creativity, everything else just disappears and I get lost in the painting, it’s very therapeutic.”
“There are always people who want to shut you down… You have to be quite brave”
But as therapeutic as the practice is, both women admit it is “tiring” and can sometimes feel like running a marathon. According to Dawn, it also requires “a bit of bravery”.
“There are always people who want to shut you down or say, ‘I could do that better’. You have to be quite brave and make it a discipline, and it feeds that bravery.
“You are not doing it for anybody but yourself. It’s part of your character and being, you are compulsed to do it, and the selling bit and what people think of your work is secondary, as long as you have done the best you can.”
Helping create ‘brighter futures’ for others
Given their almost visceral attachment to painting, it is not surprising both women chose to share it with students so that they, themselves, could reap the benefits of the practice.
“Feeling like you are making a difference and helping students find their way is the thing that drives me and that I enjoy,” Stephanie said.
This extends to the exhibition itself: they have chosen to donate 5% of the proceeds of the sales to Brighter Futures to support “investment in young people and creative opportunities for them”.
“Being involved in something whether it’s arts or sports is so good for your mental health,” Dawn said.
“Children deserve all the opportunities. It should not be an elitist, ‘I can pay for classes’ kind of thing. It should be open to any child.”
