Art Show: Jill Tattersall – Telling Tales 1-31 Oct 2015 Abbey Hotel, Battle, East Sussex

‘Summer Solstice (Night Sky series: most recent is Magna Carta: June 15th 2015)’. Night Sky at the point of the longest day of the year. showing the planets and constellations in relation to their mythological and classical names (Mixed media: acrylics, inks, dyes and pigments plus silver leaf on hand-cast paper)

Each painting has its story … a story of time, place and the moment. Specially for the Battle Festival, Jill has provided a brief commentary by each painting to give an insight into how it came about.
Jill’s work is mainly abstract or semi-abstract. She mostly uses water-based paints, inks, dyes and pure pigments to build up intense and glowing colours, often on her own handmade cotton paper which has a unique character. She experiments a good deal, combining costly, high-quality materials with found or throwaway elements.

Jill has shown work all over the UK, with many solo exhibitions, workshops, projects and commissions. Recent exhibitions include Sense and Serendipity (William Nicholson Gallery) with Gail Gibson Tait and Tattersall & Greco at Pelham House, Lewes. She was the first Artist-in-Residence at the wonderful Sussex Prairies gardens in 2013. She also shows work regularly at the Affordable Art Fair with the Nicholas Bowlby Gallery.

She is now based at the Wolf at the Door (Artists’ Open House) in Hove.

‘Human origins (Red)’ (This series, based on creation myths, theories and beliefs, uses natural materials where possible.) Tree of life in the form of a stylised ‘cladogram’ showing the descent of man. (Mixed media: earth pigments and paints on hand-made paper)

‘Beneath My Feet’. Again this reflects my interest in pattern, random or man-made. This was based on a section of a cast-iron manhole near the Churchill centre in Brighton. The Victorians knew how to make prosaic things ornamental, but time and damp and people’s feet had also worked to make the pattern more subtle. (Mixed media with rice on canvas)

About Jill’s work in her own words: ‘I’m obsessed with patterns. They’re everywhere. The rhythms and forces of nature create them all around us on every scale, from the microscopic to the cosmic. We’re made up of patterns ourselves. Coastlines, weather systems and gardens; maps, mazes and manuscripts; sand-dunes, trees and blood vessels….

I used to teach Old French literature and my paintings are inevitably influenced by medieval ways of looking at the world. Other sources of inspiration include early cave paintings and rock art, and signs, symbols and marks from all periods.

My work is mainly abstract or semi-abstract. Colour is vital to me. I use mainly water-based paints, inks, dyes and pure pigments to build up intense and glowing colours. I enjoy combining costly, high-quality materials with found or throwaway elements.

I experiment with all sorts of media, but often work on my own handmade cotton paper. Making paper is messy, watery and time-consuming and best done outside in summer. Life would be easier if I simply painted on canvas or board. But the texture of this hand-made paper (which can be shaped and moulded as well as cast and pressed flat) is unique to each piece. The tiny irregularities collect and hold paint giving a depth, intensity and subtlety that nothing else can match. I also love that element of unpredictability – you have to respond and adapt as you go along.

Each piece has its own underlying ‘story’ (I’ve provided a short ‘explanation’ of each piece separately). I’m also inspired by the wonderful light on the Sussex coast where I now live.

As a medievalist it’s especially exciting for me to be showing work in this lovely setting at the Abbey Hotel here in Battle. Because of 1066, some of the best medieval French poetry was written in England!’