Open Eye Award | Out There
18 May – June 2018
Out There is a new exhibition by SSA Professional Member Jayne Stokes. The exhibition is the result of Jayne being awarded The Open Eye Gallery Exhibition Prize at the Society’s 2016 Annual Exhibition.
Out There is a series of new paintings and assemblages that document real and imaginary journeys made in Scotland by the artist during 2017.
Jayne spent the last year discovering places for the first time, such as the Isles of Harris and Lewis and Smoo Cave in the far north of Sutherland. As well documenting these travels, she also explored the familiar landscape of her East Lothian home in more depth.
The grid-like structure of the watercolour pieces reflects the repetitive acts behind each painting: walking, driving, looking. Like a still from a film, each tiny image is a single glimpse of an everyday moment. The artworks seek to remind us that the act of making a painting, with its thousands of decisions, is a process that elevates the mundane – a transformative act.
Stokes has also created assemblage works. These fictitious landscapes are pieced together from fragments, random images, found objects and old maps that were collected and accumulated in her studio during the year. The tins she integrates into each painting are used to select her figures and buildings, to set them apart from their surroundings or provide a different perspective – often functioning like a magnifying glass.
Born in Shropshire in 1973, Stokes graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 1996 with a first- class degree in drawing and painting. Latterly she studied at Winchester School of Art in Barcelona graduating with an MA in Fine Art in 1998.
She recently gained professional membership of the Society of Scottish Artists and was shortlisted for The Sunday Times Watercolour Prize in 2015 and 2016. She was awarded the Open Eye Gallery Exhibition Prize and both the Moidart Trust Landscape Prize and the Royal Scottish Academy Art in Healthcare Award in 2016.
Jayne lives and works in North Berwick. Her work is held in several private and public collections.
Open Eye Gallery | 34 Abercromby Place | Edinburgh | EH3 6QE