Artists at The Elms

The Elms, headquarters of The National Trust for Jersey has been running an artist in residency scheme. Artist Sara Job (once my school Art teacher) has just finished her 6 months residency at the Elms. I went along to the Elms to catch up with Sara and to enjoy her exhibition that featured work she had undergone during her residency. Sara said she’d been quite emotional packing everything away but was happy to have had this experience and to have been part of the National Trust, which is doing something so worthwhile.

Sara’s work features local places, which are significant in many different ways. Sara’s work features aspects of The Elms as well as some of the less celebrated landmarks in Jersey, but which are still of great significance. Sara found people viewing the exhibition tended to look back to places of their childhood and were drawn to this. Sara’s intimate studies reflect her own personal meaning onto each piece and capture details of places that resonate in people’s memories and mean something different to each individual viewer. Sara sketched on location and then came back to the studio to create a painting which she could then make her own.

Sara joked that her work had become the ‘kiss of death’ as some of the places she had painted had either been knocked down or modified, where it’s original features that once attracted Sara had been destroyed. And so some of Sara’s paintings have already become part of Jersey’s history documenting our past.

Sara’s residency and exhibition finished the 22nd September, but the residency will continue with a new artist. Virginia Colback will be the next artist to feature at the Elms. Virginia’s residency will begin the 1st November 2009, for 6 months where you’ll be able to visit the studio every Friday. I look forward to seeing how Virginia’s work develops.

Studio space:

The Elms Pressoir, The Elms, La Cheve Rue, St Mary (top of St Peter’s Valley)

You can find out about more artists in their studio spaces at www.jerseyopenstudios.com