A book has inspired the latest exhibition at Art at the Park gallery.
Artist Bozena Pollock found Horseshoe Bay: A Legacy Of Loss And Laughter, by Winifred Rowland and her daughter, Wendy J Woodcock in the Sula Gallery, and started reading it.
‘I was really taken by it. It’s about a woman, Wendy, and it’s all about life’s ups and downs before and during the war in England. Then she comes to live in Guernsey.
‘The cover shows Wendy in 1960 with a lobster pot on her head. A really jolly lady and a bit eccentric. It’s a brilliant book. I love it.
‘It tells of how she ended up living near Port Soif and I live near Port Soif too.’
Bozena, who studied art in her home town of Krakow in Poland, and later trained in art restoration and conservation in London, has been painting at Port Soif since last year.
‘Always in oils and on board or canvas. I’ve painted on board since I was a child. It’s a little more rigid for painting outdoors and I always work en plein air.’
A happy accident occurred when she was there.
‘I went to paint the rocks out at sea one day, then took that painting back home. Then another day I painted the sand and the rocks on the shore. When I took that one back, both paintings matched. It turned out like a diptych.’
As well as her oils, Bozena is exhibiting her ceramic work too.
‘I do these at a club at Elizabeth College run by Jacqui Pendleton.’
Bozena will be running her own tutorial soon where people can learn about techniques and discovery in painting.
‘It’s called Art Circle and it takes place on Saturday 25 April from 1 to 5pm at the Victorian Walled Kitchen garden at Saumarez Park. All materials are provided.’
Sally Cokeley grew up in Guernsey and left at 18 and gained a degree in textile printing. She then worked as a textile designer in London for 18 years. She also holds a qualification, with distinction, in botanical painting from the Society of Botanical Arts.
Her beautifully detailed, painstaking paintings of plants are the perfect complement to Bozena’s wonderfully energetic, expressionistic land/seascapes.
‘Having stopped working full time last year I wanted to get back to art. Bo and I knew of each other – I have one of her paintings – and when she mentioned having an exhibition together and we talked about subject matter, Port Soif seemed to be the obvious choice. Sometimes you see a man walking a goat on a lead.’
For the last year Sally has been involved in Guernsey Grow Natives, a collaboration between Grow Ltd and La Societe Guernesiaise, which sets out to nurture a wider knowledge and protection of the island’s wild plants.
‘I’ve become more and more interested in local plants and the dunes and common land around Port Soif have these in abundance.’
Four paintings hung together of different types of plants particularly show well some of Sally’s techniques.
‘The sand in the background is paint. I tried a mouth diffuser but for these I used a stippling brush. Each one took around four weeks. With very detailed paintings a lot of thought goes into them, such as how to position them on the paper.
‘I take really close-up photos and sometimes I take a sample home when a particular plant is in abundance.’
For the exhibition Sally has moved away from strict botanical paintings, where every part of the plant has to be recorded, named, even cross-sectioned and all anatomically correct.
‘I wanted to show them in their habitat. I’m interested in how they grow.’
Sally mentions names like yellow-horned poppy, wall-rocket, hogweed, alexanders and golden samphire.
‘So different, but they’re all in the same place.’
I interviewed the artists before the exhibition’s opening night and the day after Bozena sent me an email.
‘Winifred is almost 100 years old and she made it to the exhibition with her daughter Wendy,’ she said, and attached the photo below.
Bozena Pollock and Sally Cokeley’s Pink Granite:Wild Flower is at Art at The Park until Friday 1 May and is open 10am to 5pm daily.
To book a place at Bozena’s Art Circle, email bozenapollock@icloud.com
