Jacqueline Read-Szymczyk, Rugby
Member Since December 2010
Artist Statement JACQUELINE READ
Drawing is part of that cycle that connects me to nature, but also to the deeper subconscious, to memory, my love of story telling and myth.
I watch the images appear, the lines and patterns emerging as I draw.
Once I have fixed on a theme and worked out the correct anatomy of any figures, I allow the images to trail from my subconscious mind. Landscapes, islands, flowing water and tumultuous sea are formed without any further external reference to my environment, but evolve from the subconscious.
Winning the Rugby Open 2011 First Prize with the large pen and ink drawing “The Tao of the Sea and The Wind”, inspired a year of work with pen and ink creations. I was awarded a 2 week exhibition space at Floor One, the Rugby Museum and Art Gallery.
My Swan drawings and works on Skakespearean themes were commissioned and purchased in April 2012 by the Fullers group for the White Swan Hotel in Stratford upon Avon. The works are in the hotel’s main medieval bedrooms and suites.
My paintings have been selected for exhibitions in USA, London, France, Egypt as a member of the IASG- which I joined during a period living in the USA. In my first work as a painter, I simply enjoyed painting en plein aire and still life painting. I continue with this work. A second thread has been to draw images from my subconscious- in a waking state and from dreams.
I have found the horse a particular archetypal image which I like to explore. I also like to capture ephemeral moments; to illuminate memories with a clarity that startles.
Water features highly in my work: In my paintings I might create narrative scenes
where the individual encounters this symbolic element. Sometimes, my paintings are simply about the sensual experience of moving
effortlessly in this element.
In my graphics pen and ink work, the flow of the ink is like the flow of water.
Water may allow effortless movement;
it supports enfolds;
it represents freedom and danger.
Its qualities reflect those elements in life, which are translated into dreams,
where water becomes an archetypal symbol of our human existence
Exhibitions and studies
2011-12 Solo Show: First Prize Winner's Exhibition Rugby Open Exhibition; plus pen and ink drawing Leda and The Swan selected for main Exhibition
2011 Winner of the First Prize Rugby Open Exhibition
2010 Paintings selected for the Rugby Open Exhibition
November to January 2009 Leicester City Gallery, paintings selected for the East Midland Open Exhibition
November to January 2008 Rugby Museum and Art Gallery; paintings selected for the Open Exhibition
November to January 2007 Rugby Museum and Art Gallery; Selected for the Open Exhibition
November 2005 to January 2006;
CAIRO, EGYPT; IASG Touring Group Exhibition
December 2005 to January 2006; East Midlands Artists Open Exhibition;
NOTTINGHAM CASTLE
February 2006: GEORGE TOWN GALLERY WASHINGTON DC. International Artists show
January to March 2005:
OXO TOWER WHARF GALLERY;LONDON ART OF LOVE, VALENTINE SHOW LONDON ART,
November 2004 to March 2005:
Solo Exhibition ‘DELICATE’; Swimmers/Divers
ALTHORPE ESTATE NORTHAMPTON
2002 to 2003
Spent in the USA and Italy, travelling and painting
November- December 2002:
Solo Exhibition: ‘HORSES OF A DIFFERENT COLOUR’.
works resulting from a two year, in-depth study of the archetypal, symbolic nature of the horse,
CITY GALLERY; GRANBY ST. LEICESTER
November to December 2000
Solo Exhibition, CITY GALLERY; GRANBY ST. LEICESTER
‘CARPE DIEM’
, January 1999
Northampton Town and County Art Society 200 Year Centenary Exhibition
NORTHAMPTOM MUSEUM
Bursary 1999 From Church’s in Northampton
STUDIES: 1998-9.
Leicester De Montfort University, modules in B.A. Fine Art/Painting
1995-97
Rugby College B.Tech. in Fine Art/ Painting
1996
Studied and painted en pleine aire, France
1979-82Arts Honours Degree; Northampton University, Northampton
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