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Jane Millar

“The power of art objects stems from the technical processes they objectively embody: the technology of enchantment is founded on the enchantment of technology. The enchantment of technology is the power that technical processes have of casting a spell over us so that we see the real world in an enchanted form.” Alfred Gell, from ‘Art & Anthropology’, edited by Jeremy Coote.

My practice is, broadly, painting but I use different textile media – mainly working part of the image with seed beads. In the images where the beads form a figurative image they act as a kind of focussing, which subsequently collapses when the viewer gets too close. The painted areas of the image focus it in a different way; a way that is more culturally familiar in the Western tradition of the painted image. I also employ these beads for their masking, embellishing qualities: are they hiding an image below or revealing it? The beadwork is also used to map the random yet specific pattern of light shining through trees. They fix the image – pinned into the canvas through the process of their making.

Recently I have taken this media into installation work, and I have also started to work with the revealing/masking qualities of text, using the ‘witness board’ as a vehicle for this.

Education

  • 1987 – 1989
    • Royal College of Art, MA Painting (Tapestry)
  • 1984 - 1987
    • Canterbury College of Art, BA Hons Fine Art
  • 1983 - 1984
    • Cardiff College of Art, Foundation Course

Current and past positions

1989 to the present day: Visiting Lecturer at Winchester School of Art; BA Hons Textile Art and Foundation Course.

In April 2003 I completed a 12 week residency for Artbridge at Glebe Court, a home for the elderly. A piece of work, made in collaboration with the residents, is installed in the home, and subsequently will go into the Paintings in Hospitals Collection. I am a member of the artists group LAND2.

Current studio practice in London

My work is represented at:
England & Co,
219 Westbourne Grove,
London W10
Tel: 0207 2210417

Curator and editor of FOLD : The Newspaper of the Unconscious. A collaborative publication involving visual artists, scientists and writers. Supported by and launched at The Freud Museum, London, February 2000. Special launch of customised editions at 291 Gallery London, April 2000. Main Sponsors: The University of the West of England, Bristol, East London University

FOLD is on sale at bookshops and galleries in the UK including Tate Modern, Serpentine Gallery Bookshop, Zwemmers, Arnolfini Bristol, etc ISSN Number: 1466-4089

Solo Exhibitions

  • 1996
    • Atrium, Cork St, London.
  • 1994
    • England & Co, London.
  • 1992
    • Omphalos Arts, Sandwich, Kent

Group Exhibitions

  • 2005
    • ‘LAN2D: Beyond Landscape’ at Dean Clough galleries, Halifax. Oct 2004 to Jan 2005
  • 2003
    • England & Co, London.
    • Artbridge 2003, Sheridan Russell Gallery, London.
  • 2002
    • Urban Art, Josephine Avenue, Brixton, London; 20-07-02,
    • Five artists, England & Co, London.
  • 2000
    • The Freud Museum, London. Launch of FOLD : The Newspaper of the Unconscious.
    • 291 Gallery, London. Launch of customised editions of FOLD.
  • 1998
    • 'Ground', Catalyst Arts, Belfast.
  • 1997
    • ART ’97 Business Design Centre, England & Co. Group Show, England & Co.
  • 1996
    • ART ’96, Business Design Centre, England & Co.
    • Mixed Show, England & Co.
    • Mixed Show, 152d Brick Lane.
  • 1995
    • DAD, Gasworks, Vauxhall, London.
    • `New Terrain`, Stansell Gallery, Taunton.
    • ART ’95, Business Design Centre, England & Co.
    • Mixed Show , Slaughterhouse Gallery, London.
    • Mixed Show of Gallery Artists, England & Co, London.
    • Atrium Charity Art Auction, Cork St, London.
  • 1994
    • Whitechapel Open, 152c Brick Lane, London.
  • 1992
    • 63 Union St, London.
    • ‘Bloom’, European Outposts, Spitalfields, London.
    • ‘Utopias’, Gallery Dagmar, London.
    • ‘East Meets West’, Smiths Gallery, London.
    • Arts for Disabled People in Wales, Cardiff Central Library and ‘
    • Oriel’, Mold, North Wales
  • 1990
    • England & Co, London.
    • Mertz Contemporary Art, London.
    • Portobello Open, Tabernacle Gallery, London.
    • Two Painters, The Crypt, St Georges Church, London.
    • Artlink Gallery, Stockport.
  • 1989
    • Guardian Newspaper ‘Gallery’ Exhibition, Victoria Rooms, Bristol.
    • Whitechapel Open , Cable Street Studios, London.
    • Fine Art Degree Show, Royal College of Art, London
  • 1985
    • The Showroom, Bonner Rd, London.

Commissions and Collections

  • 2003
    • Paintings in Hospitals collection. A five part ‘narrative ribbon’, commissioned as part of the Artbridge 2003 Residency.
  • 2001
    • Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, 2 large painted works.
  • 1999
    • Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, 8 paper collages and 16 drawings.
  • 1996
    • Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, 4 large drawings.
  • 1995
    • Site Specific Work commissioned for the library at the University of West England, Bristol.

Work also in private collections in the UK, Europe, Japan and USA.

Publications

  • 2003
    • Work featured in Wallpaper Magazine, May edition, 2003.
    • Bridges; a collaborative publication by the members of LAN2D.
  • 2000
    • FOLD: The Newspaper of the Unconscious. ISSN: 1466-4089
  • 1999
    • ‘a place between’, Public Art Journal, Volume 1, No 2. Edited by Jane Rendall. Article on FOLD.
  • 1998
    • CIRCA: Magazine of Contemporary Art in Ireland. Review of work shown in ‘Ground’, Catalyst, Belfast.
  • 1997
    • A Consequential Coastline, Edited by Professor Paul Gough, UWE Publication, Bristol. Collaborative artists book.
  • 1995
    • 'Jane Millar – Recent Work', Solo show catalogue, England & Co.
    • 'New Terrain', UWE Publication, Bristol.

 

Jane Millar 2004

e-mail:millarjane@postmaster.co.uk