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Janette Kerr
States of Sea, 13 - 30 October 2020

Janette Kerr: States of Sea

Past exhibition
  • Overview
  • Works
  • Publications
Overview
Janette Kerr, States of Sea

'My paintings represent immediate responses to sound and silences within the landscape around me; they are about movement and the rhythms of sea and wind, swelling and breaking waves, spray merging with air, advancing rain and mist, glancing sunlight  elements that seem to be about something intangible.' - Janette Kerr

Janette Kerr is a painter deeply embedded in place. She works at the interface between land, sea and historical experience. Called 'the best painter of the sea in these islands' by Brian Fallon, Chief Critic of the Irish Times, Kerr delights in foul weather. Drawn to the perimeters of land, her work is an index of edges and ledges, exposed headlands and wind-swept seas. For the last ten years, her focus has been drawn to Shetland and the far north. Ian McKay*, editor of Art North, describes Kerr as 'a creative nomad, with a calling northward and a finely-honed understanding of what some might consider 'remote' northern terrain'.

 

Kerr travels extensively - always to wild sea and weather-scoured places. She sailed along the coast of Svalbard in the High Arctic onboard a tall ship called the Antigua with a group of international artists. More recently she has been on an international residency in Skagaströnd in the northwest corner of Iceland. In Norway, she worked alongside Norwegian oceanographers at the meteorological Institute in Bergen studying the unpredictability of waves and wind, which had a profound influence on her work. And of course we have Shetland, which is the focus of the paintings in this current exhibition. 

Kerr presents us with 20 recent paintings that she relates to the historic Meteorological Office 'State of Sea Card' (devised by Irish Royal Navy officer, Francis Beaufort in the early 19th century). Each painting refers to  descriptions that represent the state of the sea. 

As Kerr explains: the basic driver of sea state is the wind. The stronger the wind, the greater the distance (the fetch) over which it blows unimpeded, and the longer it blows, the bigger the waves. The World Meteorological Organization gives thirteen sea conditions for the Beaufort wind scale, from zero to twelve (calm to hurricane).

Download e-catalogue
Works
  • Sea State - force 8 - northwesterly winds, Ness of Bakka, 2020 oil on canvas 86cm x 150cm
    Sea State - force 8 - northwesterly winds, Ness of Bakka, 2020
    oil on canvas
    86cm x 150cm
  • Sea state force 10 - Battling with the Villians of Ure, 2020 oil on canvas 120cm x 190cm
    Sea state force 10 - Battling with the Villians of Ure, 2020
    oil on canvas
    120cm x 190cm
  • Sea state force 10 - Trawler on the skerries, 2020 oil on canvas 82cm x 95cm
    Sea state force 10 - Trawler on the skerries, 2020
    oil on canvas
    82cm x 95cm
  • Sea state force 10 - Waves breaking on the Clett, Silwick, 2020 oil on canvas 122cm x 183cm
    Sea state force 10 - Waves breaking on the Clett, Silwick, 2020
    oil on canvas
    122cm x 183cm
  • Sea state force 10 - White sea surface, Unst, 2020 oil on canvas 80cm x 80cm
    Sea state force 10 - White sea surface, Unst, 2020
    oil on canvas
    80cm x 80cm
  • Sea state force 11 - Racing waves on the Clett, Silwick , 2020 oil on canvas 80cm x 95cm
    Sea state force 11 - Racing waves on the Clett, Silwick , 2020
    oil on canvas
    80cm x 95cm
  • Sea state force 12 - Cresting waves and spray, 2020 oil on canvas 76cm x 102cm
    Sea state force 12 - Cresting waves and spray, 2020
    oil on canvas
    76cm x 102cm
  • Sea state force 12 - Hurricane Abigail, Scatness, 2020 oil on canvas 153cm x 183cm
    Sea state force 12 - Hurricane Abigail, Scatness, 2020
    oil on canvas
    153cm x 183cm
  • Sea state force 2 - Small waves, bright day, 2020 oil on canvas 80cm x 120cm
    Sea state force 2 - Small waves, bright day, 2020
    oil on canvas
    80cm x 120cm
  • Sea state force 4 - Frequent white waves, 2020 oil on canvas 90cm x 120cm
    Sea state force 4 - Frequent white waves, 2020
    oil on canvas
    90cm x 120cm
  • Sea state force 7 - Sea heaping up, 2020 oil on canvas 100cm x 100cm
    Sea state force 7 - Sea heaping up, 2020
    oil on canvas
    100cm x 100cm
  • Sea state force 7 - Waves racing inland , 2020 oil on canvas 80cm x 80cm
    Sea state force 7 - Waves racing inland , 2020
    oil on canvas
    80cm x 80cm
  • Sea state force 8 - High waves and spindrift, 2020 oil on canvas 100cm x 100cm
    Sea state force 8 - High waves and spindrift, 2020
    oil on canvas
    100cm x 100cm
  • Sea state force 9 - Visibility affected, 2020 oil on canvas 100cm x 140cm
    Sea state force 9 - Visibility affected, 2020
    oil on canvas
    100cm x 140cm
  • Sea state force 9 - Waves toppling and tumbling, 2020 oil on canvas 80cm x 101cm
    Sea state force 9 - Waves toppling and tumbling, 2020
    oil on canvas
    80cm x 101cm
Publications
  • States of Sea

    States of Sea

    Janette Kerr 2020 Catalogue Read more

Related artist

  • Janette Kerr

    Janette Kerr

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