I discovered
Katherine Jones’ work a few weeks before Christmas at a new print fair that was being held on London’s South Bank, just behind Tate Modern near the Jerwood Space. Eyestorm had been invited to show there but with our busy autumn schedule we just couldn’t fit it in, so I decided to just visit this time around to see what it was all about. After passing a few stands including one held by the Royal College of Art, I spotted Katherine’s prints on a back wall and was instantly drawn in. Before long I was chatting to Katherine herself who happened to be manning the stand at the time, which lead to a visit to her studio and the selection of work we’re presenting today.
One of the first things that strikes you about Katherine Jones’ prints is their hand-crafted beauty which she achieves by using traditional printmaking techniques such as collagraphy, where textured materials are attached to a cardboard or metal base (rather like a collage as the title suggests) which is then inked and printed through an etching press onto paper. Katherine first started working in this way while at college because it was simple and affordable, but after seeing the results and introducing etching and block-printing into the process, she realised the potential of going back to basics and has continued to work in this way throughout her professional career, thankfully, as since then some quite stunning works have been produced.
There are parallels to be drawn between Katherine’s chosen printing technique and the subjects she explores in her work, one being the reoccurring appearance of the house. One of the first motifs we draw as a child (thus bringing things back to the beginning), the concept of the house is significant. Symbolic in many ways, it conjures up references to home, stability, shelter and protection, and forms the basis of many of Katherine’s most recent works. The house is a solid starting point for Katherine that evolves during the printing process, which eventually takes control, and she likes the idea of this, rather than trying to hold on to pre-conceived ideas about how a finished piece should look.
The houses that appear in these works tend not to be a house that you or I might live in, but instead large hollow structures that appear almost like green houses, which often seem to be radiating a strong glowing warm artificial light. Inspired by Victorian glasshouses, such as London’s short-lived Crystal Palace, as well as recent events that have seen homes lost due to coastal erosion in the UK, Katherine’s houses often appear abandoned and away from the rest of the landscape, either elevated high up above the horizon, submerged in water or floating off the edge of the cliff like a ghostly illusion. By placing the houses in this way, she counterbalances the initial sense of protection and security experienced on first association with that of suffocation, claustrophobia and suppression, giving the works a sinister edge that suggests imbalance, unease and a fear of isolation.
While looking into Katherine’s way of working to research her practice and write this piece, I’ve discovered that anything may inspire her to make a series of works, which she then very much gives her all. The prints
Tear,
The Lip and
The Belly Pot are from a series she made after watching an extract from the film ‘A Potter’s World’, which shows British, Hong Kong-born potter Bernard Leach describe the objects he makes as living things with human characteristics such as honesty, strength and charm. So moved by the footage, which is really quite beautiful and I’d urge you to watch it if you can, Katherine wanted to celebrate Leach’s theories through her own work and these pieces feature pot-like forms in Chinese ‘Han’ blue, with titles that relate to both the shape of said structures but most importantly to living beings.
Intelligent, well-thought out and visually captivating, I hope you can find the time to discover what I have about Katherine’s award-winning work, which is held in collections such as the V&A and the House of Lords. See more of her limited edition prints
here.