I am a widely exhibited oil painter and etcher whose practice has increasingly centred on time spent by the sea. Freedom and movement have become a thread running through my work.
My etchings explore the relationship between individual and collective freedom through the behaviour of birds in flight. Flocks offer a way to think about autonomy, interdependence and the patterns created when many small decisions form a larger movement. Taking Wing, like much of my printmaking, reflects this tension between personal impulse and shared direction.
By contrast, my paintings have turned towards the openness of sky and sea. I’m drawn to the instability of weather, the strength of water and the challenge of holding something so transient in paint and ink. Movement and impermanence sit at the centre of both strands of my practice.
In recent years I’ve taken my life‑drawing discipline outdoors, working plein air along the coast and learning to respond quickly to shifting conditions. I have spent a week with the Society of Wildlife Artists focusing on drawing seabirds, undertook a residency as crew on a yacht in the Inner Hebrides, and spend as much time as I can on the coast.
Across painting and printmaking, I aim to make work that acknowledges change, embraces uncertainty and reflects the freedom found in responding to what is happening immediately around us.
Jane Gardiner is a Glasgow‑based painter and printmaker whose work explores movement, pattern and the shifting edge between land, sea and sky - a natural fit for Norfolk. Her work has been shown widely across the UK, including the BP Portrait Exhibition, the SWLA, the RSA and several other open competitions.
The prints in this exhibition -Dancing, Puffinus Puffinus and King of All Birds - continue her exploration of seabirds, flight and the rhythms of the coastline. Rooted in close observation and long hours spent by the shore, her images hold a balance of energy and stillness.