ABOUT JAN

From an initial training in painting, printmaking, and calligraphy at Guildford School of Art, I've explored a wide range of materials and styles in response to the various demands of Public Art and other commissions.

In 3-dimensional work I fuse ceramic and glass for mosaics and sculpture, often combining these pieces with reclaimed and found materials....... I love the vibrancy of light passing through glass, and the extraordinary richness of shape and variety to be found in something so ordinary as a a broken toy or squashed can on the road …. things abandoned, unvalued, lost, changed.....especially toys, partly from the power of their archetypal imagery and also from concern about the huge environmental impact of plastics and oil......the work becomes a metaphor perhaps for survival and re-creation....

Since acquiring in 2006 an archival-quality Giclée inkjet printer I've been developing scanner-photography for fine-art printwork; subject matter ranges from plant material to the surreal worlds of toys and industrial products.

I teach short courses in my Devon studio, and run occasional community projects.

Jan O'Highway preparing mosaic pieces

© Jan O'Highway 2011

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