Heather Jansch

Last updated

Heather Jansch
Heather Jansch 03-08-1948 to 05-07-2021.jpg
Jansch at work in her studio in Olchard, Devon
Born
Heather Rosemary Sewell [1]

(1948-08-03)August 3, 1948 [2]
Hockley, Essex
Died5 July 2021
Olchard, Devon
Education Walthamstow Technical College and
Goldsmiths College [1]
OccupationSculptor
Years active1968–2021
Notable workDriftwood horses
Spouse Bert Jansch (divorced) [1]
ChildrenKieron Jansch
Website www.heatherjansch.com

Heather Jansch (born Heather Rosemary Sewell) was a British sculptor notable for making life-sized sculptures of horses from driftwood. [3] [4] Jansch reported that she struggled in her youth academically, but had a passion for drawing and writing. She attended Walthamstow Technical College for her Foundation year and from there gained a place at Goldsmith's. This proved a great disappointment, as figurative art was greatly derided there at the time. She left after the first year. [5]

Contents

While at Walthamstow, in 1967, she had met the musician Roy Harper. It was Harper who introduced her to the already renowned guitarist Bert Jansch, whom she married in 1968. [1] They had a son, Kieron, now a filmmaker, in 1971. They separated in 1974 and divorced some years later. [6]

She bought a small hill farm in Dyfed, breeding Welsh cobs [1] and specialized in painting traditional equestrian portraits until starting to sculpt in the 80s. Discovering driftwood as a medium for sculpture proved revelatory. Heather spent many years perfecting the translation of her complex work into bronze, pioneering a technique that made them indistinguishable from the driftwood original. [7]

By 1986 she was exhibiting sculpture regularly with Courcoux and Courcoux, a leading provincial contemporary gallery then based in Salisbury that took her work to the London Contemporary Art Fair where it received very favourable reviews. [8]

Her life-size driftwood horses became her hallmark and in 1999 were featured in the Shape of the Century 100 Years of Sculpture in Britain at Salisbury Cathedral. [9] The exhibition was then taken to London's Canary Wharf as part of the millennium celebrations in 2000 where her horses caught the attention of Tim Smit, founder of the Eden Project; she was invited to become one of their resident artists. Her horse was voted the most popular art work there and has since become widely known as The Eden Horse. [6]

There are pieces by Heather Jansch in private collections around the world including in the US, Canada, Switzerland, France and Romania. She exhibited internationally on a number of occasions, including, in 2007, as artist in residence at Arte Sella in Borgo Valsugana, Italy. [6]

A life-long writer, in 2009 Jansch set up Olchard Press. She published "Heather Jansch's Diary", "Bert Jansch: Living with the Legend" about her life with Bert, and ruminations on her expeditions to Italy, "The Italian Job", released in Summer 2021. [6]

She died, following a stroke, on 5 July 2021 at Olchard, Devon. [6]

"Apollo" by Heather Jansch. Bronze cast from the driftwood original, shown fresh from construction in the foundry at Basingstoke. "Apollo" by Heather Jansch.jpg
"Apollo" by Heather Jansch. Bronze cast from the driftwood original, shown fresh from construction in the foundry at Basingstoke.
Chinoise by Heather Jansch, 2007. Bronze. Chinoise by Heather Jansch 2007.jpg
Chinoise by Heather Jansch, 2007. Bronze.
The Eden Horse by Heather Jansch, 2002 The Eden Horse by Heather Jansch 2002.jpg
The Eden Horse by Heather Jansch, 2002

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eden Project</span> Visitor attraction in Cornwall, United Kingdom

The Eden Project is a visitor attraction in Cornwall, England. The project is located in a reclaimed china clay pit, located 2 km (1.2 mi) from the town of St Blazey and 5 km (3 mi) from the larger town of St Austell.

An equestrian statue is a statue of a rider mounted on a horse, from the Latin eques, meaning 'knight', deriving from equus, meaning 'horse'. A statue of a riderless horse is strictly an equine statue. A full-sized equestrian statue is a difficult and expensive object for any culture to produce, and figures have typically been portraits of rulers or, in the Renaissance and more recently, military commanders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bert Jansch</span> Scottish folk musician (1943–2011)

Herbert Jansch was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s as an acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter. He recorded more than 28 albums and toured extensively from the 1960s to the 21st century.

Herbert Chevalier Haseltine (1877–1962) was an Italian-born French/American animalier sculptor, most known as an Equestrian sculptor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paolo Troubetzkoy</span> Russian sculptor

Prince Paolo Petrovich Troubetzkoy was an artist and a sculptor who was described by George Bernard Shaw as "the most astonishing sculptor of modern times". By birth, he was a member of the ancient House of Trubetskoy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pietro Tacca</span> Italian sculptor

Pietro Tacca was an Italian sculptor, who was the chief pupil and follower of Giambologna. Tacca began in a Mannerist style and worked in the Baroque style during his maturity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adrian Jones (sculptor)</span> English sculptor and painter

Alfred Adrian Jones was an English sculptor and painter who specialized in depicting animals, particularly horses. Before becoming a full-time artist he was an army veterinary surgeon for twenty-three years. On retirement from the Army, Jones established himself as an artist with a studio in London. He became a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy and in commercial galleries from 1884 onwards. His training as a veterinary surgeon gave him a deep knowledge of equine anatomy which he used in his work to great effect. He created the sculpture Peace descending on the Quadriga of War, on top of the Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner in London. Following both the Boer War and World War I, Jones created a number of notable war memorials including the Royal Marines Memorial and the Cavalry of the Empire Memorial, both in central London. Alongside the public monuments he created, Jones made equestrian and equine statuettes and portrait busts. Whilst well known as a sculptor, Jones was also an accomplished painter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Hyatt Huntington</span> American sculptor (1876–1973)

Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington was an American sculptor who was among New York City's most prominent sculptors in the early 20th century. At a time when very few women were successful artists, she had a thriving career. Hyatt Huntington exhibited often, traveled widely, received critical acclaim at home and abroad, and won multiple awards and commissions.

<i>From the Outside</i> (Bert Jansch album) 1985 studio album by Bert Jansch

From the Outside is the 15th studio album by Scottish folk musician Bert Jansch. This album was released as a limited edition of 500 copies in Belgium in 1985. From The Outside was available in the UK as well, but was released by an unknown label.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Randall-Page</span> British artist and sculptor (born 1954)

Peter Randall-Page RA is a British artist and sculptor, known for his stone sculpture work, inspired by geometric patterns from nature. In his words "geometry is the theme on which nature plays her infinite variations, fundamental mathematical principle become a kind of pattern book from which nature constructs the most complex and sophisticated structures".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judith Shea</span> American sculptor and artist (born 1948)

Judith Shea is an American sculptor and artist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1948. She received a degree in fashion design at Parsons School of Design in 1969 and a BFA in 1975. This dual education formed the basis for her figure based works. Her career has three distinct phases: The use of cloth and clothing forms from 1974 to 1981; Hollow cast metal clothing-figure forms from 1982 until 1991; and carved full-figure statues made of wood, cloth, clay, foam and hair beginning in 1990 to present.

<i>Leonardos horse</i> Unfinished sculpture by Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo's Horse is a project for a bronze sculpture that was commissioned from Leonardo da Vinci in 1482 by the Duke of Milan Ludovico il Moro, but never completed. It was intended to be the largest equestrian statue in the world, a monument to the duke's father Francesco Sforza. Leonardo did extensive preparatory work for it but produced only a large clay model, which was later destroyed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breeders' Cup trophies</span>

The Breeders’ Cup Trophy is an authentic and totally faithful bronze reproduction of the Torrie horse. The original was created in Florence, Italy by Giovanni da Bologna, around the late 1580s. Each year the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships award to the winner of each of 14 races a garland of flowers draped over the withers of the winning horse and four Breeders' Cup Trophy presented to the connections of the winners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Equestrian statue of Philip Sheridan (Washington, D.C.)</span> Bronze sculpture by Gutzon Borglum

General Philip Sheridan is a bronze sculpture that honors Civil War general Philip Sheridan. The monument was sculpted by Gutzon Borglum, best known for his design of Mount Rushmore. Dedicated in 1908, dignitaries in attendance at the unveiling ceremony included President Theodore Roosevelt, members of the President's cabinet, high-ranking military officers and veterans from the Civil War and Spanish–American War. The equestrian statue is located in the center of Sheridan Circle in the Sheridan-Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The bronze statue, surrounded by a plaza and park, is one of eighteen Civil War monuments in Washington, D.C., which were collectively listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The sculpture and surrounding park are owned and maintained by the National Park Service, a federal agency of the Interior Department.

Sophie Ryder is a British sculptor, painter, printmaker and collagist known for her large wire structures. Ryder typically uses bronze, wet plaster embedded with found materials, sheet metal, marble, and stained glass.

Althea Kathleen Wynne, also known by her married names of Dresman and Barrington Brown, was an English sculptor and art teacher, and a Fellow of the Royal British Society of Sculptors. She specialized in creating large figurative work for gardens and public open spaces.

<i>The Arts of War</i> and <i>The Arts of Peace</i>

The Arts of War and The Arts of Peace are bronze, fire-gilded statue groups on Lincoln Memorial Circle in West Potomac Park in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Commissioned in 1929 to complement the plaza constructed on the east side of the Lincoln Memorial as part of the Arlington Memorial Bridge approaches, their completion was delayed until 1939 for budgetary reasons. The models were placed into storage, and the statues not cast until 1950. They were erected in 1951, and repaired in 1974.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Williams-Ellis</span> British sculptor (born 1959)

David Williams-Ellis is a British sculptor whose primary subject matter is the human figure.

Felicity Katherine Sarah Askew was a British artist, notable for her paintings and sculptures of horses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Equestrian statue of Israel Putnam</span> Created 1969 by Anna Hyatt Huntington

General Israel Putnam, also known as Putnam's Escape at Horseneck, is an equestrian statue at the Putnam Memorial State Park in Redding, Connecticut, United States. The statue was designed by sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington and dedicated in 1969 in honor of Connecticut native Israel Putnam, a military officer who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Heather Jansch – Profile". Heatherjansch.com. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  2. C. Jordan (12 May 2009). "Amazing Art: The Dynamic Driftwood Horse Sculptures of Heather Jansch". Quazen.com.[ unreliable source? ]
  3. Lisa Allardice (22 August 2009). "Knocking on Devon's doors". The Guardian . Retrieved 5 March 2011. One of the undoubted highlights of our tour was a visit to the studio of Heather Jansch – Devon's answer to Damien Hirst – in Olchard, where her strikingly beautiful life-size horse sculptures, crafted from driftwood salvaged from nearby beaches, seem so alive as to almost sniff the air of her pretty wilderness garden.
  4. Susan Allen Toth (22 July 2001). "More Than One Eden in Cornwall". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 March 2011. ... The Eden Project: Heather Jansch's cork and wood sculpture in the Visitor Center; ...
  5. "100 Notable alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London". EduRank.org. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Jansch, Kieron (3 August 2021). "Heather Jansch obituary". The Guardian . Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  7. Kamaruzaman, Muhamad Fairus; Hassan, Oskar Hasdinor; Anwar, Rusmadiah; Abidin, Shahriman Zainal, eds. (22 September 2015). Proceedings of the International Symposium on Research of Arts, Design and Humanities (ISRADH 2014). Springer Nature Singapore. p. 165. ISBN   9789812875303 . Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  8. "The estate of Heather Jansch (1948-2021) announces exhibitions". EquestrianBusiness.net. 18 November 2021. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  9. "Heather Jansch | Arthus Gallery".