Acquisition by Museum and Art Swindon
Rowena (Bowleaze Cove) 2012 - Cultural Olympics - commission
(oil on canvas 170 x 120cms)
"http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-16754528" 2012 Arts Council - commission for Cultural Olympiad: Sherbourne House Arts and B- side maritime mix. Body Extreme- portrait for Weymouth and Portland
In 2012 I was commissioned Sherborne House Arts and B-side, on behalf of the Cultural Olympiad to produce a portrait of a local person who used their body to the extreme. For this project the commissioners put out advertisements and a media call out for a local person to pose for me. From a large number of applicants and discussions with the commissioners a shortlist was made... and I was asked to participate in the interviewing of the applicants with the commissioners. This had to be completed in time for it to be photographed with a large format camera, made into a large poster format, printed and put in various sites all around Weymouth and Portland (shopping centres, bus stops and public spaces) in time for the Olympics. . My creative response to the brief was to focus on the athlete in repose. I painted a ordinary young woman (a triathlete) seated by a window, but posing her in a similar way to the old paintings of saints with their “attributes”...Rowena’s (the sitter) attributes being the items she used in her sport; swim, run, cycle...(The connotations of the number 3 became important here too.) I made sure the place where she practiced her sport was evident and had significance for local people: The view from the window is Bowleaze Cove in Weymouth, Dorset; a premier spot for triathletes. The picture on the wall in the painting, is a famous painting of Bowleaze Cove by John Constable made in 1816 -1817 and held in The National Gallery London .
Through this work I had hoped to take away the elite elements of participating in sport and focus on the achievement and dedication of an ordinary local young woman in a landscape full of history .
