The Exciting World of Jane Fielder Exhibition

Do artists see the world differently? A good case can be made for Bingley’s Jane Fielder. Her bright and often quirky ‘Janescapes’ depict scenes that are recognisably familiar but filled with detailed observations that the casual observer would have missed. Were the couple really dancing in the street? Are the birds chasing the cat? and why does every picture include a washing line? In  Jane’s hands the ordinary becomes magical. There’s one view in particular that Jane returns to, always finding something new. As the artist explains of one work, ’Patterned Cows Racing’. “This is from my favourite balcony in Limefield Mills, overlooking the canal near Micklethwaite bridge, where the geese gather for the night. Heiki, the lovely man who owns the flat, told me that at 5 o'clock the cows would come. I was not disappointed. On the dot, the most wonderfully coloured and patterned cows I had ever seen, appeared at the top of the hill and came racing and skipping to drink from the pool by the canal. I too had to race to capture their antics with my paints.”

However, Jane’s work has never been limited to landscapes. The new exhibition reveals a much wider repertoire, with a very wide selection of media and subjects. As an advocate of life drawing, she organises classes for other artists. When covid restrictions began to lift, but people remained cautious, these were relocated to Jane’s garden and neighbours might have been surprised to find naked models relaxing on her lawn. It was these informal relaxed moments between formal poses that Jane chose to portray and which resulted in a series of paintings on silk.

Jane’s work moves easily from the serious to the fun. An actual plum stalk, glued to a board, with a little pen work becomes the head of a dog. Jane originally trained and worked as a teacher, but after studying Textile Design at Bradford & Ilkley Community College, she left teaching to concentrate on painting and founded the Bingley Gallery. This venue continues to be the main outlet of Jane’s work and is hosting a solo show for the artist. She has been working towards this for many months. ‘The Exciting World of Jane Fielder’ reflects Jane’s joy of life. ‘The first thing I do each morning (after my cup of tea in bed) is look out of the window and feast my eyes and think how lucky I am: birds, squirrels, a huge copper beech, the colour from the last roses, fuschias and ice plants, the small slide and skateboard ramp built for my now grown-up children, the pathway of logs we built and then beyond the garden to the hills of St Ives. All lie before me and always make my heart flutter’.

The exhibition runs form 6 October to 13 November.