JENNY RYRIE

ELEMENTAL LANGUAGE

A SOLO EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS

BY JENNY RYRIE RBSA

THE SALTHOUSE, NORWAY SQUARE, ST IVES, CORNWALL

26 SEPTEMBER - 1 OCTOBER 2014

Jenny Ryrie R.B.S.A. is based in Chester but spends much of her

time in Cornwall, painting the abstracted forms of rocks, headlands

and shorelines interlocked with ocean and sky; the transcendental

effects of sunlight and rain over moving water and the elusive

interactions between land and sea.

This series of recent paintings searches deeper into the dynamics

and substance of those natural energies, and the meaning to be

found in their elemental qualities.

“My paintings are about the energies and poetry of the coastal

landscape. I am moved by the underlying mystery of Nature, and

the resonance between its powerful moods and our own human

emotions. We are fascinated by the constantly changing tides and

weather, by the rolling drama both day and night of sky, sea and

land, from the sweep of the ocean to intimate details of strandline

and rock pools. Nature speaks to us but it can be an elusive

language to translate; we feel but cannot articulate. Similarly an

abstracted painting can be difficult to explain in words, but can be

understood intuitively. The paintings in this exhibition use a

vocabulary of colour, light and calligraphic line in an attempt to

decipher the language of nature, to bring us closer to its spiritual

rather than physical meaning. The creative process is for me an

ongoing journey of how to break through invisible and

metaphorical barriers of communication whether in Nature or in

painting, or even between life and death.”

Themes of light, fluidity and translucency underlie the paintings,

which are executed in water-based media on paper and canvas.

Ryrie has specialised throughout her career in an experimental

use of watercolour. She comes from a long line of watercolourists,

including her great-great-great grandfather William Evans of Eton

(1798-1877).

She studied at Edinburgh College of Art and University graduating

with an M.A. in Fine Art in 1980. She has exhibited widely, from the

Thackeray Gallery, London and Belgrave, St Ives to Canyon Road

Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico and Ekaterinburg

Museum of Fine Art, Russia. Between 2004 and 2006 her work

appeared regularly with Castle Street Gallery, Hay-on-Wye during

the Hay Literature Festival. In March 2015 she will be exhibiting at

the Ways with Words Literature Festival at the Theatre By The

Lake, Keswick.

Accompanying the exhibition is a series of poems by the artist.

Their imagery is lyrical and intuitive, exploring the same elemental

themes as the paintings, but through words rather than paint.

Jenny Ryrie R.B.S.A.

Exhibition presented by The Book Gallery St Ives