About

THE PROJECT

For twelve months during 2007, Jane Ponsford was artist in residence at St. George’s Church, Esher working on a series of temporary site-specific artworks throughout the commons and woodlands of Elmbridge in Surrey. The project, ‘Papertrails’ was inspired by the natural environment and aimed to celebrate the particular beauties of the local landscape through the seasons.

This is the archive of ‘Papertrails’ which included exhibitions, open studios at St George’s Church and opportunities to join in with activities ranging from papermaking workshops for adults to children’s days making trails and sculptures outside.

February 2007 – February 2008
The Residency:

While working on the project Jane Ponsford will be artist in residence at St George’s Church, Esher in Surrey. She is the inaugural artist in residence at this beautiful building and will be there for 12 months from February 2007. The residency gives the opportunity for Jane to work in inspiring surroundings and gives people a chance to see an artist at work. During her stay there will be regular open days, exhibitions and workshops as well as drop in days on most Fridays between9.00 and 3.00. To see how you can get involved in any of the activities, look at the events page for details or email the artist with any questions.

Details of the project as it develops can also be seen on the Blog page on this website or on: https://www.a-n.co.uk/blogs/papertrails-residency/

Photograph 2007 Jacqueline Banerjee http://www.victorianweb.org

The Work:

Jane will be working on a series of site-specific sculptures in the landscape of the Elmbridge Commons. The themes of her work will be drawing, trails and enclosures.

“I don’t want to predetermine the pieces too much because the essential thing about them will be their ability to respond to the changing light or the turning seasons. These pieces would be made, photographed and removed and work made in the studio would be based on castings of fragments found in (and returned to) the landscape.

Rather than making monuments; I want to highlight the particular beauties of a place at a particular time in a particular season. I see the work as being ephemeral, intervening in the space and then being taken down. What would remain would be a series of photographs and the studio work.

What I hope to achieve here is to direct the view upon these everyday, familiar places in a focused and concentrated way.”

As part of her work at St George’s Church Jane will be making a “book” made up of sheets of handmade paper, one for each day of her residency…so 365 at the end of her stay. These sheets will be coloured and impressed with material found each day and will form a kind of diary of the year.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Jane Ponsford has exhibited nationally in exhibitions, which vary from large diverse ones like the Discerning Eye in London to small, focused ones such as Pulped at the Thelma Hulbert Gallery in Honiton. She also teaches and runs workshops. She has been using paper as a sculptural medium for over 10 years and has worked with a variety of other artists on joint projects. Her work was featured in a book, Paper: An Inspirational Portfolio by Gabrielle Falkiner.

Her work is concerned with accumulating and ordering fragments into a structure. This is like constructing a narrative or drawing. She uses repeated small detail to delineate simple shapes, grids, lines or fields that focus the gaze.

She is inspired by structures and shapes found in nature, the webs of connections that you find in plants or cells. Her work is often ephemeral and delicate and involves repetitive, laborious processes, constructing sculptural forms made up of hundreds of near identical fragments.

“The particular qualities of each material I use are important to me. Recently I have concentrated on paper, most of which I make myself. The process of transforming or recycling fibres to make paper makes it very special and removes it from its everyday ubiquitous role. In terms of using paper as a sculptural medium its ephemeral nature lends it particular qualities of lightness and transience and its association with books and messages is important to me. As a material it can be dyed, stained, embossed, cast, embedded with wires and threads, wrapped, hung and torn. But it isn’t just an abstract material, when I stain it with mud it becomes part of the walk that I took and if I dye it, working with it is like drawing in the air with pure colour.”

Jane Ponsford’s work can also be seen on: www.axisweb.org/artist/janeponsford