Jane Darke has been living in Cornwall
since 1990 when her husband, playwright and Cornishman Nick Darke, moved back
home. They met twenty five years ago and over the years shared Nick’s
skills as lobster fishermen and wrecker (beachcomber) and raised two children
together. Nick died in June 2005.
Jane Darke studied printed textiles at Middlesex University and the Royal
College of Art specialising in large hand painted cloths of wool and silk.
On leaving college she was encouraged to paint. Her later interest in beaches
and their natural history lead her to do part of an Open University degree
in Earth Sciences. She has worked as a painter since 1985.
“My work had always been
of little corners of our life. When we moved to Cornwall the key experiences
became fishing and wrecking. I paint landscapes, portraits and still life,
places and objects which are familiar and part of my everyday life. Lobsters,
fish, flowers, beaches and beach finds.”
Jane’s paintings are colourful and intense. She works in oil on large
canvases.
In 2001 Nick Darke had a stroke which affected his speech, reading and writing.
As part of his rehabilitation Jane recorded his recovery. This became “Dumbstruck”
broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2002 and repeated twice since then.
This working partnership was repeated on their film “The wrecking Season”
completed December 2004. This was a commission from the Arts Council for Nick
to work in another medium. Nick wrote and narrated, Jane filmed and directed.
Jane was awarded the First Time Director award at The Celtic Film and Television
Festival. It has since been bought by the BBC, broadcast 22 July 2005.
This film is a very special expression of Cornwall’s place in the Atlantic
communities, tracing objects found on Cornish beaches back to their source
in the Americas, establishing the similarities between all coastal communities
by talking to their people.
Jane and Nick became the experts on marine transported objects in Europe;
seeds from the Carribean, fishing tags from Newfoundland, tropical hardwoods.
Jane’s present project is expressing this knowledge on canvas with a
new series of large paintings of found objects from Cornish beaches. She is
also working on the book of The Wrecking Season.
She works to commission. Contact is through lobsterman@ukonline.co.uk
The Wrecking season can be bought from www.thewreckingseason.com