Rediscovering a suppressed passion for artistic creation
WHEN Joanie Ross talks about the inspiration behind her textiles and sculptures her eyes light up and it is obvious she has a deep passion for what she does.
"You’re on a high and when your doing things that are working, there is nothing like it," said the 50-year-old from Lochardil.
"It’s a brilliant feeling.
"I’m quite intuitive, as a lot of people plan art, but I don’t. I just get a feeling and try my ideas out."
She finished her HNC in Contemporary Art Practice at Inverness College before the summer and her work has positively turned heads, now being exhibited at the Hung Gallery, a new contemporary art and craft gallery in Lombard Street, Inverness, until 30th September.
"It’s about Highland culture and its struggles," Mrs Ross explained.
"It’s the sea that keeps the islands going but without fishing they’re going to find it very difficult."
From an early age, when she lived in Skye, Mrs Ross had an artistic flair and would collect shells, stones and glass from the shoreline and take them back home where she would make collages on her lawn.
"I love looking at stuff and pick up stuff and that is when I’m most comfortable and I love being by the sea.
"My work is abstract, I look at shapes and the colours and create something from that."
When she was 12 years old, her family moved to Inverness and she continued to enjoy art at school.
However, after leaving aged 17, Mrs Ross took up a job as an auxiliary nurse at Raigmore Hospital.
"It wasn’t something I wanted to do," said the mother of three. "I started that when I was 17 and then I had my children and after that I never went back to work until 2000 when I became a occupational therapy support worker."
It was then her love of art resurfaced, as art therapy was included in her job and before long she decided to leave to take it up again.
Initially just looking for an evening class, Mrs Ross received a phone call from the course technician, Maggie Kinghorn, who persuaded her to apply for the HNC.
"I didn’t want to do a course but she said, come and try it out, and I did and I loved it," Mrs Ross recalled.
"It was full of young people and it was a big step for someone at my age to go back to learning and I did find it quite daunting. I was quite worried but I met so many friends and had so much support."
From painting and printing to textiles and sculpture, Mrs Ross felt at home and her creative side flourished. "I realised how much I was wasting my talent and I was doing things I wasn’t really enjoying and when I started doing art again I felt really at home and at peace with myself."
Using raw materials including slate, metal and textile, Mrs Ross’s artwork is brought to life.
Chasing the Herring, a piece representing the decline in the fishing industry, captures the eye with a skeleton boat, made from metal with fish made from slate suspended from it.
She admits to looking to Highland history and culture for her inspiration — from the Highland Clearances in the 18th and 19th century to the modern day.
Sea waves, storms, April showers and summer sunshine are represented in her equally inspiring textile pieces.
"I used calico, a stiff cotton and I painted it over with material paint and then mixed the oils so it’s more like a watercolour painting.
"The shapes are made from silk ends and I also incorporated slate."
One wall of the exhibition is dedicated to her slate pieces, with each one telling a different story.
"People have their own translations of my art and that is what I want, I don’t want to make it literal," she added.
With government cuts largely affecting the arts and culture sector, Mrs Ross believes more should be done to protect it.
"It’s difficult though, especially for young artists wanting to make a career out of it, as they don’t really have support. There is so much talent out there and a lot of them go off and do another job.
"The government should give more advice to artists about how to go on and build a business out of it."
Asked what her plans are for the future, Mrs Ross said she is happy if she can keep producing new pieces from the studio in her back garden.
"It’s really a hobby, I’m not going to make a career out of it and I don’t look for profit," she said.
After her exhibition comes to an end on 30th September, Mrs Ross will be working hard to create new designs for the winter exhibition at Inchmore Gallery near Beauly in November.
