GALLERY
We are pleased to present in this issue of Gallery two inspirational young women artists, Hannah Evans and Jorja Scott. Both Hannah and Jorja are talented young artists in the early stages of their creative journey – a journey which is sure to produce work that will bring pleasure to the viewer (as they have already started to indicate with the work shown here). Below are some background details about them.
Hannah Evans has a rare genetic condition that causes learning difficulties and visual impairment. Despite this, at the age of fifteen she is a self-driven, competent artist. Although she can paint representationally she prefers a more abstract approach . She is inspired by lots of artists and from a young age has known what she likes. Favourites are Paul Klee and David Hockney, Picasso, Miro, Hundertwasser, all aboriginal art and the work of Scottish artists like Edgar, Phipps, Cherubini and Williamson. Colour is her world and inspiration. It is as if she lives in a rainbow and radiates joy, enthusiasm and energy. This comes through in her strong sensitivity to subtle colour differences.
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Her rare visual impairment helps Hannah achieve the unique soft focus she wants to create in some of her digital images. Hannah loves experimenting with techniques. She only needs to be shown once or indeed discovers a technique for herself when she goes ahead to confidently apply it. This includes mixing subtle colours, complex mono prints, drip and wet on wet, painting with floor brushes, body parts and throwing paint, melting textiles with a heat gun to make abstract collages and the use of a blow lamp to melt fine silver when making jewellery. Inventions include using dust from a vacuum cleaner in combination with pen drawing to make art and her deliberately “out of focus” digital technique to produce lyrical abstracts where often the only point of focus is the highlights. In her drawing she has developed her own visual language from a young age. She is self-referential, never wanting to be influenced by her peers. Invention is a driving force for her and she therefore never ceases to surprise! Perhaps most important of all she is very decisive and always knows instinctively when something is finished!
I’m Jorja Scott, I’m 19 and currently studying Graphic Design at Edinburgh College. During the pandemic I was studying A Level Art in my last year of James Gillespie’s High School which turned out to be one of the hardest years I’ve been through. Art really did help me get through this, I found it comforting and calming when life went downhill as I dedicated and drew most of my artwork for my Nana. Most of my work was based around the impact of having a family member in hospital that I couldn’t visit much because of the pandemic and school. The main inspiration for my work was taken from this experience and based on the feeling of trapped and isolated which is why most of it features some sort of metal fencing or geometric patterns that resemble fencing. Pieces also feature images of edited fences that I had created throughout the year and manipulated them to create interesting patterns that show how trapped we were in lockdown. Later this idea evolved into using the fencing images in leaflets, posters, and signs for stroke awareness since it slightly resembled brain pathways and related to the situation with a grandparent in hospital. My final outcome for A Level was a stroke awareness billboard to be placed in hospitals or schools to educate what a stroke is and how to handle it while using the fencing theme to create these “pathways” and help the viewer’s eyes across the design.
HANNAH EVANS
JORJA SCOTT
