Jane Grocott

August 2024

Jane Grocott (b. 2000 Durham, North Carolina) grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba and graduated with a BFA from Emily Carr University of Art + Design in 2023. She is now living and working in Vancouver on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations.

Guided by the materiality of paint, Grocott works from a personal archive of pictures taken from daily life, social media, and various historical painting references. These images act as foundations from which abstraction emerges as she determines when to represent or misrepresent the elements of an image.

A key part of her work centres around embracing complexity and exploring the tension of in-betweens; between figuration and abstraction, control versus abandon, and presence of form over absence. Her painting inquiry is sustained by the endless task of absorbing a constant influx of visual information and discovering new ways of deciphering it through paint.

The SAR provided an opportunity for me to give my undivided attention to my practice away from the routines of daily life in the city. With this time I was able to experiment and branch out into mediums that I hadn’t yet explored before. I filled every day with reading, writing, drawing and expanding my process before starting to paint and of course exploring the landscape on my bike and driving to neighbouring towns. I quickly got into the routine of jumping in the river after a full day in the studio and left the SAR wishing I could stay longer.

Jane Grocott, Testimonial