Silsden-based artist, Jo Whitehead has practiced as an illustrator for 35+ years. She studied Textiles at Harrow School of Art in the 1980 and then worked as an illustrator in London before moving to West Yorkshire in 1988. She writes:
I work in gouache, acrylic paint and sumi ink. My influences are birds, maps, Japanese themes and allotments. I have had a career in art teaching and also business development for organisations including Keighley College, Leeds City College and South Square Gallery, Thornton.
Peony Tree Gold.
For twenty years, Jo worked predominantly as a glass artist, designing and making glass tableware. She exhibited her glass artwork across the region, including at the Yorkshire Craft Centre, Bradford; Ilkley Art Trail; Saltaire Arts Trail; Otley Courthouse Theatre; and at the Dye House Gallery, Bradford College, where her work was featured in the Bradford College ‘Pick & Mix’ exhibition, 2015.
Winter Blackbird
In recent years, Jo has expanded her range of artwork, which now includes paintings and prints. Her paintings connect with her memories of her suburban London childhood and the wildlife there, as well as her current observations of nature. Her paintings now include flora, fauna and bird life, as well as still life, with nature themes.
Jo has written about her art process:
Each painting starts life as a series of pencil studies until I build up a visual memory of the subject then I work through to the final composition. Before I transcribe the drawing to the canvas I make an under-painting of pure colour directly and I rely on this to become a dominant part of the finished work. Much of the painting is worked from light to dark, layering the paint to form the detail.
Autumn 1
Jo is an active campaigner to preserve the countryside, particularly around her Silsden home, which has seen planning applications approved in recent years for the building of hundreds of new houses on green field sites.
She has exhibited her paintings widely across the region, including at the Great North Show and the Bankfield Museum, Calderdale. Jo had a solo exhibition of her bird paintings and illustrations, ‘Resplendent Birds‘, at Artsmill, Hebden Bridge, in 2019, which was also shown at the RHS Harlow Carr Gardens in Harrogate, the same year. Recent exhibitions have included at the Masham Gallery, Ripon Cathedral, Dye House Gallery, and Artsmill. Jo has also exhibited her artwork annually at Arts in the Pen, Skipton, for a number of years. She also sells her work on Etsy.
Geisha Gold
Artist contact: Facebook & Instagram
(Above artwork images shown by courtesy of the artist.)