Archipelago
Hydra
My previous visits to the Greek island of Hydra had been during the height of summer, with the land arid and bleached by months of harsh sun. This year, however, I went in spring when the colours are still fresh and the clarity of light astonishes. The pathways are edged with bright yellow daisies and acid green Euphorbia bushes dot the grey limestone rocks. The sea is a deep cobalt blue and seen from high viewpoints, the triangular shapes of grey and white architecture appear to fuse with the geometry of the landscape.
There is a beauty and force connecting both these distantly placed islands.
Orkney
In April 2022 I visited Orkney for the first time and was amazed and delighted to find a coastline which seemed to lend itself so spectacularly well to my style of work: here were cliff formations of strata, fissures and scored ledges, rhythmic sequences of folded rocks and headlands. I was struck by the flat table-top platforms of rock which plunged vertiginously into the sea. New geometric shapes of natural architecture to explore.
In the short time I was there, I focused my time drawing from the dramatic west coast of the Mainland: the monumental paving of red sandstone at Yesnaby, the impossibly high cliffs at Marwick Head where numerous birds survey the seas and nest on the cliff edges, and the immensely beautiful tidal island of Birsay which is only accessible via a concrete causeway two hours either side of low tide. At Mull Head, towards the east of the Mainland, are extraordinary jagged cliffs made from vast slab-like ledges of rock.
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Paved Ledge 2 (Orkney) acrylic on plywood – 34 x 62cm
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Sea Cliffs 2 (Orkney)
acrylic on plywood – 30 x 30cm
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Kamini Walk 2 (Hydra) acrylic on board – 20 x 29cm
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Island Wall (Hydra)
acrylic on plywood – 60 x 122cm
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White Coast 6 (Orkney) acrylic on plywood – 60 x 122cm
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Fragmented Shore 2 (Orkney) acrylic on plywood – 26 x 61cm
White Coast 3 (Orkney) acrylic on plywood – 20 x 69cm
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Yesnaby Cliffs Drawing (Orkney) pencil on paper – 14 x 27cm
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Fragmented Shore 1 (Orkney) acrylic on board – 21 x 30cm
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Harbour (Hydra)
acrylic on board – 21 x 30cm
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Sharp Edge 4 (Orkney) acrylic on board – 96 x 135cm
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Sea Cliffs 12 (Cornwall)
acrylic on board – 91 x 135cm
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Viewpoint Drawing 1 (Hydra) pencil on paper – 27 x 41cm
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Viewpoint 3 (Hydra) acrylic on board – 50 x 66cm
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Ledge 2 (Orkney)
acrylic on plywood – 20 x 20cm
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Broken Edge (Orkney)
acrylic on plywood – 21 x 30cm
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Sea Cliffs 9 (Cornwall)
acrylic on board – 72 x 111cm
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Causeway 3 (Orkney)
acrylic on board – 72 x 111cm
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Offshore (Hydra) acrylic on plywood – 11 x 25cm
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White Coast I (Orkney)
acrylic on plywood – 19 x 35cm
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Sea Cliffs 4 (Orkney) acrylic on paper – 27 x 40cm
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Paved Ledge 4 (Orkney) acrylic on plywood – 87 x 160cm
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Viewpoint 4 (Hydra) acrylic on paper – 27 x 86cm
Viewpoint Drawing 2 (Hydra) pencil on paper – 10 x 29cm
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Causeway I (Orkney) acrylic on card – 10 x 15cm
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High Cliffs 1 (Orkney) acrylic on card – 10 x 15cm
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Ledge I (Orkney) acrylic on card – 10 x 15cm
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Viewpoint 2 (Hydra)
acrylic on plywood – 26 x 30cm
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Kamini Walk 6 (Hydra) acrylic on plywood – 36 x 24cm
High Cliffs 5 (Orkney) acrylic on plywood – 50 x 25cm
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Splintered Coast 2 (Orkney)
acrylic on plywood – 28 x 36cm
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Cove 3 (Orkney)
acrylic on plywood – 60 x 122cm
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Kamini Walk 3 (Hydra) acrylic on paper – 41 x 51cm
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Kamini Walk 4 (Hydra) acrylic on paper – 41 x 51cm
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Fragmented Shore 5 (Orkney) acrylic on paper – 29 x 83cm
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White Coast 5 (Orkney) acrylic on paper – 20 x 72cm
High Cliffs 6 (Orkney) acrylic on plywood – 122 x 60cm
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Kamini Walk 5 (Hydra) acrylic on paper – 51 x 41cm
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Sharp Edge 2 (Orkney)
acrylic on plywood – 20 x 20cm
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Ledge 3 (Orkney)
acrylic on plywood – 30 x 30cm
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White Coast 4 (Orkney) acrylic on paper – 40 x 50cm
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Cove 1 (Orkney)
acrylic on paper – 40 x 50cm
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Paved Ledge 3 (Orkney)
acrylic on board – 37 x 61cm
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Kamini Walk 1 (Hydra) acrylic on board – 80 x 122cm
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Fragmented Shore 4 (Orkney) acrylic on board – 35 x 106cm
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Kamini (Hydra)
acrylic on plywood – 35 x 72cm
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Sharp Edge 5 (Orkney)
acrylic on plywood – 28 x 36cm
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Cove 2 (Orkney)
acrylic on plywood – 40 x 81cm
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High Cliffs 7 (Orkney) acrylic on board – 158 x 80cm
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Sea Cliffs 5 (Orkney)
acrylic on plywood – 40 x 50cm
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High Cliffs 2 (Orkney)
acrylic on plywood – 20 x 20cm
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Fragmented Shore 6 (Orkney) acrylic on plywood – 23 x 36cm
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Sea Cliffs 3 (Orkney)
acrylic on board – 26 x 35cm
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Fragmented Shore 3 (Orkney) acrylic on board – 80 x 158cm
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Causeway 2 (Orkney)
acrylic on plywood – 24 x 36cm
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High Cliffs 4 (Orkney) acrylic on plywood – 72 x 35cm
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High Cliffs 3 (Orkney)
acrylic on plywood – 28 x 36cm
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Sharp Edge I (Orkney) acrylic on card – 10 x 15cm
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Paved Ledge I (Orkney) acrylic on card – 10 x 15cm
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Mull Head Cliffs Drawing (Orkney) pencil on paper – 13 x 21cm
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Sea Cliffs I (Orkney)
acrylic on board – 21 x 30cm
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Viewpoint 1 (Hydra) acrylic on plywood – 60 x 42cm
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Ledge 4 (Orkney)
acrylic on plywood – 23 x 30cm
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Sharp Edge 3 (Orkney)
acrylic on board – 26 x 35cm
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Splintered Coast 1 (Birsay, Orkney) acrylic on card – 10 x 15cm
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White Coast 2 (Orkney)
acrylic on plywood – 16 x 35cm
BIOGRAPHY
Vanessa Gardiner was born in Oxford in 1960. She completed a Foundation Course at Oxford Polytechnic in 19781979, followed by a BA (Hons) Fine Art Degree at Central School of Art & Design, London. Vanessa currently lives and works in Dorset, England.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS FROM 1991 – PRESENT:
Thackeray Gallery, London; Duncan Campbell Gallery, London; Gordon Hepworth Gallery, Exeter; Hart Gallery, London; Atrium Gallery, Bournemouth University; Campden Gallery, Gloucestershire; Sladers Yard, Dorset; British School at Athens, Greece; Quercus Gallery, Bath
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS FROM 2002 – PRESENT: Thackeray Gallery, London; Browse & Darby - Critic’s Choice selected by Andrew Lambirth; Royal Academy Summer Exhibition; Westmoreland Landscape Prize; Sladers Yard, Dorset; Campden Gallery, Gloucestershire; Brook Gallery, Exeter; Art on a postcard, London; Art for Cure, Glemham Hall, Suffolk; Quercus Gallery, Bath; Rabley Drawing School; Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize Exhibition, London; Kettles Yard, Cambridge; British Art Fair, London (Hart Gallery); The Carlow Art Collection, Carlow, Ireland; Bevere Gallery, Worcester; 179” RHA Exhibition (invited artist), Gallagher Gallery, Dublin; Bournemouth University Art Loan Collection, Bournemouth; Alpha House, Sherborne; London Art Fair, Islington, London; Images, North Mayo, The Courthouse Gallery,Co. Mayo, Ireland; Sherborne House, Sherborne; Art for Life, Christie’s, London; New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham; Eigse Carlow Visual Arts, Carlow, Ireland
CORPORATE COLLECTIONS:
Dorset Museum, Dorchester; The Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital; Bournemouth University; Carlow Art Collection, Ireland; The Ballinglen Archive, Ireland; Magdalen College, Oxford; Fidelity International; Huddersfield City Art Gallery; New Hall, Cambridge; British School at Athens, Greece; British Academy, London
AWARDS, RESIDENCES & COMMISSIONS FROM 1999 – PRESENT: Arts Council South West – Fine Art Award; Residency Fellowship, Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Ireland; British School at Athens, Greece – Prince of Wales Bursary for the Arts; Presnensky, Moscow
Vanessa Gardiner has been represented by Thackeray Gallery, London since 2013.
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