Bank Street Gallery

jo craig

In a blink seven years have passed since Jo Craig last exhibited at Bank Street Gallery.  How did that happen?  So much has changed ....

Since graduating from Edinburgh College of Art, we already know that Jo was a busy girl: travelling, meeting her partner Duncan and together forging a life in her beloved landscapes on the Isle of Raasay.  Since her last show here, she has been a busy girl again: welcome Torran and Dee!  A more delightful pair of sisters you could not hope to find.  They are the perfect ying and yang, the bookworm and the tomboy, the quiet princess and the cheeky monkey. 

These harmonising contrasts are seen also in Jo’s art.  This exhibition harks back to her style of seven years ago but is fresh, matured and powerful.  The perfectly layered pigment continues to sustain her images.  The organic representation of form, be it mountain, sea or land, remains.  But like her life journey, the message is stronger, confident – almost resolute.

As ever, Craig has the most wonderful ability with colour.  It is not possible to avoid an emotional reaction to her work.  And as motherhood influences her modus operandi her examination of detail, whether on silk, ceramic or print, produces a new animation to her view of the world.  Gestalt imagery leaps from what appears to be spontaneous lines and colour.  If we know Jo, however, considerable time and intuition will back every finished piece.  Our only difficulty is knowing how time is measured in her world.  It’s great to have her back!

This show runs from friday 23^rd june 2017 to friday 4^th august 2017.