Jane Sharkey
Jane Sharkey is a creative who enjoys making things happen through collaboration and entrepreneurship. She is currently investigating how we interact with place and nature whilst walking.
Through networking Jane discovers grants and funding opportunities. Through her role as a Director of Unit 6 Jane enjoys creating collaborative opportunities, through art club and marketing promotions.
Jane is an outdoor swimmer and walker with a background in Health Promotion and fitness, Her interest in creativity comes from its link with mental health.
Jane is a Lundy Island Ambassador and a National Trust Walk Leader.
Jane has a blog at https://wordpress.com/view/meanderlings.com
As someone who enjoys being in nature, I am intrigued by how contemporary land artists such as; Richard Long, Hamish Fulton and Andy Goldsworthy connect to the landscape. Land art was based on circles, as in the Sanskrit language it is a symbol of connection.
Whilst handling the building materials, I found sensory similarities with Tilley (2004) who refers to ‘Tactile sensations, sonorous qualities, colour, and visual impressions’ when speaking about materiality. This interest in materiality of the landscape instigated an attempt to research the number of granite marker stones delineating the path from Lundy North Lighthouse to the Village; a distance of just under 3 miles.
As I walked I recorded the bird song, this led to the production of a piece of art based on Richard Long’s textworks. This approach of research as practice could develop my practice I also created a book of images, from the walk, where I added essential oils to bring the smells of the woodland into the book and provide an extra-sensory effect.
landscape is ‘inescapably political’ Several walks were curtailed by access, an issue that is highlighted by Hayes (2020) who claims that ‘92 per cent of land in the UK is not accessible’. Keep off our Land is a piece of work where I have taken a more critical contemporary stance to walking through a visible political message as in the work of Alfredo Jaar.
On a spring pilgrimage between two sacred sites, the paths were lined with yellow; primroses, gorse and daffodils, However as I descended off the track, the yellow was no longer that of daffodils, but warning signs, signifiers of electricity danger; risk of electrocution and near death in the landscape. When I got to the Holy Well I was remindedof the story of Narcissi and his ego, falling in love with his own reflection