Jo Lamb

Jo trained in Printed Textiles and Fine Art at Camberwell School of Arts. After living in Kenya and Switzerland, she settled in East Sussex, living in Newhaven and Lewes. Solo exhibitions include Travelling Back to Siberia and Another Day in Paradise. Group exhibitions include Discerning Eye (Mall Galleries) as well as shows in Sussex. She also works on public art and illustration commissions. Clients have included Greenpeace, United Nations, Worldwide Fund for Nature and, closer to home, Common Cause/Lewes Farmers Market.

Jo’s paintings are rooted in the personal but take on a universal quality. Recurring themes include the circus, fairground and family memories. Paintings can draw on scenes and events from Kenya, visits to Scotland, Oman and Norway, life in Newhaven and Lewes, while other works are observational.

Jo writes: ‘I collect information to make a painting in the form of sketches, photos and thought. Recently I have been drawn to making narrative pieces, spending a lot of time trying to figure out composition and colour, changing bits in the painting many times until it feels right. Sometimes I use a lot of photographs and memory as a form of time travel. I love the business of making a painting: finding the right papers and canvas, the business of stretching a canvas, the various technical paraphernalia you need, and the voyage of struggle, emotion and completion. Sometimes I finish a painting quite quickly, but more often than not, they evolve over weeks, sometimes months, even after six months or a year, I find myself changing bits.’

‘I had a very good and thorough academic training and was overseen by an army of distinguished painters. I was fiercely taught drawing by daily stints in the life room with tears and harsh criticism. Reading about painters and looking at art is a life-long activity. During lockdown, I became part of an Instagram community, discovering many artists/designers, illustrators and makers who have become cyber-pals. New energy is being generated by an emergence of exciting artists from all over the world partly by the ease of finding them and the general expanding of cultural awareness by the many not the few.’

The Newhaven Collection

Jo Lamb took part in Following Ravilious - Newhaven Views, a major public art project featuring contemporary artists’ responses to Eric Ravilious paintings of the town and harbour. The trail of giant billboard-sized artworks took visitors around the town. Jo’s painting Early Morning, Newhaven was sited alongside Ravilious’ Newhaven Harbour 1936.
Find out more here

(left) Newhaven Harbour (1936) by Eric Ravilious (right) Early Morning Newhaven by Jo Lamb

more Newhaven paintings by Jo Lamb

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