81 year old artist displays 'a wonderful journey of the mind'
The exhibition which drew a huge turnout, displayed a body of watercolour work representing memories of her first years in the Virgin Islands dating back to 1965 when she first moved here. Much of the paintings were completed over the last year.
According to Jill, as she is affectionately known, the paintings on display were based on descriptions related to her by various persons while a few others were based on photographs she had seen and pieces she had read.
She described the process of completing the work as a “wonderful journey of the mind”. “Tortola and the islands and the people made such an impression on me, that I found when I started painting again, that I couldn’t paint as things got more modern – roads were built, [there were] more cars and trucks – I just couldn’t paint any of them, I just kept painting the past…”
One of the paintings she described was based on a memory of a Mr Fuller of Cooper Island. It depicted Mr Cornelius Leonard taking his donkeys to the sea to fill buckets of sand in helping to make the beach which is now part of the Cooper Island Beach Club.
“Another one was J.R. O’Neal’s wonderful book, ‘Life Notes’,” Jill recalled, “he had a description of burning the pitch apples on Virgin Gorda, so I did a painting from his description… so no visual references, but of course I know Virgin Gorda pretty well.”
The artist related that she wanted to depict the scenery for future generations who might have heard that boats were caulked with the pitch pine tar and never gave a thought as to how that tar was found here or how it was arrived at. “There’s a lot of history there,” she added.
As an illustrator who had been painting all her life, Jill said, “I’m so thrilled about the Festival of Arts, there was an incredible variety of art there… it was well worth going to…”
An avid writer as well, Jill disclosed that she has also published 14 novels in the United Kingdom and the United States, some of which were bestsellers.
Leader of the Opposition and Virgin Islands Party (VIP) Hon. Ralph T. O’Neal, OBE in offering a few remarks said he had known the artist from the time she first moved to the Virgin Islands.
He noted that some of the pieces on display struck him immediately as being familiar from his memories as well, “these things are very important,” Hon. O’Neal said, “and when people go to the trouble to make pictures, to paint them… it keeps us all reminded of where we have come from and what we have grown to become.” He felt works such as those on display, helped to tell a story of the Virgin Islands and were of great benefit to persons who viewed them.
Jill, who has exhibited recently at Brandy Wine Bay in addition to the Festival of Arts opening at the nearby Sir Rupert Briercliffe Hall a few weeks ago, has also had her paintings sold in Europe, Australia and the Americas.
Curator of the Sugar Works Museum, Mrs Olive Vanterpool, thanked Mrs Tattersall for sharing her memories on canvas and expressed the hope that other artists would also be interested in telling their stories of the Virgin Islands in similar or other forms so that younger generations would know “from whence they came”.
Jill attended Art School in Essex, England and later studied under David Lyle Millard, then President of the American Watercolor Society, and other well known artists such as Judi Betts, Jeanne Dobie, and Roger Burnett, also attending painting workshops in France and the USA, as well as in Tortola.
She related that it was an amazing feeling to see the paintings, more than she would normally paint in one year, all together in one place. She expressed gratitude to the curator and to the BVI Tourist Board for their assistance.
The exhibition is scheduled to run throughout the month of March, 2013 and can also be viewed from her website www.jilltattersall.com where orders can be made as well. The exhibition also included some of her work on miniature print.
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Is it her?
Jill Tattersall is wife of the famous Dr. Robin Tattersall. Now don't make me sad and tell me you don't know him either.