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© Guillon photographies
© Jayne Armstrong
© Jayne Armstrong
© Jayne Armstrong

Jayne Armstrong

  • Against the Grain
  • Woodcarver
  • Guilliers, France
  • Master Artisan
Jayne Armstrong Woodcarver
Contact
French, English
Hours:
By appointment only
Phone:
+44 (0)780503071
© Jayne Armstrong

Each piece matters

  • • Jayne turned to woodcarving after an academic career
  • • She explores the sculptural quality of locally sourced wood
  • • She refuses the hierarchical distinction between art and craft

For Jayne Armstrong, 2010 was the year that changed her life for ever. After spending many years working as an academic at Falmouth University, England, which is celebrated for excellence in art, craft and design, and “thinking, talking and writing about art and craft”, Jayne decided that she wanted “to make, to create, to work with (her) hands”. Having trained with glass artists, ceramicists and woodturners, Jayne spent a great deal of time discussing ideas and analysing objects with art and craft theorists and historians. Her work has evolved through all of these connections and she has a process of experimentation which references traditions within each medium. Using primarily fresh, locally sourced wood to explore its sculptural and aesthetic possibilities, she makes contemporary, functional and sculptural objects.

Read the full interview

Works

  • © Jayne Armstrong
  • © Jayne Armstrong
  • © Jayne Armstrong
  • © Jayne Armstrong
  • © Jayne Armstrong
Photo: © Jayne Armstrong
Germ

These three deep-black sculptural pieces are part of an ongoing series of vases perfect for dried flowers and grasses. They are made from seasoned sycamore wood and are based on the forms of various seed pods. Several processes were involved in their making: they were turned on a lathe, carved, then scorched and blackened with fire.

Height 15 cm

Photo: © Jayne Armstrong
The Elegance of Decay

This series of vases, for displaying dried flowers and grasses, are handcrafted from spalted beech wood. The title of the pieces refers to the ‘spalting’ or black markings in the beech, created when the wood is attacked by fungus. These pieces were turned on the lathe and then finished, creating tones in white, cream and beige highlighting the black fungal markings.

Height 15 cm

Photo: © Jayne Armstrong
Ash vase

This deep black vase in the form of a teardrop is handcrafted from ash wood. It is part of a series of work created using fire. The lathe was the starting point for this piece, and it was then scorched to emphasise the grain of the wood and to produce a depth of colour.

Height 21 cm

Photo: © Jayne Armstrong
Sculptural oak

These sculptural pieces are turned on a lathe from fresh oak to a 1mm thickness. During the drying process, the pieces move and change shape to create organic, undulating forms. Once dry, the pieces are finished to enhance the structure of the wood, before dying and finishing with wax.

Diameter 28 cm

Photo: © Jayne Armstrong
Oak vessel

This hollow oak vessel is handcrafted with oak from a neighbour’s garden. Turned on a lathe from the freshly cut wood, the vessel is left to dry before wire brushing to enhance the wood grain. Moon-shaped, it has been designed to highlight the contrast between the younger sapwood and older heartwood. The fruit seed oil and beeswax finish enhance the natural colour and grain of the wood.

Height 15 cm

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