Katie Jacobs

Picnic was an exhibition celebrating the summer and the love of the outdoor eat-fest that is the Picnic. I created some ceramic stubbies and tinnies and here is my artist statement about it:

“The first thing I think of when I think of picnics is the idyllic park at Edinburgh gardens, and many fond memories of day drinking, playing soccer with mates and talking nonsense as we got slowly sunburned through our t-shirts and sunscreen. These tinnies, tallies and stubbies are a bit drunk themselves, stumbling through the park to get to the loos, trying to avoid falling over, touching any unsanitary public surfaces or awkwardly bumping into any exes. 

I use the traditional and simple ceramic material iron oxide (essentially rust powder)  to represent some ubiquitous traditional and simple victorian beer packaging and to amplify the idea of the picnic being nostalgic. The iron colour and the watercolour-like application is intended as a faded sepia-toned lens through which to view and question a formative personal and cultural relationship with beer and drinking.

I have chosen mainly to represent the completely iconic and distinctive beer labels of my late teenage years (from a time before microbreweries and perhaps even taste entered the picture).”

The show had other wonderful artists in it: Selby Ginn with beautiful tartan-like watercolour explorations of colour and depth, perhaps gentle rug colour schemes. Libby Noblett made beautiful re-upholstered picnic chairs using her wonderful screenprints, as well as creating cushions and a picnic umbrella! Karen Holland painted beautiful luscious foodscapes and birdlife and Lisa Kearns made wonderful bent and shaped floral earring and brooch pieces, reclaimed from anodised aluminium picnic cups and straws. It was curated by the wonderful Amy Carr-Bottomley who is also a tremendous textile artist.