Lynn Jeffery started taking photographs of fallen angels when she was working as an art teacher, and found that she couldn’t stop.
She found plenty of them in Cradley Heath, living as she does near the local cemetery.
‘My daughters thought it was normal for five-year-olds to play out and go exploring the local graveyards,’ she says.
But as her interest grew, she found herself travelling, to Netherton and Bewdley, and then further afield, to seek out more subjects for her art.
‘I was fascinated. The angels get defaced and are broken and vandalised. One was found with a ring of barbed wire round her neck.
‘Another two were uncovered, completely intact, during a renovation up at Cradley. A pair of hidden, forgotten angels they didn’t even know they had.’
A wealth of monumental masonry in the Black Country is slowly being lost to vandalism, but in turn its demise has provided Lynn with a rich source of inspiration.
Her pictures often include relief prints from found materials which she reproduces as screened images or prints from directly.
‘I also add to the work with painted ink or mono prints. I enjoy producing unique pieces of work by overlaying and piecing together arrangements of objects.
‘I believe that art should be about our responses to the world about us, and recording the changes in society, in a visual way, is part of that process.
‘I present angels from different places, sometimes including other items of interest. ‘Lately, I’ve been working on a smaller scale than usual, which has given me the chance to experiment with distressing techniques: I have added gold, brown and red ink, then removed them to give a worn effect.’
People make things in the Black Country. They form things, mould things, bring things into being, and even with the demise of industry, the act of creation continues through art, poetry and fiction.
Lynn, who moved to Cradley Heath from Liverpool in the 70s says: ‘People have always worked with their hands round here, and so it’s natural for them to continue to produce stuff.
‘People who were pattern makers, who made casts for industry or the jewellery trade where you get, for example, lost wax castings of silver, they all worked with their hands.
‘And they took things from the ground. It’s an incredibly rich place, and so in Brierley Hill you find minerals for glass, just as you do in Ravenhead, St Helens – both places are huge in terms of glass production.’
Lynn says that coming from a photographic background, she’s always been aware of her surroundings and is drawn to the world around her.
‘Over the years, I have built up a large collection of photographic images. I rarely photograph people as I am more interested in an apparently timeless world, which often disappears without warning to accommodate a road or supermarket complex.’
She has witnessed first-hand the changes that have moved through the Black Country, sweeping much of its heritage away. But a strong image comes to her as she talks, one linking her back to her Merseyside roots.
‘When I consider the industry of the area, I imagine a great chain stretching from the Liverpool docks, and from our maritime heritage, all the way over to the Black Country, where chains and anchors were made, and then on to the Jewellery Quarter where the tiniest links go into necklaces. For me it’s like an extension of Liverpool, and it’s one of the reasons I felt instantly at home when I moved here.’
The artist has returned to her roots and become part of the current Liverpool School, exploring urban geometric influences in her work. What’s striking about this series is the use of vibrant colour, slashing across the sharp shapes and outlines of modern architecture.
‘Driving through the Black Country and up to Liverpool, you see the way reflections of old buildings appear in the new glass frontages of offices going up.
‘You start to experience a whole new perspective and see that the geometry is so different, and so colourful.
‘For me, it was a case of feeling we’d reached the stage where we thought we were coming out of a long recession and I wanted to put some colour back into life. We needed cheering up, and so I looked for bright colours, blues and oranges, which appear in my work.’
Lynn worked for 20 years with the late Cradley Heath printmaker Paul Hipkiss, who was her head of department when she taught art.
‘He was so great to work for because he had a way of persuading you softly to do things.
‘He had a vision and was always open to ideas. He was a celebrated local name, and one of the artists who exhibited in Black Country Visions, which appeared at the RBSA Gallery, Wednesbury Art Gallery and Dudley Art Gallery too.
‘It’s such a rich environment for artists. The canals have that blend of the natural world and industry; it’s as though nature is taking the land back.
‘You see it in artist’s work again and again.’
Biography
Educated: Holly Lodge High School for Girls
Higher Ed: St. Katharine’s College of Ed. Art & Craft (Print & Photography)
1975-2011 Teacher of Art & Design in Liverpool and the West Midlands
2005- Freelance artist, teacher and tutor
2003 Elected Associate Royal Birmingham Society of Artists
2006 Elected Member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists.
Exhibitions
RBSA Open Exhibitions & as an Invited artist since 1998
RBSA Associate & Member 2003
Mid Art 1998-2004
DSOA Dudley Art Gallery From 1997
Gateway Shrewsbury Open Print Biennale 2004-08
Gateway Shrewsbury Mirror Image (invited) 2005
RBSA Café Gallery Solo Show 2005
RBSA Black Country Visions 2005
Dudley Museum, Black Country Visions 2006
“Take 12” Artist/Teachers Walsall New Gallery 2006
Derby Open 2007
Birmingham Open 2007
Russells Hall Hospital 1st Floor Exhibn. Area 2008-11
RWE Open Print Exhibition Bristol 2009
RBSA Craft Gallery Solo Show 2009
DSOA Botanical Gardens Spring Exhibition 2010
RWE Open Bristol 2010
RBSA Craft Gallery Solo Show 2011
RBSA Metropolis Exhibition 2017