By Renee Wood
Abstract art is always something that draws you in as the viewer sits and contemplates exactly what their interpretation of it could be.
Do you see a horizon you’ve witnessed while on an adventure or a figure dancing in the distance?
This is the journey you can be taken on when witnessing YAVA’s latest exhibit at the Healesville gallery, Marking her Mark: Jane Fitzherbert retrospective.
Jane was a well respected local artist who passed away in Healesville in 2021.
Her last solo exhibit was held at The Memo in 2018, which showcased her abstract work that was created in her Launching Place studio.
Jane’s philosophy was to ‘leave it to the observer’s own imagination to find meaningful content in my paintings’.
Her daughters, Sarah and Kate Fitzherbert say it’s a special moment to once again put together an exhibit of her work.
“It’s quite emotional really because just before she passed away, she said something about ‘Well, I hope I’ve left some sort of a legacy’ – and of course she did,” Kate said.
“It’ll be really wonderful because she has gone but of course her work has not and it’s a way for us all to celebrate her life and her wonderful artistic endeavour for so many years,” Sarah said.
Jane was an artist all her life, studying first as a sculptor, then moving to ceramics, silk and finally finding her comfort in painting, with oils her preferred medium.
“Going into the abstract was part of that change, she actually started in oils in a much more figurative way…with subject matter that was identifiable and then gradually it started to become less identifiable and less identifiable as subjects,” Kate said.
“She really loved abstract…she just put the brush on the canvas and would just see where her hand went and then the painting would take her on the journey. She would just do what the painting told her to do.”
The exhibit starts with early works of figurative pieces before you see the shift coming through to strong abstraction.
“I think if Jane walked into this exhibition now, she would be really, really happy with it. I think she would say ‘I’m pretty chuffed about that’ – she’d be very proud of it.”
Sarah said Jane was a very private person and wasn’t one to self promote, and now holding a retrospective exhibit it allows them to share her works further and build others enjoyment for them.
“When an artist works for a lifetime, their works live on afterwards and they don’t live on unless they’re on display and people are enjoying them,” Sarah said.
“She was a very private person in many ways and certainly was not a self promoter, which is why I think it’s up to my sister and I now to help her work to live on beyond her life.”
The exhibit runs until 26 February.
