Jennifer Baird-
Title : Pambula Beach, New Year’s Day.
Medium: Chalk Pastel and Screenprint on paper
Price : AUD 300
National Graphic
1953
Volume CIII
Number One
About the artwork:
My page shows some women around a table under some umbrellas. There is kind of irony here because the happy convivial scene is photographed at the Pentagon in the US. it’s headquarters for their Department of Defence. Would not think of finding any umbrellas here. I would find it very hard to be having a lunch here under the umbrellas like I was at the beach, but I’ve always prefered the beach, no secret there. I think a lot of the images of the time, during the 1950’s and particularly this one were kind of propaganda. ‘Yes we are all having a splendid time under the umbrellas’, during the climate of the Cold War. But then, can I ask myself ‘is my artwork kind of propaganda too?’ This artwork was inspired by New Year’s Day on Pambula Beach, South Coast NSW, 2019. Before the bushfires, before Covid, before Russia invaded the Ukraine, yesterday (24.2.2022). It was like another time, now lost innocence. But this day was captured in my sketchbook, I remember this day on the crowded beach. The happy vibes, the (what do you call a mass of umbrellas?) – ‘brolly’ of umbrellas.
Let’s choose peace and light and love over war. Let’s sit under those umbrellas and remember the great days at the beach. Maybe the umbrella can be a metaphor for peace. This work is a combination of my early career, favourite medium – chalk pastel and my most recent discipline of screen printing. Old and new.
About Jennifer:
Jennifer Baird is a multi disciplinary artist based in Canberra, Australia. She works across printmaking, collage and painting. Each, at times have their own separate intention and direction. Many of her works a combination of all three practices. Across all three minimalism is emerging. Some of her past work she admits looked like she ‘was in a bit of a hurry’. Minimalism takes time to emerge in an artist. It has taken her almost 30 years to know when to ‘step away from the painting’. To be confident that one mark is enough and to let the mediums do some of the work such as letting ink move around the paper or canvas by itself, under minimal guidance. Her more recent art practice involves screen printing on paper which she does at Megalo Print Studios in Canberra. She turns many of her holiday sketches into limited edition works on paper. These works not only transport Baird back to happy times, but also the viewer. That Summer holiday by the beach. Seascapes have featured in her work from the very beginning. Calling Canberra home has seen an exploration of her environment, the landscapes and urban architecture of a very modern city. She admits that moving to Canberra was not ‘love at first sight’. But the city has grown on her and the South Coast is a short two hours away. Seascapes and landscapes, wonderful inspiration.beautiful short poses of a model during a lockdown-induced online life drawing session, people gathering for an open air concert, on the train, in the waiting lounge of an airport, crowds in the city. I sketch, i draw and i paint, every day, attempting to capture the energy, the tension, the movement, de dynamics of what it is that i see int world around me, at home, online, on a stroll in the park or in the city,