10 Questions with Beverley Jane Stewart

Born and now working in London, over the years she nurtured her artistic talent whilst obtaining a degree in Education and Art at London University. This degree was in abstract art, and it became the foundation of her work, which then developed into visual storytelling. Whilst teaching and developing her talent in her spare time, Beverley-Jane was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and is now a member of the Croydon Art Society for Professional Artists. 

As a visual writer, she looks in intricate detail at how Jewish heritage operates in contemporary multicultural society fusing facts with emotions. She tells the story of the Jews from past to present, displaying history in its various periods…a rollercoaster in time. Beverley-Jane's work is now fast gaining international standing, with exhibitions in the United Kingdom, Israel, and Italy.

www.beverleyjanestewart.com | @beverleyjanestewart

ARTIST STATEMENT

“I am a Diaspora Jew. I have always aimed to achieve a meaningful balance between my secular life and my religion. Being Jewish has always mattered to me, for it gave me a sense of belonging and purpose. The weekly attendance at my local synagogue through prayer, festivals, and customs helped me to identify with Judaism. 

My initial interest was focused on the synagogue architecture as a prayer hall, but as a female artist, my perception was directed from a high perspective. This familiar angle was developed from the many years I sat with my mother in the ladies' gallery. Towering above, I watched the beauty of the panoramic scenes below. Surrounded by a backdrop of architectural splendor, the male-dominated services created a spiritual euphoria of drama with movement, color, and light. 

Through exploring the theme of public and private space within Judaism, the synagogue, and the secular surroundings - I evolved and developed into a visual writer, illustrating the story of Jewish social history. Showing how Jews have kept their identity whilst contributing to the secular world, supporting financial markets, trades, politics, arts, etc. I became aware of the political pressures and the relationship Jews had with the indigenous community, their acceptance or rejection. I'm fascinated by the intricate detail in my work, showing how Jewish heritage operates in contemporary multicultural society, fusing facts with emotions, and showing life as a roller coaster in time. 

I use drawing and sketching as a baseline to show my ideas and compositions before starting each painting; they are on their own, on a journey of research. In recent years, alongside the oil painting, I have started to incorporate new materials such as Plexiglas and engraving on plywood.”

— Beverley Jane Stewart

INTERVIEW

Please, let's talk about your background. You studied Education and Art at London University; when did you realize you wanted to work as an artist?

By nine years I wanted to become an artist. This was encouraged by my parents who were both artistic and understood the importance of visual language to express emotions. I qualified as an Art Teacher after receiving an Art and Education Honours Degree at London University, UK in 1983. I became a life member of the Royal Society of Art 1984. Later I became head of an Art Department at a large Primary School, in South London.

Has any specific moment or experience prompted you to follow this career path?

In my early years, I received a formal and rigid education, which was unsuited to my creative free spirit. I became ill and rejected by my peers, so I turned to a fantasy world of dolls, becoming my imaginary friends. Each doll had a name and a character, which was reinvented into figurative drawings.   Through my loneliness, I became an observer rather than a participant. This behavior was strongly emphasized when I attended synagogue with my mother, sitting in the upstairs gallery.  Absorbing her love and security as I watched the service act below me. Encased in a colorful setting with reflected light piercing the stained-glass windows, I concentrated not on individuals but on the drama created by the movement and body language within an ornate architecture.   At 14 years I left private education and was sent to a rough local state school. This suited my personality, and with the help of dedicated staff, my creativity was enhanced. I started making friends with children from very different socio-economic backgrounds, which led me to explore varied lifestyles and the influence of identity within the context of history and present society.  The kindness and warmth I received have never left me and stimulated me to compare my ancestral roots with other immigrants. When I qualified as a teacher, I wanted to continue this interest; I worked in deprived London areas, encouraging my pupils to have pride in their history and culture. My direct involvement helped my awareness and understanding of the social dynamics that made up British society. 

You define yourself as a visual writer. Can you explain what you mean by that and how this influences your art practice? 

Writers express their tales through words, but for me, the pen is my brush, and my stories are pictures. Similar to a historical novelist, the content is planned and structured but reinterpreted to dramatize the events, combining fact with fantasy. Usually keeping to one location with a message, I start playing with many sketches by defining the shapes, sizes, colors, and shades. These images are carefully arranged into a pattern on a large piece of paper before transferring them onto the canvas.  The paper now becomes a stage for my visual story.

You describe your work as a fusion of facts with emotions, depicting Jewish heritage in a contemporary multicultural society. Could you elaborate on how you approach this fusion in your artistic process?

Weaving together facts with emotions to create a composition requires twinning a recognized realism and combining it with imaginative, sensitive interpretations. My facts are acquired through site visits, research from books, libraries, old newspapers and manuals, interviews, and the internet.  Emotions are molded through how we visualize the world. These feelings are the amalgamation of sight, sounds, smells, and touch, but also our experiences.   Building the mood depends on the techniques, materials, and tools used to create the shading, textures, and hues. How the layout is arranged encourages the observer to track my visual dialogue.       

As a Diaspora Jew, how does your personal connection to Judaism influence your artistic vision and the themes you explore in your work?

People need to connect to a community to feel secure and belong. As Jews, we have a history of persecution, arriving at unfamiliar places and needing to adapt to a strange environment. I wanted to express compassion to other ethnic groups who, too, are trying to keep their own culture alive. My compositions take many approaches, but they follow the general theme of resilience and the need for identity. However, I also consider when this is forbidden because of religion, gender, and social aspects.  During Covid, when freedom of movement was forbidden, I developed a series of Aquatints and etchings called 'Beyond the Ashes'. Based on WWII and the Holocaust, when holy sites were destroyed, I was able to create a somber mood with mono tones and textures.  Later, I extended this theme to parts of the Middle East and North Africa, continuing to focus on damaged buildings and the survival of the spirit within the rubble. 
Influenced by my teaching experience, my early works were based on London lifestyles and the journey my family made from Romania. This steered me to examine in more depth my religious roots and the contribution we made as an Anglo Jew. Probing further, I wanted to appreciate the differences between other ethnic groups in British society and the cultural wealth that they also contributed to Britain.  Unfortunately, through present-day politics, many minorities have suffered racial discrimination. Lost and dismissed, my figures have become faceless humans. This attitude has made me have more empathy to understanding of minorities who have had racial attacks and feel vulnerable in a hostile environment. Now, I have expressed through my art, cultural rather than religious identity, where we share the complications of minorities arriving in Britain. There are difficulties in adjusting to a different language and lifestyle while still balancing our religious beliefs and heritage.  Jews have suffered years of persecution, and we share many common issues, in particular, the series called 'Beyond the Veil', where women are not considered equal to men. Stereotyping and loss of identity still exist in most ethnic groups. 

Please tell us about the role of drawing and sketching in your creative process, particularly as a baseline for your compositions before painting.

Wanting to express a new idea within my compositions, I plan a visit to the location of interest, soaking up the atmosphere.  After taking photographs and sketches, I add depth by researching the history.  Returning to the studio, I close my eyes and question, 'What do I want to achieve'? Usually, it is a message of the complexities and struggles when immigrants embark on a new life. The concealment of this history is shadowed by the striking tall buildings of a contemporary world.  Concentrating on my objective, I collate all my material and start to scribble down a general plan. This gets re-defined several times until an abstract pattern forms a correct balance. When each part has been carefully drawn in graphite, they are transferred onto the canvas.  These initial sketches, before developing them into paintings, have been considered by curators to be art forms within their rights.  The fluid texture, line, and shade, without the interference of color, can achieve a direct sharpness.  

You've mentioned incorporating new materials like Plexiglas and engraving on plywood in your recent work. How have these materials expanded your artistic expression and storytelling capabilities?

I play with a variety of techniques and materials to compare the present with a former life. I contrast the colors on the primed wood with the burnt lines on raw wood from a hot wire (pyrography), etched flexy glass, and painting on raw and primed canvas.  My present series involves dyed images focusing on the concealed history of immigration amongst the modern skyscrapers in British Docklands. 

Your work has gained international recognition with exhibitions in various countries. How has exposure to different cultural contexts influenced the evolution of your artistic style and message?

When internationally traveling and showing in varied exhibitions widens one's experiences of how the world can be viewed.  Artists express their emotions and ideas through visual interpretations. This can vary depending on the light, climate, landscape, and politics. An artist gains credibility for international exposure besides benefitting from networking with journalists, critics, the public, and collectors

As a member of the Croydon Art Society for Professional Artists and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, how do you perceive the role of artist communities and institutions in supporting and shaping the contemporary art scene?

I am proud to once belonged to the Croydon Art Society and be a life member of The Royal Society of Arts.    People have different interests and knowledge and attending art-related groups helps you to network with other peers and share experiences, get new ideas, and collaborate.  

And lastly, what are you working on now? Do you have any upcoming exhibitions or projects you would like to share with our readers?

My new works are based on Cultural identity, illustrating how different groups have arrived in Britain and their contributions. Looking for similarities in their journeys and their adaption to their new environment. Continuing with mixed media, I am now contrasting dyed images onto canvas, creating a translucent effect that echoes the past, and using opaque oils to represent modernity.
The new and upcoming exhibitions I can share with you are the group show Behind the Mask, open until the end of May 2024, at the Jerusalem Italian Museum, for the Jerusalem Biennale 2023/2024. Moreover, I have the upcoming solo exhibition at the George Apostu Center of Art in  Bacau, Romania, in September 2024, titled A Romanian Heritage - A Journey in Time, illustrating my own Jewish and Romanian roots.

Artist’s Talk

Al-Tiba9 Interviews is a promotional platform for artists to articulate their vision and engage them with our diverse readership through a published art dialogue. The artists are interviewed by Mohamed Benhadj, the founder & curator of Al-Tiba9, to highlight their artistic careers and introduce them to the international contemporary art scene across our vast network of museums, galleries, art professionals, art dealers, collectors, and art lovers across the globe.