Images: Jane Juritz; Jocie Juritz with her cat boots
Mother and daughter Jane Juritz join Artists at Home 2024
Artists at Home 2024 takes place in less than a month, over the weekend of Friday 14 -Sunday 16 June, when around 100 local artists will be opening their homes to invite visitors in to see their work.
From painters to sculptors, photographers to ceramicists, the event offers art enthusiasts the opportunity to explore a diverse range of artistic talents within their own neighbourhood.
This year, Jane Juritz is making her debut with her daughter Jocie, a painter and shoemaker respectively.
Image: Jane’s oil drawing ‘Dungeness’
“I love miserable, stormy days”
Jane will be showcasing her beautiful, dark and stormy paintings of the ocean. With a background primarily rooted in graphic design, having worked with Artists at Home from 2009 to 2018, Jane’s journey into the realm of fine art has been the realisation of a long-standing passion.
“I’ve always painted and drawn throughout my life,” she told The Chiswick Calendar, “but lockdown provided the perfect opportunity to devote more time to something that gives me a lot of pleasure.”
Jocie, whose venture into shoemaking is also the result of a lockdown project, is currently living with her parents.
“She’ll be moving out again soo, so this is a last opportunity to do something with her.”
Image: ‘Saunders Rock Cape Town’
During the pandemic, as the world slowed down and work dried up, Jane found herself reconnecting with fine art.
“I was able to paint without feeling guilty. It sounds silly but it’s so pleasurable I always feel guilty doing it because I always think I should be doing something round the house or working.”
One recurring motif in Jane’s recent work is the allure of water.
“There’s something about the sea that I love. I love really miserable stormy days, I’d obviously prefer not to be in one, but I love it when clouds are black and gloomy and the sea glitters.”
Image: ‘Sketch at Bude’
Through her pastel drawings, Jane captures the tumultuous beauty of stormy seas, often inspired by her own photographs and on-site sketches.
Her artistic repertoire also extends to oil portraits and life drawing, where she revels in the freedom of expression. Currently she is immersed in designing and illustrating a book on the history of light.
She is inspired by a number of great and established artists including Raoul Dufy, John Singer Sargent and Caravaggio. But she is likewise inspired by outsider art, that is art made by self-taught individuals who are untrained and untutored in the traditional arts.
Images: Jocie’s boots inspited by their cats (L) Ziggy; (R) Etta
Handmade leather boots inspired by the family cats
Jocie Juritz designs handmade leather boots, which she has manufactured in Portugal. Originally an animator, who took a course in shoe making during lockdown, so far she has sold her two designs of cat boots (inspired by her own cats Ziggy and Etta) online, through her Instagram account.
“I have been incredibly lucky with my customers”, she says. “The response has been amazing, they’ve been lovely.”
We featured her entrepreneurial journey in January.
READ ALSO: Cat boots by Jocie Juritz
How does Jane feel about opening their home to the public to look at her art?
“I am very nervous, it’s very exposing, but I’ve also been around lots of artist’s homes, so I know what it’s like. People don’t really go to judge, it’s about appreciating that human beings are pretty wonderful. Everyone is creative and it’s always amazing what you see!”
Images: Studio 35 is at 106 Woodstock Rd, ‘Palermo Window’
Where to find Jane and Jocie
Jane and Jocie at Studio 35 in the Artists At Home guide, at 106 Woodstock Rd in Bedford Park. The nearest Tube station is Turnham Green.
See all the artists showing their work this year here: Artists At Home
