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Background |
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| Jean
Spokes was born in London in 1931 and died in 2007 aged 76 years. One of five children
born to working class parents, Jean was always
artistically inclined and from an early age would eagerly
draw on any scraps of paper available, even old rent
books and the edges of magazines, as proper drawing paper
was rarely available. At the outbreak of war, when Jean was about 9 years old, she and and two of her sisters were evacuated to rural Norfolk (See Evacuee Vivette, a website detailing some of her early memories of being a World War Two evacuee.) Jean was discovered as having a talent for art by teachers at her Norfolk school during her evacuation years, and under recommendation from her Head Teacher was, after the end of the war, sent to a Trade School in Edmonton, London to study needlework then on to Hornsey College of Art in London to study art and fashion illustration at the age of 15. In her early career, Jean exhibited and sold work in several galleries in and around London, and her work was also nominated for inclusion in the Louvre Gallery, Paris. Jean later worked in various graphic arts/illustrating posts until starting a family in the late 1950's. Later on, with family commitments, Jean continued with her artwork, but on a mostly non-commercial footing - she has done several works for friends and family, in different mediums. The author of this site was unable to find any examples of Jean's early fashion illustrations, as a lot of the work she kept as examples was destroyed after bad storage. The destroyed illustrations were probably some of the best of her work and the subject matter closest to her heart. |
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Example
of needlework: Embroidered and beaded costume of the Elizabethan period ( on 30cm doll ) |
| Jean worked in several mediums, starting with oils, then
acrylics, pastels and also lino-cut printing. In the
absence of any other materials, Jean also used
fibre-tipped pen and pencil. Jean's earlier works were more realistic in nature, with just a hint of the Impressionist look about them, especially in the use of stippling effects to build up the colours. As Jean moved more towards the use of acrylics - notably during the 1970's - she made more use of the brighter, almost fluorescent colours of that period - lime greens, oranges and yellows. See Danny or Girl With Pets. With other interests emerging - notably writing and illustrating short stories and poems for adults and children - Jean injected humour into much of her work - see sketches/caricatures Mrs. Jones and Uncle Gerald. These sketches accompany two of Jean's poems. |
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| As already
mentioned, Jean latterly became very interested in
writing - short stories and poetry for adults and
children, many of which she also illustrated - The
Continental Touch,
The Collector and The
Princess And The Magnolia Tree(1) and (2). Another of Jean's projects was a set of diaries of her personal experiences as a child evacuee from London during the Second World War. These memoirs she never really finished, as she continued to add to them over the years. Unfortunately, bad health in later years prevented Jean from fully exploiting her talents in art and writing. Jean was a complex character and often used pen names as well as her maiden name of Jean Spokes on her work. |
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| Some of Jean's thoughts and reminiscences in audio (.wav) format : | |
| Links | |
| The following is a list of artists whose work Jean admired: | |
Page last Edited : 06 Aug 2007