Facing the Planet by Tessa Coe & Jane Coyle

About

Artist Tessa Coe and writer Jane Coyle were at school together in South Wales. Tessa studied science and mathematics; Jane specialised in languages and literature. Their lives and career paths led in different directions. Tessa attained a PhD in physics and embarked on a career in science and industry; Jane graduated in French and English and joined the editorial team at the London publishing house of Faber & Faber.

Some years later, Tessa left her science roles but never lost her interest in science. She moved to the Hampshire village of Nursling on the River Test, where she has been an abstract painter for the last 25 years. Her subject matter is the natural world around her and the effects that human beings, and our changing climate, have upon it. Jane moved to Belfast and made a second home in Brittany. For decades, she has worked between the two, as an arts journalist, performing arts critic, and playwright.

During the past few years an idea has grown. The friends wanted to draw upon their separate ways of seeing our planet, to collaborate in a new way of storytelling. They have put the paintings to work in leading a visual and lyrical conversation around memory, place and changing times. The title Facing the Planet is a signpost to the urgent need for collective scrutiny and protection of our threatened natural environment.

Jane selected ten of Tessa's paintings. Each one sparked a memory or a reflection on locations, literary references and personal experiences. Punctuated by references to the Celtic and Mediterranean worlds, they travel from the rural environment of childhood to the landscapes of Brittany and beyond.

Tessa's mosaic-like paintings are inspired by the water meadows, the river and estuary around her home. Each image is accompanied by a short account of the journey towards a resolution of the piece, as the artist seeks to blend her creative vision with her distinctive scientific rationale.