Ina Pickard

Ina Pickard has always lived in Yorkshire. She trained at Leeds College of Art and the College of Ripon and York St. John, where she subsequently became senior lecturer in the department of Art, tutoring BA degree students.

Apart from short periods tutoring in France and Menorca, she now concentrates on her own work. She has worked in both abstract and figurative styles, but recently has used a more figurative approach, using various media including watercolours, oils, pastels and acrylics, each of which may be used singly or combined with others. She finds that different media produce different challenges.


"Sunlit (Still Life)" by Ina Pickard

Recent concerns with still life and the figure show Pickard's ongoing interest in the interaction between the human figure and the paraphernalia of life; Her paintings are about the world's oddments and their significance to us as people.

Humans depicted are deliberately ambiguous, representing all of us rather than specific individuals. The Still life also implies human presence. Someone has arranged the flowers, has eaten the fruit, has drunk or is drinking the wine. A sense of contemplation is intended here - as though we had entered into someone's story or thoughts which may have parallels with our own experiences. Some paintings are thus presented as an enigma and viewers are invited to supply their own interpretation of the scene.


"Woman With A White Dog" by Ina Pickard

For example, the painting "Two black cats" implies human presence through the arranged flowers and the half empty plate of fruit. In addition, the two cats have a home here. Their play gives activity to an otherwise still scene. The interlocking of the table's circle with their movement is intended to suggest the continuum of time. Here, the still life implies a state of flux redolent of human experience since interaction between all of us is ongoing, throughout life and forever.

Some of Pickard's work is presently on view at the Devonshire Arms and the Devonshire Fell. Work has been exhibited in the USA and in Italy and is in collections in those countries. She has exhibited at the Zillah Bell Gallery in Thirsk and at the Mall Galleries in London.