Welcome to Placeworks

the place to see work by British artist and writer, Sarah Jarvis

Transports of delight - dbrief Quarterly issue 12 published

Bankside London Bridge dbrief Quarterly issue 12, written and edited by Placeworks, has been published and is now available from Better Bankside's offices, Great Guildford Street, SE1. It can also be read online at: www.betterbankside.co.uk/news/dbriefs
This issue focuses on sustainable travel in Bankside and London Bridge. Cycling and walking will be even more important as the summer approaches - read about Better Bankside's pioneering Savvy Cyclists events, find your way to the delights of Park Street with a delightful new illustrated walking map and meet Southwark Council officer Jillian Houghton, helping to bring the distinctive blue wayfinding signs of Legible London to the streets of Southwark. To find out more about the award-winning dbrief communications, contact sarah@placeworks.co.uk

20th Anniversary celebrations

Placeworks is celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the formation of Jarvis Inc with a works outing to the Royal Ballet. And an idea for a new domain name.

New paintings added

Please visit the Places and Portraits Galleries to see recent paintings. The two portraits are Duncan (Duncan Grant) and Visiting London; the places are around SE1 - Arriving Tate Modern, Leaving Tate Modern and Bankside Mix, as well as Fife Houses. Please email me at sarah@placeworks.co.uk to find out more.

Town centre consultancy work

Sarah has been commissioned to write several reports to support consultancy work in town centres, including work with potential Portas Pilots and towards a vanguard Neighbourhood Plan.

dbrief Quarterly issue 11 published

Bankside London Bridge dbrief Quarterly issue 11, written and edited by Sarah, has been published and is now available from Better Bankside's offices, Great Guildford Street, SE1. It can also be read online at: www.betterbankside.co.uk/news/dbriefs

Inkling of a good idea

The new painting year began on Thursday with a convivial session by the river. Indoors, luckily, as it's smelling cold again. In December I had been suffering from a cold and found the idea of ink drawing more appealing than painting. I liked the results, quite noir-ish, put me in mind of a graphic novel, or perhaps an illustrated novel, which I am now mulling over at the back of my mind, and I decided to continue with ink this month.
Much as I hate those drawing exercises that involve charcoal tied to a long stick and accepting a lack of control, and despite finding a new drawing pen and two nibs at the bottom of my Christmas stocking, I perversely decided to try out a technique of drawing with a match dipped in ink. It worked well - an acceptable degree of randomness, with a nice straight edge. Just need to work on that narrative now...

Greening the city

Ask someone to draw a city neighbourhood and the chances are that green won’t be the first colour they reach for. Find out more about plans to bring emerald, sap green and viridian (OK maybe not viridian, certainly not straight from the tube) to Bankside and London Bridge, in the next issue of dbrief Quarterly. You can find back issues at: www.betterbankside.co.uk/news/dbriefs

Painting the city

In future I plan to bring my art and urban communication practices together more directly.
Through my work in Bankside and London Bridge I have built up some knowledge of an historic city centre quarter in transition. Communicating that change through words and photographs, online or in print, is an effective way to reach a lot of people fast. But it is often a means to an end - to convey information that can be seen and then, because it is ubiquitous, forgotten. Exploring this process through oil painting invites a more deliberative engagement with the city, inviting, I hope, deeper thought about what is happening around us and bringing a new perspective to the way our surroundings evolve as new structures emerge. And like oil painting it is not just building up but also scraping back: the process of development brings the chance to explore beneath the surface, as the archaeologist's trowel digs into the hidden city to expose a rediscovered past.

Artist in residence

Sarah is interested in the chance to work again as an artist in residence, to explore the workings of a place from the inside and to encourage a new way of looking by bringing a different perspective. If you have any suggestions, please contact her on sarah@placeworks.co.uk