Jane Cartney - Biography

Jane Scroggie-Cartney was born in Aberdeenshire in 1951 and studied art in Aberdeen under the direction of William Burns before heading to London to continue with further studies.  She worked as an architectural administrator for a number of years and in her spare time attended Putney College of Art for a short time, and life drawing with Tony Tribe, whilst pursuing independent gallery and museum studies.

In the mid 1980s she relocated to Brighton, whilst still working in London.  She continued with life drawing, sculpture, and art history at Brighton Tech as well as again taking up music and singing studies, which had begun in London.   By the early 1990s she had given up her London career and was performing professionally as a contralto soloist and concentrating her studies in art history.  This took her to Amsterdam, Ghent, Edinburgh and Paris to study the aesthetics of art and architecture and further gallery and museum studies.  She ultimately received an offer to study full-time at the Courtauld Institute, but was unable to pursue this opportunity due to the onset of serious illness.    During the long recovery period, she abandoned art but was able to pursue her music career and in 1997 qualified as a teacher.   For several years she combined public performance in oratorio and in the jazz field together with running a private teaching practice for singers.

In 2006, following relocation to Weston-super-Mare, Cartney began painting again and has gone on to exhibit locally and in Edinburgh and Jersey. 

Cartney's subjects, influenced predominantly by the work of Van Gogh, and the early German Expressionists, are inspired by architecture, sculptural form and colour.  The subject matter is diverse with a distinctive individuality, and includes series of paintings of St George's Tron Church in Glasgow (the Obelisk paintings); Abbey Bridge End, Jedburgh, Scotland; Pheasants; The Constitutional Club in Weston-super-Mare (The Boulevard Series); and rock formations on Wadham Beach in Devon.  In 2007 she produced a short body of work, The Cat Series – simplified black and white oils in small format, developed from the initial designs of hand-made Christmas cards, which she produced for family and friends in 1986.  She has also recently accepted a number of private portrait commissions

In 2007 she set up Regent Gallery and Studio in Weston-super-Mare where she exhibits her work and also organises an exhibition programme of Scottish and West Country contemporary fine-art www.regentgallery.co.uk.

Jane Cartney still performs from time to time with her jazz quartet,   www.cartneyjazz.co.uk and runs a small specialist coaching practice for advanced students and professional singers www.janecartney.com.

September 2008