Jane Cruickshank was born in 1976. She studied Fine Art at Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen, Scotland, completing her Master of Arts degree in 1999.
She is a talented young Scottish artist and has won numerous awards and scholarships. These include: Cooper and Lybrand Competition 1996; John Kinross Scholarship to Florence in 1997; and the James Torrence Memorial Award from the Royal Glasgow Institute in 1998. Using recognisable subject matter Cruickshank employs an intense realism in her paintings. Subjects have a luminescence and clarity that makes them appear as if they could move off the canvas. Her work is immediately accessible.
Jane Cruickshank's early work concentrated on figures. She says: “I started painting the figure while at Art College, mainly self-portraits or members of the family usually on large canvases with the figure placed off centre to create an image of vulnerability. Pattern and surface is a tool that I use to explore how the dominance of appearance manipulates the identity.” Laterly Jane has also produced still life pieces to great effect and now has a growing reputation for her luminous fine art still life paintings. Her paintings have all the quality and depth associated with her principal medium of oils, successfully combining intense realism with a luminescence and clarity that give them a very contemporary feel. Jane creates perfect balence between the objects and space in her paintings - it appears as if the subject could move off the canvas.
Jane Cruickshank produces fine still life art work with delicately defined paintings. She is fascinated by the everyday objects particularly of times past - candle stuffers, earthware bottles and antique books are common themes in her work. She equally adept at capturing the subtle qualities of ceramic or metallic objects as the light and refection plays across and upon each surface. She has the capacity to get the viewer to see the beauty of the ordinary and to produce art works which are little gems. Her work has the appeal of the old masters but are very much in the contemporary style.
In addition to Red Rag Art Gallery Jane Cruickshank art work has been exhibited at other leading Scottish Art Galleries. Each painting at Red Rag is sourced from the Jane Cruickshank artist studio and like all Red Rag Scottish art and Contemporary art it can be shipped worldwide.
