Jean Draper

Jean Draper's work always begins with extensive research in the form of drawing for information, notes to develop ideas and reading about a subject if appropriate. Sometimes she works on several related pieces at the same time. She prefers hand stitching, seeing the marks made by stitches as similar to drawing. She likes to work layer upon layer of stitching to create complex texture and visual depth.
 
For many years Jean's work has been inspired by harsh, dry landscapes she has visited where the land is shaped by time and erosion by natural elements. Exaggerated and enlarged details of plant forms seem sometimes to look protective and at others they appear aggressively restrictive and threatening. Jean has begun to relate these to extreme social/political issues, using layered words and phrases to emphasise the title of the piece. Recent images of war damage have reminded Jean of the aftermath of totally fire wrecked forests she witnessed in the American SW and she is beginning to experiment with mixed media to express these in her work.