Robert Jenkins
I am a retired scientist who has always had a strong interest in art. Upon retirement, I embarked on a second career, travelling the province and painting what I saw. My progress led me to work in series, getting deeper into a subject by painting various parts of it, allowing me to portray its message in a deeper sense. My work has definitely been influenced by my scientific background; you could say my approach to art is empirical, trying something out, seeing what happens, and proceeding from there. It is a constant voyage of discovery, that excites me, and gives me something to paint about. It is not just about the discipline of painting. It is about being human and experiencing the world.
The current show ‘A Church for Barkerville – a Pictorial Essay’ is a three-year project, centred on St. Saviour’s Church in the historic gold-mining town of Barkerville; seeing it as a visitor; learning about its message from evidence left behind; a series of 27 paintings done over a number of years. The display is intended to immerse the viewer in the same kind of experience, of being there, seeing bit by bit the message left behind.
